Entering his 23rd year as President of the Naval Academy Athletic Association and Director of Athletics, Chet Gladchuk has overseen the most successful era in the history of Navy Athletics.
During Gladchuk’s tenure at the Naval Academy, he has seen the Midshipmen win four national championships, 235 conference titles, produce 325 All-Americans and 133 College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans.
In 2022-23, Navy teams posted a 267-229-14 (.537) record, had 20 All-Americans, 7 Academic All-Americans, 4 Patriot League Scholar-Athletes of the Year, 14 national or conference coaches of the year, 20 national or conference athletes of the year, won 17 conference championships and men’s rugby won the Division 1A National Championship.
The Mids once again won the Star Series presented by USAA against Army, going 14-10 against the Black Knights. The Mids also won the overall series against Army, posting a 20-19 (.513) record.
Navy claimed its ninth-consecutive Patriot League Presidents’ Cup, winning a school record 11 conference championships during the 2022-23 academic year to sit atop the overall standings. The Midshipmen also topped the men’s standings.
Navy’s current streak of nine-consecutive overall titles are the most in Patriot League Presidents’ Cup history, eclipsing Bucknell’s streak of seven-straight titles from 1998-2004. Navy has won 10 titles overall and has finished first or second over the last 16 years. Prior to Gladchuk becoming the Director of Athletics, Navy finished higher than fifth just once in 1999-00.
Over the last 10 years, Navy has won 75 conference championships, the next closest school is Boston University with 35.
Navy maintains national stature in the classroom as well with 20 of its 24 NCAA sponsored teams above the national average for their respective sport in the Academic Progress Report.
Since Gladchuk has been the Director of Athletics, Navy has added six varsity sports (women’s lacrosse, women’s golf, women’s tennis, women’s triathlon, women’s rugby and men’s rugby) to give Navy 36 varsity sports teams, tied with Stanford and Ohio State for the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Gladchuk’s efforts have been recognized on a national level. He received the John L. Toner Award from the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in December of 2016, which recognizes an athletics director who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics. Gladchuk was recognized for engineering the move to the American Athletic Conference, which will secure Navy’s future as a FBS program of national stature for years to come.
Gladchuk, who is the longest tenured athletic director in the FBS, joined the College Football Playoff committee prior to the start of the 2022 football season.
Gladchuk has received the Bobby Dodd Athletic Director of the Year Award. This national award is presented in recognition of an athletic director’s support and commitment toward the successful advancement of intercollegiate athletics. He has been recognized by the Secretary of the Navy for his contributions and service to the Navy and the Naval Academy with the Superior Public Service Award to the Department of the Navy. He was awarded the Commodore Perry Distinguished Citizens Award by the Navy League, has served as the President of the Division I Athletic Directors Association and is a member of the prestigious Division I FBS College Football Playoff Committee. Recently he was the finalist for the Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year award.
Gladchuk has been able to parlay Navy’s athletic success into a television partnership with CBS Sports Network that has increased Navy’s television exposure both in the United States and internationally.
CBS Sports Network, the first 24-hour college sports network, televises every Navy home and select neutral site football games (excluding Notre Dame and Army which are televised nationally by CBS), as well as other Midshipmen men’s and women’s athletic events, original programming and documentaries centered on the storied Navy athletic program. The long-term, multi-media agreement includes internet streaming, broadband and video-on-demand rights and high definition rights. A major part of the agreement was that all home football games would be played on Saturday for the convenience of the Navy alumni. Navy sports are seen all over the world with the international distribution of Navy programming, especially to the troops serving abroad. Navy’s contract with CBS Sports Network runs through 2027. In addition, as a member of the American Athletic Conference for football, every road game is televised by major networks.
Gladchuk added radio giants WBAL (1090 AM) in Baltimore and WFED (1500 AM, 1050 AM, 820 AM) in Washington D.C./Northern Virginia to Navy’s radio network. WBAL Radio, which is Maryland’s dominant and most powerful radio station. WFED Radio, which is also the home of the Washington Nationals, is a 50,000-watt station that will air 10 regular-season football games.
Since being introduced as the Academy’s 28th Director of Athletics on Sept. 4, 2001, Gladchuk has pressed forward on numerous fronts with high energy and ever-expanding vision. From the hiring of some of the top coaches in the country to the renovation of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Gladchuk has made improvements in many key areas that will prove success on the athletic fields for years to come.
