Haidet Announces Retirement As Director Of Athletics
Sept. 15, 2008
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Director of Athletics Bud Haidet has announced his retirement from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The retirement is planned for July 2009.
Haidet made the announcement today during a news conference at the Klotsche Center.
Since being hired in 1988, Haidet has led UWM to unprecedented athletic and academic heights. He has guided the program from NAIA status back to NCAA Division I competition and then established UWM as a powerhouse in the Horizon League. Along the way, Haidet helped UWM athletics build a national reputation, highlighted by a men's basketball run to the Sweet 16 in 2005.
In short, he leaves behind a highly-successful and respected program that looks nothing like the small program he took over some 20 years ago.
"As you can imagine, this is a time of mixed emotions," Haidet said. "While I am excited to turn to a new chapter in my life, I am saddened to be leaving a profession I love. Moreso, I am saddened to be leaving a University and administration that gave me the chance to be an athletics director and to be leaving a loyal and highly-skilled staff as well as all of our Panther fans and friends."
"Among the many impressive qualities Bud brought to UWM was his steady leadership through the most successful and the most challenging times,"Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago said. "He enlisted excellent coaches and support staff who in turn could develop student-athletes to be victorious on the fields of competition, and in the classroom and community. Plus he helped us greatly upgrade UWM athletic facilities with the limited resources available."
The consistent accomplishments during Haidet's tenure are remarkable.
Thanks to incredible success in a number of sports, the Panthers have won the Horizon League's McCafferty Trophy four times while winning the league's women's all-sports award seven times and the men's award three times. Since the transition to Division I in 1990, UWM teams have won 85 league regular season, tournament and championship titles, while Panther coaches have claimed 67 league coach of the year honors.
UWM teams have also excelled on the national stage. Panther squads have made27 NCAA Tournament appearances, while individual UWM athletes have appeared in the track and field national championships seven times.
Haidet has helped improve the athletics facilities at UWM. Highlights include the construction of the Pavilion, which opened in 2006 and houses the department's administrative offices as well as new locker rooms, team rooms, weight room and sports medicine facility. He has also helped guide continued improvements to the Klotsche Center and directed the addition of lights to Engelmann Field.
UWM's student-athletes have succeeded in the classroom during Haidet's tenure. Fifteen student-athletes have earned Academic All-America honors while UWM has also consistently been at or near the top of the Horizon League in the number of student-athletes on the league honor roll. Seventy student-athletes were honored by the league this past June, and the current cumulative grade point average of UWM's nearly 280 student-athletes is 3.172.
Over Haidet's long tenure, athletics at UWM has moved from NAIA and NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I status, and from independent status to membership in two athletic conferences. He is quick to spread credit for the development of the program, pointing out the strong commitment to athletics by the institution and student association has greatly contributed to the successful growth. Part of that commitment is evident in the expansion of the athletics budget under Haidet, a figure that stood at approximately $750,000 when he was hired and has grown to nearly $10 million.
"It has been a great run with incredible growth in our program. We have accomplished a long list of great things and I have so many wonderful memories," Haidet said. "Although I step down leaving some of my dreams and visions for a future administrator - such as our need for an athletic village to meet our facility needs - I leave feeling `Panther Proud!' I am leaving a successful program that clearly has the potential for continued growth."
Haidet's influence has gone far beyond the boundaries of the UWM campus. He has been chair of the Horizon League's Executive Council, a member of NCAA Division I Peer Review Certification teams and a member of two NCAA committees.
Prior to coming to UWM, Haidet was an athletics administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He was inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.
A former captain in the Marine Corps, Haidet's family includes his wife, Beth, stepson, Drew, four children and 13 grandchildren.
-- story provided by the UWM Sports Information Office
