Joel Maturi

Joel Maturi (/məˈtʌri/ mə-TURR-ee) is an American university administrator. He is currently an assistant to University of Minnesota president Eric W. Kaler. Maturi was the athletic director at the University of Denver (1996–1998), Miami University (1998–2002), and the University of Minnesota (2002–2012).

Early career

Maturi graduated from University of Notre Dame in 1967 and started his career as a coach and administrator in high school sports, culminating in his induction to the Wisconsin Basketball Hall of Fame. Maturi is also known as the inspiration for Chris Farley's Saturday Night Live character, motivational speaker Matt Foley. Maturi coached Farley at Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart.^[1]

Maturi was hired as the athletics director at Denver in 1996 after serving as associate athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1987 to 1996, and helped the Denver program transition to Division I from Division II. He was hired at Miami as athletics director in 1998 and held that post until hired by Minnesota on July 12, 2002.

University of Minnesota

At Minnesota, he has been expected to help the Minnesota Golden Gophers recover from the fallout from the men's basketball NCAA infractions. Maturi played a crucial role in securing funding for an on campus stadium for the football team after years of wrangling with the state legislature.^[2][3] In 2007, Maturi hired Tubby Smith from the University of Kentucky to be the new men's basketball coach.^[4] He signed a three-year contract extension through 2009 in late 2006.^[5] Maturi's teams have won several national championships in his tenure: wrestling (2007),^[6] men's golf (2002), men's hockey (2002, 2003), and women's hockey (2004, 2005, 2012).^[7]

On February 2, 2012, Maturi announced that he would be retiring as athletic director on June 30, 2012. Maturi said he would be remaining at the school as an assistant to school president Eric Kaler.^[8] On June 18, 2012, Norwood Teague succeeded him as athletic director. In March 2013, Maturi accepted a position as a member of the NCAA infractions committee.^[9]

References

1. "Maturi the man in the van down by the river?". Foxsports.com. September 19, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
2. Tibbets, Than (March 25, 2005). "TCF banks on U's campus stadium". Minnesota Daily. Archived from the original on November 13, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
3. Hammerand, Jim (May 24, 2006). "Legislature approves U football stadium". Minnesota Daily. Archived from the original on April 18, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
4. "Smith welcomes challenge to make Gophers a winner". Associated Press. March 24, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
5. "Maturi signs three-year contract extension as Gopher's AD". Associated Press. September 21, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
6. "Minnesota Championships". University of Minnesota. 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
7. "Athletics Director Joel Maturi". University of Minnesota. 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
8. Maturi out as Gophers athletic director
9. Walters, Charley (March 2, 2013). "Gophers' Mike Rallis eager to show he's NFL-worthy". St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved 2013-03-03.