Reunion 2024

In addition to her management duties and sitting on both departments’ executive teams, Liebscher also manages a national portfolio of principal and leadership benefactors.

Liebscher led the development of a strategic business plan for the creation of the University’s Athletics fundraising operation in 2013-14. Through those efforts, the Athletics Advancement team was formed and is now raising record levels of private support for the endowment, expendable and capital needs of Notre Dame Athletics. Under Liebscher’s leadership, an initiative to fully endow all of the University’s coaching and athletics scholarships was launched, and the first-ever head coaching endowment at the University was secured in 2015, with seven additional coaching positions named subsequently; the Rockne Heritage Fund has grown nearly 150% in annual expendable revenue in support of discretionary funding; and a new Boathouse and Track and Field Facility have been built. Liebscher has also been involved in the new $400M Campus Crossroads project and is currently leading the fundraising for a Basketball practice facility and an indoor Football facility. She assisted with the establishment of the Advisory Council for the Student-Athlete and now has oversight of this group of high-capacity benefactors.

After returning to her alma mater in 2002 as a Senior Academic Counselor for Student-Athlete Academic Services, she was asked to join the Development team in September of 2004 as an Assistant Director and was promoted to Director of Athletics Advancement in 2007. In that role, Liebscher developed and led the Joyce Grants-in-Aid program – a program that was recognized campus-wide as the gold standard for outstanding donor stewardship – while also managing a portfolio of individual benefactors and playing an instrumental role in the capital campaigns for the Softball, Lacrosse and Hockey facilities. In 2010, Liebscher was promoted to Director of Regional Development, where she was responsible for developing relationships with members of the Notre Dame family who primarily resided in Southern California and other parts of the western United States.

Prior to returning to the University, Liebscher spent four years in National Corporate Banking at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati managing a portfolio of Fortune 500 companies, and served as the Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1996-2002.

A four-year monogram winner and captain of the women’s basketball team, Liebscher graduated from Notre Dame with a Bachelors in American Studies in 1991 and earned the distinction of being the first athlete in school history to record a triple-double. She led her team to four conference championships and the first Top 20 national ranking in school history. While completing her M.B.A. at the University from 1991-93, she served as the Women’s Basketball Graduate Assistant Coach under newly-elected Hall of Fame Head Coach, Muffet McGraw.

Liebscher was a part of the Notre Dame family long before donning the Irish uniform, as her father, Carl, graduated from the University in 1949 and her mother, Mary, graduated from Saint Mary’s College in 1950. Including four older siblings who earned degrees from Notre Dame and one from Saint Mary’s, Liebscher has 17 additional members of her extended family who are “Domers” and she currently shares the campus with three more who are undergraduates.

Outside the office, Liebscher has been an avid participant in the Women’s Basketball team’s annual Pink Zone efforts in support of breast cancer research and awareness. She has also served as a volunteer youth basketball coach and as a mentor for the Building Bridges multicultural program, in addition to recently joining the Women’s Advisory Board for Habitat for Humanity.

John B. “Jack” Swarbrick Jr., a University of Notre Dame graduate, serves as Athletic Director Emeritus. He served for 16 years as the Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics. During his tenure, he attached his signature to a variety of new initiatives including:

• Pushing Notre Dame to the forefront on issues related to student-athlete experience and the college athletics model – from leadership on the College Football Playoff Management Committee to expand the College Football Playoff to working with Congress to develop parameters to provide competitive equity across the collegiate sports landscape.
• Developing a plan for expanding Notre Dame Stadium in order to make it a year-round asset for the University, while also improving the gameday experience for student-athletes and fans.
• That initiative became reality with the 2014 announcement of the Campus Crossroads Project that added new structures to three sides of Notre Dame’s home football facility—creating new homes for student activities and recreation, career services, digital media, as well as academic disciplines anthropology, psychology, music and sacred music.
• Launching of Fighting Irish Media — a major enterprise that delivers better information about and access to Notre Dame and its athletic programs via expanded production and distribution of programming.
• Building the GLD (Grow. Lead. Do.) Center that houses student-athlete programs. This unit develops leadership skills, increases community service and provides mentoring and career services resources for the student-athlete population.
• Creating the STAND TOGETHER movement in conjunction with Notre Dame student-athletes, an equality initiative developed to create change locally and to be a catalyst for change nationally as it relates to social justice.
• Hosting of major events to generate revenue for the campus and community. Since 2018 Notre Dame has hosted two Garth Brooks concerts in Notre Dame Stadium (October 2018 & May 2022), the NHL Winter Classic in Notre Dame Stadium (January 2019), the 2019 U.S. Senior Open at the Warren Golf Course (June 2019) an international soccer match between Liverpool and Dortmund in Notre Dame Stadium (July 2019) and a Billy Joel concert (June 2022).
• Meeting the performance needs of Notre Dame student-athletes through establishment of a sports performance division to support and improve athletic performance through the application of science, medicine and technology.
• Creating systems and structures to maximize the impact of technical expertise, environments, technology and service delivery on an athlete’s ability to optimize performance.
• Innovative athletics partnership with Legends and JMI Sports — two of the leading athletics marketing and hospitality companies in the country — to oversee Notre Dame’s sales, marketing, hospitality, media rights and branding services on a local and national level. The University, through this 12-year agreement, seeks to create and implement unique programs and partnerships with an elite group of companies and brands — delivering unprecedented levels of engagement, first-class hospitality experiences and recognition.

