Brett Simpson is entering his eleventh year leading Wolf Pack Athletics and was promoted to Assistant Vice President in the fall of 2024.
Under Simpson’s leadership, the department has seen unprecedented success with the Wolf Pack capturing 26 conference championships, culminating in the 2022 men’s basketball national championship, the first in 77 years in Loyola’s history. The Wolf Pack have set records in Learfield Cup points in four years with Simpson at the helm.
The department has seen numerous upgrades under Simpson’s watch. The most significant include over $1.5 million in improvements to the University Sports Complex which consisted of new chairback seating, Hall of Fame Room, court configuration, lighting, functional training area, hydrotherapy area, and branding both throughout the facility and aquatics center.
Simpson is instrumental in the national landscape of the NAIA. He has served on the NAIA’s National Administrative Council (NAC) since 2017 and currently is the chair of the ratings and postseason selection committee. Additionally, he has led the NAIA’s ratings task force which has updated policy regarding the role of ratings in postseason selection. Since his appointment on the NAC, Simpson has been a member of the NAIA baseball postseason selection committee and serves as national liaison to the NAIA American Baseball Coaches Association. Simpson also leads the Southern States Athletic Director Committee as chairman.
In 2020, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named Simpson 2019-20 Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year, an award given to 28 of the nation’s top athletic administrators across all divisions of the NCAA, NAIA, and junior colleges.
Simpson won his third SSAC Athletic Director of the Year award in four years in June 2022. Under Simpson's leadership during the 2021-22 academic year, the Wolf Pack men's basketball team won the school's first NAIA National Championship in 77 years while six total conference championships were earned in the department. Loyola also finished 57th in the national Director's Cup rankings with 333 total points - the second-high for the department - and Loyola placed second in the SSAC Commissioner's Cup, which is tied for the best finish for the department. Six Wolf Pack programs finished the season nationally ranked, there were 11 NAIA All-Americans honored throughout the school year, and a total of 108 postseason conference accolades were handed out to Wolf Pack student-athletes and staff.
During his seventh year, Loyola saw three teams claim conference championships, six teams nationally ranked and 98 student-athletes named All-Academic by the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC).
In 2018-19, the Loyola athletic department set a new school record with 351 points in the Learfield Directors’ Cup for the 2018-19 year, which awards points based on a school’s success in the NAIA National Championships. Under Simpson’s leadership, Loyola has seen its standing in the Learfield Directors’ Cup improve each year of his tenure. Under his direction, the Wolf Pack earned four team conference titles during the 2018-19 season, as both men's and women's basketball, competitive dance, and women's golf have all hoisted SSAC titles this past academic year. In total, seven Loyola teams qualified for their respective NAIA National Championship tournaments: men's and women's basketball, competitive dance, men's and women's swimming, women's tennis, and women's golf.
The athletics department also had an 11-year high for student-athlete GPA, 3.261, during the 2019-20 school year. All 18 programs earned NAIA Scholar-Team recognition, the highest in the conference and a department record. In 2018-19, the Wolf Pack had six student-athletes named to their respective sports' Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the most in program history and highest in the SSAC.
Loyola has been named a Champions of Character institution every year Simpson has served as Athletic Director, as it’s been awarded that honor for 14 straight years.
After spending 15 years climbing the ranks of the Loyola University New Orleans athletic department, Brett Simpson was promoted to Director of Intercollegiate Athletics on August 1, 2014. Soon after receiving his new appointment, Simpson launched an ambitious plan to grow the Wolf Pack Athletic Department into one of most robust in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). He inherited a department that boasted 14 sports and 147 student-athletes. With the addition of men’s and women’s swimming and competitive cheer and dance in 2016-17, as well as beach volleyball and esports in 2021, the Wolf Pack has grown to 20 intercollegiate sports and over 260 student-athletes. The department has gained national recognition in competition as well as the classroom.
The 2021-22 academic year marks Simpson’s 25th with the department.
In handling the operations of the department, Simpson created and administered student-athlete assessments, developed learning outcomes and produced reports in preparation for SACS reaccreditation. He worked to create and execute a plan to expand the athletic department by adding men’s and women’s tennis as well as men’s and women’s golf. Loyola increased the number of student-athletes from 78 since 2007, while maintaining a retention rate of over 90%.
Simpson served as Assistant Athletic Director from 1999-2005, where he was primarily responsible for marketing and media relations. He also played baseball for the Wolf Pack as a student, and later accepted a position as an assistant coach, a position he held until 2011.
As an assistant coach and a player for Loyola, Simpson was instrumental in the resurrection of the program. The 2000 squad set the record for most wins in a season in the 44-year history of the program with 35. The 2002 squad won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and qualified for their first-ever NAIA Regional. He also coached the first player to be drafted since the reinstatement of the program with David Lindsey’s selection by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 19th round in 2000.
During his playing days for the Loyola baseball team, Simpson earned four letters as an outfielder for the Wolf Pack. He was co-captain for the 1995 and 1996 squads. In 1996, he was the starting left fielder on the first Loyola baseball team to reach post-season play since the reinstatement of athletics back in 1991.
In addition to his experience at Loyola, he acted as chairman of the baseball committee for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) and served as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Site Supervisor for the Baseball National Championships Opening Round on three occasions.
Simpson has also assisted with the media relations staff of the Allstate Sugar Bowl/BCS Championship and Nike at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. He was appointed to the alumni board at St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie, Louisiana, and belongs to various professional and civic organizations.
Simpson graduated from Loyola in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications/public relations and went on to receive a Master of Business Administration from the University in 2003.
