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NACDA names Windegger as Corbett recipient

NCAA.org

The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics announced that NACDA past president and former TCU Director of Athletics Frank Windegger is the recipient of the 46th James J. Corbett Memorial Award.  

The Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who “through the years has most typified Corbett’s devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment.” Corbett, athletics director at LSU, was NACDA’s first president in 1965. The award is the highest honor NACDA bestows.

Additionally, Windegger will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute, an educational institute sponsored by NACDA and the universities of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern California and Texas.

“This has been a surprising and appreciated culmination to a fulfilling career,” said Windegger. “I have been very fortunate to spend my life working in such a rewarding field. My years in NACDA are some of the best of my life.”

Windegger began his career on the Fort Worth campus as a student-athlete in 1953. He was the first recruit signed by legendary football coach Abe Martin. In addition to playing football for the Horned Frogs, Windegger also enjoyed a career as a star pitcher on the baseball team.

After graduating in 1957, Windegger spent two years in the Army and had a brief stint as a high school coach before returning to campus to take over the baseball program in 1962. His 14-year tenure was the most successful in TCU history, as Windegger posted a 298-166-1 (.641) record in that time. In 1963, at the age of 28, Windegger became the youngest coach to ever to win a Southwest Conference title.

While Windegger coached baseball, he simultaneously served as the ticket manager, athletics business manager and assistant athletics director before succeeding Martin as the AD in 1975.

Over the two-plus decades at the helm, he built a solid all-sports program. The men’s tennis team ranked was nationally ranked 23 times in 25 years, the women’s golf team captured a national championship and the men’s basketball team captured a pair of SWC titles.

Nationally, Windegger was prominent on NCAA and SWC committees. He is a member of various Halls of Fame, including NACDA and the TCU Lettermen’s Association.