Over the past several years, Swarbrick played a major role in significant announcements that positively impacted Notre Dame on the national collegiate scene:

• The 2019 launch of the ACC Network on ESPN – a comprehensive linear and digital network that will give fans access to more than 600 exclusive live events from across the conference via a linear channel within the ESPN family of networks and a digital live-events channel – ACC Network Extra.
• Membership for Notre Dame’s men’s ice hockey program in the Big Ten Conference that began with the 2017-18 season. The Irish joined Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin to form a seven-team hockey conference. Notre Dame won Big Ten titles in each of its first two seasons in the league.
• Membership for Notre Dame’s athletic teams (other than football and hockey) in the Atlantic Coast Conference that began with the 2013-14 athletic seasons. In football, Notre Dame plays five games per year against ACC opponents and has full access to the league’s list of postseason bowl options.
• An extension of the University’s relationship with NBC Sports through the 2025 football season.
• The 2014 announcement of an unmatched 10-year relationship with Under Armour that provides performance footwear, apparel and equipment for Irish athletic programs. In addition to being a shareholder in Under Armour, Notre Dame collaborates with Under Armour in the areas of sport technology, product development and athlete performance.
• Creation by the Bowl Championship Series of the four-team College Football Playoff, which started with the 2014 season, with Notre Dame maintaining viable access into that system.

Swarbrick’s tenure has featured a variety of on-and off-the-field Notre Dame athletics successes:

• NCAA team championships on 10 occasions – 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 in fencing, 2023 in men’s lacrosse, 2018 in women’s basketball, 2013 in men’s soccer and 2010 in women’s soccer – the most of any athletic director at Notre Dame.
• A pair of College Football Playoff berths (2018 & 2020) and a BCS National Championship selection in 2012.
• NCAA runner-up team finishes in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019 in women’s basketball, 2010 and 2014 in men’s lacrosse, 2009 and 2013 in fencing, 2018 in men’s hockey and 2008 in women’s soccer.
• Notre Dame was honored with three NCAA Awards in 2023, the most any school has ever won at the yearly awards ceremony. Honorees included Muffet McGraw (Pat Summitt Award), Kate Markgraf (Silver Anniversary Award) and Dr. Carol Lally Shields (Theodore Roosevelt Award).
• Two Men’s Capital One Cup wins in 2014 & 2022 which prize includes a $250,000 donation to the University’s student-athlete scholarship fund.

Born in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Yonkers and Bloomington, Indiana, Swarbrick is a 1976 magna cum laude graduate of Notre Dame, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Upon graduating from Stanford University Law School in 1980, he accepted a position as an associate in the Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels. He was made partner in 1987 and spent 28 years with the firm. He and his wife, Kimberly, are the parents of four children (and grandparents to two): Kate, a 2010 graduate of Saint Louis University; Connor, a 2011 graduate of Wake Forest University; Cal, a 2014 graduate of TCU; and Christopher, a 2015 graduate of Notre Dame.

Since Lawrence R. (Bubba) Cunningham officially began his duties as Carolina’s director of athletics on November 14, 2011, UNC has graduated more than 1,500 student-athletes while consistently competing for championships in an array of different sports – exciting, motivating and influencing along the way. Under Cunningham’s leadership, the athletic department has accomplished numerous academic and athletic achievements: 

• The Tar Heels have won 21 national titles and made an additional 14 runner-up finishes.
• More than 3500 student-athletes have made the ACC Academic Honor Roll — which requires a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better for the year.
• More than 46 student-athletes have been named to Phi Beta Kappa honors society.
• Twelve student-athletes have been NCAA Elite 90 recipients. 
• Fifteen Tar Heel teams scored a perfect 1000 in the NCAA’s APR for 2021-22. Seven teams registered perfect 1000s for the four-year rate, which measures 2018-19 through 2020-21, with all of Carolina’s teams reaching 950 or higher, with 16 of the teams hitting more than 990.
• The Tar Heels finished in the top 10 of the NACDA Learfield Directors’ Cup eight times, including a top-ten finish in 2023.
• And student-athletes have logged more than 50,000 hours of community service, helping at hospitals and local schools, and partnering with a variety of local and national groups.

