Staff Directory

Scott Dolson

Title:
Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Email:
Phone:
(812) 855-2794

IU alumnus Scott Dolson is in his seventh year as Indiana University’s Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. He previously spent 11 years as the department’s Deputy Director of Athletics and Chief Operating Officer.

Dolson has navigated enormous challenges during his first five years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), the Transfer Portal, and Revenue Sharing. Despite these hurdles, Dolson has overseen an era of remarkable athletic and academic accomplishments. While his successes have spanned his entire tenure, the 2025-26 year was an especially notable year for IU Athletics under his leadership.

Highlighting last year’s successes were the achievements of the IU Football program under Coach Curt Cignetti, whom Dolson hired in 2023. In 2025, Indiana Football enjoyed the greatest season in program history, and one of the greatest seasons in college football history. The Hoosiers went a perfect 16-0 and earned the program’s first-ever national championship with victories over Alabama (38-3), Oregon (56-22) and Miami, Fla. (27-21) in the College Football Playoff. IU also won its first outright Big Ten Championship in 80 years with its 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game. Additional "firsts" for the program included:

The first-ever undefeated regular season.
The first-ever No. 1 national ranking.
The program’s first Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza.
First-ever wins over No. 1 ranked (Ohio State) and No. 2 ranked (Oregon) opponents.
The No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff.

These successes earned Cignetti consensus National Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year.

Dolson, meanwhile, earned numerous national accolades in his own right. He was selected as NACDA’s Athletic Director of the Year, and was also one of three finalists for the Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year honor as well.

While football shined a spotlight on Bloomington, the department's successes extended well beyond the gridiron.

Academically, IU’s student-athletes have performed at an extraordinary level, including in 2025-26. A total of 118 earned their Indiana University degrees during the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, 12 of IU’s programs earned a perfect Academic Progress Report (APR) score in the spring of 2026, and collectively IU’s programs had an APR score of 992 (out of 1,000). IU also earned a school-record 92 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) score last year, the seventh time in the last eight years IU has been at 90 percent or better.

Athletically, IU teams excelled individually and collectively on the Big Ten and NCAA levels in 2025-26. Joining the football program as Big Ten Champions was the Men’s Swimming and Diving program, which captured its fifth consecutive conference championship. Led by Big Ten Freshman and Swimmer of the Year Josh Bey and Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year Ray Looze, the Hoosiers also finished third at the NCAA Championships. In Women’s Swimming and Diving, the Hoosiers placed seventh at the NCAA Championship and were Big Ten runners-up. Coach Ray Looze’s team was led by freshmen Liberty Clark and Alex Shackell, who combined to earn 14 All-America honors and three top-three finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Numerous other IU programs enjoyed stellar 2025-26 season as well. In Volleyball, Coach Steve Aird’s team earned the program’s second-ever NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and established new program records for overall wins (25) and Big Ten wins (14) while finishing 13^th in the final national poll. In Women’s Golf, IU earned its second NCAA Championships invitation in the last three years, and in Softball, IU earned a program-record fourth-straight NCAA invitation. In Men’s Soccer, IU extended its NCAA-record streak with a 39^th straight NCAA Tournament invitation, and in Wrestling, Coach Angel Escobedo’s team earned a second-straight Top-25 finish at the NCAA Championships.

IU Athletics is also enjoying record-setting performances in terms of attendance. In Football, IU sold out the final four home games of the season and its average home attendance of 51,184 ranked second in school history. Men’s Basketball led the Big Ten and ranked ninth nationally in average home attendance (15,677), while Women’s Basketball has averaged at least 10,000 fans/game in two of the last three seasons.

Under Dolson’s leadership, IU continues to be at the forefront of supporting its female student-athletes and women’s intercollegiate athletics. Shortly after he assumed the leadership of IU Athletics, he announced the creation of the Women’s Excellence Initiative, a fundraising effort designed to enhance the intercollegiate athletic opportunities for IU’s female student-athletes. To help direct these efforts, the IU Athletics Women’s Excellence Committee was created under the Varsity Club National Board of Directors, a group that includes, among others, former Indiana University First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie, former IU Board of Trustees member Donna Spears, Indianapolis Colts’ Vice Chair and Owner Kalen Jackson, and co-founder and Board Chair of the Samerian Foundation Cindy Simon Skjodt. Since its launch in August of 2021, Women’s Excellence has raised more than $8.5 million – far exceeding the initial goal of $1 million. Those funds have already been used for facility enhancements that have impacted Women’s Basketball, Field Hockey, Rowing, and Softball, and to fund overseas off-season training trips for Volleyball and Women’s Basketball.