Gladchuk’s initial impact on the Naval Academy was the $80 million renovation of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Under his vision and leadership, the stadium was completely refurbished over a three-phase time frame. Gladchuk worked closely with the city, county, state and neighborhood associations to ensure proper communication and sensitivity to issues that benefit both the NAAA and community at large. Gladchuk was awarded the Green Star award by the City of Annapolis for commitment to the environment and the neighborhood during the ongoing renovation of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Gladchuk and the NAAA have also teamed up with the Naval Academy Foundation to raise private funds for every physical mission facility, such as the new 25,000 sq. ft. Physical Mission Center in Ricketts Hall, Brigade Sports Complex (golf, tennis, hockey, rugby, etc.), Max Bishop Stadium (baseball), varsity squash courts, all team locker rooms and all practice facilities. Over the past decade, more than $200 million non-appropriated dollars have been raised in support of capital projects in support of the physical mission and intercollegiate athletics. In addition, as a 501c3 non-profit business entity, under Gladchuk’s leadership, the Naval Academy Athletic Association has externally generated essentially all annual operating funding to support 36 varsity sports programs, provide coaching and staffing salaries, maintenance expenditures for many major athletic facilities, and new initiatives as they are developed. During Gladchuk’s tenure, over $800M has been externally generated with non-appropriated funding in support of the annual operation of intercollegiate athletics and the physical mission.
Other highlights during Gladchuk’s tenure at the Naval Academy include the renegotiation of the Army-Navy contract which resulted in over $50 million to the two schools over an eight-year period, scheduling Maryland, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Army at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore to promote Navy football in the community, negotiating the extension of the Navy-Notre Dame and Army-Navy football game television contract with CBS and negotiating bowl deals with the Houston, Emerald, Poinsettia, Meineke Car Care, EagleBank, Texas, Armed Forces and Military Bowls.
Gladchuk is heavily involved with many NCAA, the American Athletic Conference and Patriot League committees. He was selected to serve on the NCAA Leadership Council, which is one of the highest NCAA appointments an athletic director can realize. The council helps set the Division I legislative agenda and advises the NCAA regarding major legislative issues being considered.
Gladchuk has been on the NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors) Executive Committee and served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee in the Patriot League and a member of the NCAA Olympic Sport Liaison Committee. Currently he remains President of the Naval Academy Golf Association and recently led a capital campaign to successfully complete a $10M renovation of the course.
Gladchuk came to the Naval Academy from the University of Houston, where he had been the Director of Athletics for four years and guided the Cougars to 19 Conference USA Championships, while making significant strides in the academic success of their student-athletes, gender equity and fiscal management.
Before Houston, Gladchuk was the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Intramurals and Recreation for seven years at his alma mater, Boston College. Under Gladchuk, Boston College emerged as one of the NCAA’s elite programs of the 1990s winning numerous Big East and NCAA Championships. The school’s graduation rate for all student-athletes was annually over 90 percent and the Eagles often won the College Football Association’s Academic Achievement Award for the highest graduation rates among all Division I schools. Gladchuk led the Alumni Stadium expansion effort, which resulted in a $35 million improvement to the football stadium.
Prior to rejoining Boston College, Gladchuk served as AD at Tulane University from 1987-90. During his tenure, he directed the reinstatement of the Green Wave basketball program to Division I status. In addition, he oversaw the construction of new facilities for the athletics administration as well as baseball, track and field and tennis teams after a $25 million athletics campaign was successfully completed.
From 1985-87, he served as Associate AD at Syracuse University, heading operations, NCAA compliance, financial aid and facility operations.
Gladchuk lettered three years in football at Boston College and graduated with honors in business management in 1973. He earned a master’s in sports administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1974, where he began his career in intercollegiate athletics, including serving for seven years as Director of General Physical Education, Assistant and Associate Athletic Director for the university. He also has served as Director of Athletics and head football coach for the New Hampton (Prep) School in New Hampshire prior to leaving for UMass.
He and his wife, Kathy, have four children: John, a graduate of Loyola Marymount; Katie, a graduate of Boston College; Christie, a graduate of Trinity; and Julie, a graduate of the University of North Carolina.
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