Mario Moccia

Position: Director of Athletics Alma Mater: New Mexico State (1989)

Updated June 1, 2011

Under the leadership of director of athletics Mario Moccia, the future has never been brighter for Saluki Athletics. Not only does the department have a host of successful teams, it has recently moved into the state-of-the art facilities those programs deserve.

Shortly after Moccia arrived on campus in 2006, he charted the course for Saluki Way - an ambitious $83 million facilities campaign featuring a new football stadium, renovated arena and 50,000-square foot team facility.

The department broke ground on the project in the spring of 2009 and the new facilities opened during the Fall of 2010.

When Moccia (pronounced Mo-chuh) took the helm at SIU, the annual scholarship fund totaled slightly more than $600,000. Four years later, it has more than doubled to $1.3 million.

Ticket sales have made dramatic gains during Moccia's tenure, with sharp increases in revenue in both football and men's basketball. He also negotiated a seven-figure multimedia rights agreement with Learfield Sports and signed an exclusive agreement with Under Armour for football, men's basketball and softball apparel.

The financial success has allowed Moccia to hire marquee coaches such as Dale Lennon, a two-time Missouri Valley Football Conference and AFCA Region IV Coach of the Year.

Under Moccia's watch, the men's basketball program advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2007 and finished No. 11 in the nation -- the highest ranking in school history. The football program set a conference record for consecutive weeks in the Top 25 and reached the Final Four of the FCS Playoffs in 2007.

The Salukis have been successful across the board, winning conference championships in women's golf, women's basketball, men's cross country, men's tennis, softball, women's track and women's swimming & diving in the last four years. Southern Illinois ranked No. 95 in the 2010 Learfield Director's Cup standings, the highest finish among Missouri Valley Conference schools.

Equally impressive are the marks Saluki student-athletes have posted in the classroom. The cumulative GPA of all student-athletes stands at 3.03.

The department has expanded its broadcast footprint under Moccia's leadership, creating the school's first-ever TV and radio networks, that extends throughout southern Illinois and also reaches St. Louis, Kentucky and Indiana.

Saluki Athletics also successfully completed its NCAA 10-year certification process in 2008.

In 2011, Moccia began serving a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet. The cabinet oversees six committees and reports directly to the Division I Leadership Council regarding policy and legislative issues.

Prior to SIU, Moccia was the senior associate AD for external operations at the University of Missouri, where he oversaw the largest fund-raising effort in the history of Mizzou Athletics with the Champions For Life campaign. During his tenure (1998-2006), Missouri posted record football season ticket sales and an increase of more than $3 million in annual giving during a five-year period.

Moccia holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from New Mexico State University (1989), where he was the Most Valuable Player of the Aggie baseball team in 1988 and 1989. As a senior, he was a preseason All-American. Moccia was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and played professionally for two years before beginning his administrative career.

Moccia earned a master's degree in sports administration from the University of New Mexico (1993). In 1998, he was named to the New Mexico State University Athletics Hall of Fame. Moccia is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and serves on several national committees.

Mario and his wife, Heidi - a former All-American women's soccer player at UMass - reside in Murphysboro with their daughter, Addie.