California State University, Northridge President Dianne F. Harrison announced Monday the hiring of Dr. Brandon Martin, a former Cleveland High School and USC basketball star who has more than a dozen years of experience in intercollegiate athletics and sports administration in NCAA Division I athletics, as the new athletic director of the Matadors’ 18-team intercollegiate program.
When Martin, 39, assumes his new position April 1, he will be joining a small number of African-Americans who head an athletics program at universities in the United States. According to the 2010 College Racial and Gender Report Card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports in all of Division I, African‐Americans hold only 7.4 percent of athletic director positions.
Harrison introduced Martin to the campus community during a special gathering in the Northridge Center of the University Student Union. Martin will be responsible for Northridge’s NCAA Division IAAA athletic program that includes a $9 million budget and about 350 student-athletes in eight men’s and 10 women’s teams.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Martin back home to the Los Angeles region and to the San Fernando Valley, and are proud to welcome him into the Matador family,” Harrison said. “He has played a key leadership role in one of the country’s top sports programs. We look forward to him bringing his extensive experience to CSUN and taking the Matadors to the next level.”