Throughout Dolson’s tenure, IU Athletics has also been a national leader in the Name, Image and Likeness arena. IU’s official NIL partners – Hoosiers For Good and Hoosiers Connect – have been actively forming partnerships with IU student-athletes from the outset of the NIL era. In addition, IU Athletics has established partnerships with industry leaders Opendorse and Altius Sports Partners, as well as the IU Kelley School of Business, Media School and Maurer School of Law, to support the department’s ongoing and comprehensive efforts to educate and support its student-athletes and allow them to maximize their opportunity in the new intercollegiate athletics landscape.

In addition to his successes at IU, Dolson has also been involved in a leadership role on the Big Ten and NCAA levels. He recently completed a three-year stint as a member of the NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Committee, and he also recently served as the Chairperson of the Big Ten Athletic Directors Group.

Dolson was appointed to his role as the leader of IU Athletics by former IU President Michael A. McRobbie. In assuming the role, Dolson has remained committed to the foundational principles put in place his predecessor, Fred Glass, while also adapting to the new realities of college athletics in the revenue sharing and NIL era. The amalgamation of those components resulted in IU Athletics’ new mantra, Never Daunted, which was introduced in 2025. As the wording suggests, ‘Never Daunted’ acknowledges the challenges associated with the recent changes that have transformed college athletics. But it also emphasizes IU Athletics’ unwavering commitment to adapt, evolve, and ultimately succeed in this new environment to maximize the intercollegiate athletics experience for our student-athletes, programs, department, and fanbase.

In pursuit of those goals, IU Athletics concentrates its efforts on its deep-rooted priorities of:

1. Playing by the rules;
2. Achieving academically;
3. Achieving athletically;
4. Supporting Student-Athletes’ wellness and personal growth; and
5. Integrating with the University.

In his previous role as Deputy Director of Athletics, Dolson helped oversee strategic planning of all facility projects and renovations, ensuring the successful completion of the university's Bicentennial Facilities Master Plan for IU Athletics, which includes over $150 million in facility construction and renovations. In recent years, these projects have included the North End Zone Student-Athlete Development Center, the Henke Hall of Champions, the D. Ames Shuel Academic Center, Bart Kaufman Field, the Andy Mohr Softball Field, the Cook Hall basketball practice facility, the renovated Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the enclosure of the South End Zone of Memorial Stadium (Excellence Academy), and Wilkinson Hall, IU's new home for its volleyball and wrestling teams. More recently, the projects also include the five-year-old championship golf course, The Pfau Course at Indiana University, and the Tardy Center renovations at Armstrong Stadium.

In addition to his role as deputy director of intercollegiate athletics, Dolson maintained his leadership as the fourth director of the Varsity Club. As director, he managed the athletic department's overall fundraising program for scholarships, annual giving, endowments and athletic facilities.

The Michigan City, Indiana, native graduated from IU with a bachelor's degree in management from the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. While doing his undergraduate work, Dolson was a student manager for the IU men's basketball team for four seasons, serving as the program's head manager in 1988. Following graduation in 1988, he worked for Tim Knight Enterprises before joining the joining the Varsity Club staff in December 1989.

Dolson and his wife, Heidi, have five children: Luke, Sam and Zach Wisen, and Kristen and Nick Dolson.

