RECENT MEDIA
• CBS 8: UC San Diego Basketball Teams Make History (3/18/25)
• KUSI: UC San Diego's Division I High Tide Lifts All Boats (3/10/25)
• Homecoming 2024 to Celebrate a New Era (10/08/24)
• Our Time to Shine (5/22/24)
• Tritoncast (9/13/23)
• Tritoncast (6/9/21)
• Tritoncast (7/1/20)
• San Diego Union-Tribune profile (6/17/20)
• Big West/Division I Union-Tribune Feature (11/27/17)
• ABC 10 Interview (5/13/17)
For the last 25 years, Earl W. Edwards has been synonymous with UC San Diego Athletics. Edwards accepted the position of Director of Athletics at UC San Diego in March 2000. Since his arrival, UC San Diego has consistently been recognized nationally for its academic and athletic achievements and, in just two decades, has risen from NCAA Division III to Division II to the highest level of competition, Division I.
Under his guidance, the 24-sport program made a very successful transition from the NCAA Division II ranks to Division I. The Triton baseball team was the first to capture a Big West title in 2023. In 2025, both the men’s and women’s basketball programs won The Big West and competed in the NCAA Tournament in their first year with postseason eligibility – making UC San Diego the first institution in NCAA history to advance to both its men’s and women’s programs to March Madness in their first year eligible. Academically, UC San Diego’s stellar graduation rate exceeds any other public Division I institution.
UC San Diego surpassed all expectations at the Division II level, capturing women's soccer national championships in both 2000 and 2001 and the softball national title in 2011. After moving to Division II for the 2000-01 academic year, UC San Diego ranked among the top seven programs in the country in the annual Learfield Directors' Cup standings on 12 different occasions. In 2004 and again in 2007, UC San Diego was the national runner up.
During its time in Division II, UC San Diego also won eight California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Commissioners' Cup titles – an award that recognizes the best overall athletics program in the prestigious conference.
Additionally, UC San Diego ranked first among all Division II institutions in eight straight National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Collegiate Power Rankings, which comprehensively measure student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength and athletic prowess. Listed in the NCSA's rankings for the 10th consecutive year in 2014 (the last year of the rankings), UC San Diego placed 12th of all schools in the country. In 2007, UC San Diego garnered its highest national ranking, coming in at No. 4.
Edwards has built several new facilities and enhanced others during his tenure, including a softball stadium, a baseball stadium and clubhouse and a strength and conditioning center. Triton Soccer Stadium was updated with permanent seating and a brand-new playing surface. In 2019, he oversaw a major renovation of LionTree Arena that included new seating areas, a 50' x 15' video scoreboard and a modernized Skybox suite. Canyonview Aquatic Center received a new video scoreboard in 2024.
The road to Division I was a long one. In 2016, UC San Diego's undergraduate student body voted overwhelmingly in favor to move the institution's athletics program to NCAA Division I. On November 27, 2017, UC San Diego officially accepted an invitation to join the Big West Conference and will begin a four-year Division I reclassification period in 2020. Read the full press release here.
In March 2017, Edwards was named one of 28 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Athletics Directors of the Year. In 2007, Edwards was named the West Region Athletics Director of the Year by NACDA.
Edwards has served on many national and regional committees and organizations throughout his career, including the NACDA Division II Board of Directors and the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) Board of Directors. Edwards is also an ex-officio board member of the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) and has served as the organization's president. He now serves as chair of the Big West Conference's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
Edwards was on NACDA's Executive Committee from 2003-07 and has been part of the Division II Management Council, the Division II Championships and Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee, the Walter Byers Scholarship Committee and the Committee for Women's Athletics. In addition, Edwards was a member of the CCAA's Executive Council during the program's Division II era.
Edwards has published several articles in Athletic Management and was featured on the cover of the June 2007 issue.
In the San Diego community, Edwards serves on the board of directors for San Diego Bowl Games, San Diego Sports Innovators and La Jolla Rotary and is a member of the Sports Alliance Executive Committee.
In addition to working as Athletics Director at East Stroudsburg University and UC San Diego, he has athletics administration experience at the University of Massachusetts, UC Davis, the University of Michigan and Drexel University.
A 1972 graduate of East Stroudsburg, Edwards earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education. He went on to receive a master's in Sports Administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1973.
Earl Edwards was named a 2017 NACDA Athletic
Director of the Year (Robb Cohen Photography & Video)