Cunningham has led by supporting, challenging and innovating. Shortly after beginning his tenure as Carolina’s athletics director, he led a strategic planning process that defined the department’s mission statement: “We educate and inspire through athletics.” 
 
And that’s just what UNC has done during his 12 years in Chapel Hill.
 
Among Carolina’s many achievements during his tenure are a student-athlete degree completion program called Complete Carolina; a full compliance review by an outside firm; a master plan for UNC’s athletic facilities; the creation of the RAMMYs, a celebratory end-of-the-year awards show popular with Carolina’s student-athletes and staff; a commitment to youth sports with the National Fitness Foundation; a partnership with The Brandr Group to create a first-of-its-kind group licensing agreement for Tar Heel alumni; commemorating 50 Years of Carolina Women’s Athletics with a year-long celebration; and the launch of a Name, Image and Likeness initiative to help Tar Heel student-athletes navigate the changing landscape of college athletics.
 
He also has been committed to upgrading facilities to give student-athletes the best experience possible. In 2018-19, Carolina finished construction on a new field hockey stadium, track and field complex, a new football practice facility and lacrosse/soccer stadium as well as a new media and communications center. In 2021, Carolina opened the updated Eddie Smith Field House, and in 2022-23 it launched key capital projects at Finley Golf Course and Kenan Football Center while beginning construction on a new women’s basketball practice gym, installing new video boards at Carmichael Arena and adding state-of-the-art LED lighting to Carmichael, Kenan Stadium and the Smith Center. Carolina also completed updates to the women’s basketball locker room, and opened the state-of-the-art Chewning Tennis Center in 22-23.

Also in 2023, the department launched “Together We Win,” an updated strategic plan and vision for Carolina Athletics – the third strategic plan of Cunningham’s tenure at Carolina. 

Cunningham’s leadership has also extended outside of Chapel Hill. In 2020, he was named to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, and he also earned the 2019-20 AD of the Year Award from The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

In 2018 he accepted an invitation to serve on the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Advisory Council. He is the past president of NACDA and sits on the board of LEAD1, an association representing the ADs from the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools. He is in his eighth year on the ACC Television Committee, which helped lead the launch of the ACC Network in the fall of 2019. He also is currently serving on the ACC Autonomy Committee and has served on numerous NCAA committees over the last two decades. 

His commitment to student experience extends beyond – and before – college. In 2020, with support from the University, UNC Health and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Cunningham announced a partnership with the National Fitness Foundation to recognize a “National Signing Day” for youth sports. Cunningham and all 21 of Carolina’s head coaches pledged to support the importance and expansion of youth sports across the country. Cunningham himself played just about everything growing up – basketball, football, golf, soccer, track – and those experiences of learning how to lead while also being part of a team helped shape who his is today. 
 
He has Carolina positioned to have a voice in the ongoing conversation about the future, whether it is in the state university system, the Atlantic Coast Conference or at the NCAA level.
 
Cunningham is in his 20th year as a Division I director of athletics. He came to Chapel Hill after spending the previous six years as the AD at the University of Tulsa, where he guided the Golden Hurricane through its initial move to Conference USA and spearheaded a $60 million athletics initiative.  

Tulsa won 34 league championships during his tenure, more than any other school in Conference USA, and the football program played in five bowl games in his final six years. He was the NACDA 2008-09 FBS Central Region Athletics Director of the Year.
 
He also served as Ball State University’s athletic director from 2002-05. There, he led a program with 19 intercollegiate sports and a budget of $12.4 million. In his final year, Ball State completed a $12 million campaign to renovate the football stadium. In raising those funds, Cunningham secured the largest single gift in Ball State athletics history.
 
Cunningham, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Notre Dame in 1984 and 1988, respectively, worked in his alma mater’s athletics department from 1988-2002. A former member of the Irish golf team (1982-83), Cunningham served as Notre Dame’s associate athletics director for finance and facilities from 1995-2000 and was the associate director of athletics for external affairs from 2000-02. 
 
He also has served on the Gatorade National Advisory Board and has been a featured speaker at numerous NACDA and LEAD1 conferences.
 
Cunningham was born in Flint, Mich., and raised in Naples, Fla. He and his wife, Tina, have four grown children: Matthew, Michael, John and Sarah, and two daughters-in-law, Erica and Emily.