2025-26 Academic and Athletic Accomplishments

Twelve programs earned a perfect Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 1,000, and collectively IU programs had a 992 APR score
Collectively, IU’s athletic programs earned a record 92 Graduation Success Rate (GSR) score
School record 119 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (3.7 GPA or higher)
319 Academic All-Big Ten honorees, the sixth consecutive year of 300+ for the department
118 student-athletes earned their Indiana University degrees
Fernando Mendoza (Football) and Avery Parker (Softball) named IU Athletes of the Year
Avery Parker (Softball) and Jacob Moran (Wrestling) named G. Frederick Glass Spirit of Indiana Director’s Award winners
Curt Cignetti was the unanimous National Coach of the Year in Football, and he became the first football coach to win the AP National Coach of the Year honor in back-to-back seasons
Ray Looze won Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the fifth straight year, giving him a Big Ten record 17 Big Ten Coach of the Year honors overall
28 First-Team All-Big Ten selections
38 First, Second, or Third-Team All-America honorees
Football won its first-ever National Championship, going a perfect 16-0 and defeating Alabama (38-3), Oregon (56-22), and Miami, Fla. (27-21) in the College Football Playoff. The national championship came on the heels of the program’s first Big Ten Championship in 58 years, which was secured with a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The win over Ohio State catapulted IU to the No. 1 spot in the national polls for the first time in program history, and the Hoosiers were the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, which marked IU’s second straight trip to the season-ending championship playoff event.
Football’s Fernando Mendoza became the program’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner, easily outdistancing the Heisman field by earning 643 first-place votes from the 930 ballots cast. It was one of numerous awards for the IU quarterback, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards as the national player of the year, as well as the Big Ten Conference’s Male Athlete of the Year. Carter Smith, meanwhile, became IU’s first-ever Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year, and kicker Nico Radicic was honored as the Big Ten Kicker of the Year. That trio was joined on the First-Team All-Big Ten squad by linebacker Aiden Fisher, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, safety Louis Moore, defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker, and long snapper Mark Langston. Coach Curt Cignetti was selected as the National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Mendoza was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, becoming IU’s second-ever No. 1 overall pick. Omar Cooper, Jr., meanwhile, went No. 30 overall to the New York Jets, giving IU two first-round draft picks for the first time in school history. IU had a record eight players drafted overall - Mendoza, Cooper, D’Angelo Ponds (2^nd round), Kaelon Black (3^rd), Elijah Sarratt (4^th), Riley Nowakowski (5^th), Pat Coogan (6^th) and Aiden Fisher (7^th).
Men’s Swimming and Diving captured its fifth consecutive Big Ten Championship and placed third at the NCAA Championships. The third-place NCAA finish was the program’s seventh top-five finish in the last eight NCAA meets. Freshman Josh Bey earned Big Ten Swimmer and Freshman of the Year following a debut season that was highlighted by his runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships in the 200 breaststroke. Coach Ray Looze, meanwhile, captured his fifth consecutive Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year award.
Women’s Swimming and Diving earned its fourth straight top-seven finish at NCAAs, placing seventh with 258 points. Freshmen Liberty Clark and Alex Shackell led the way, combining for 14 All-America honors and three top-3 finishes in individual events. Clark was also honored as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after winning three events and claiming four runner-up finishes to help IU to a second-place team finish.
Volleyball earned its second-ever Sweet 16 berth to highlight the greatest season in program history. The Hoosiers established new program records for wins (25) and Big Ten wins (14) while finishing the year ranked No. 13 in the final national poll. IU had a record three players named First-Team All-Big Ten, as seniors Candela Alonso-Corcelles and Avry Tatum were joined by freshman Teodora Krickovic. Krickovic was joined on the Big Ten’s All-Freshman squad by Jaidyn Jager, who was the only unanimous selection on the all-newcomer squad.
Women’s Golf earned an NCAA invitation following a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Championships. After earning just one NCAA regional invitation in the previous 12 years, Coach Brian May has led IU to two NCAA tourneys in the last three years. Individually, Sheridan Clancy placed second at the NCAA Regional, securing her bid to the NCAA Championships where she placed 28^th.
Softball earned its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament invitation, marking the longest streak in program history. Coach Shonda Stanton’s team went 43-16 on the season and established new program single-season records for runs, hits, home runs and RBI.
Men’s Soccer earned its NCAA-record 39^th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, and Palmer Ault was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
Wrestling placed 21st at the NCAA Championships for its second straight Top 25 NCAA finish, and Jacob Moran placed sixth at 125 pounds at NCAAs to earn All-America honors and earn IU’s best individual finish in 10 years.