Nation's longest actively tenured athletic director at one school to announce his retirement

One of the most successful and respected college athletic directors of all time is stepping away from his role.

Joe Castiglione, who has been the AD at the University of Oklahoma since 1998, is stepping away from his full-time duties effective at the end of the upcoming 2025-26 athletic year according to multiple sources. Castiglione, who is 67, will stay on with the university in an athletic director emeritus role once his successor is hired.

NEWS: Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione will retire during the upcoming school year, ESPN reports.

He's the longest-tenured AD in the country. https://t.co/SKdK5O6lP2pic.twitter.com/jQWH0XNGWo

— On3 (@On3sports) July 7, 2025

A press conference has been set for Tuesday at 9 a.m. CT in which Castiglione will formally announce his retirement. He was currently serving as the longest active athletic director at one institution.

During Castiglione’s tenure at OU, the school has won a total of 26 national titles and 117 league championships. He also helped the school transition from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference, which the Sooners officially joined on July 1, 2024.

According to a report on ESPN.com, Castiglione made overtures about retiring to various school officials. The report also stated with his reduced role, Castiglione will continue to work with the university on a series of special projects.

Castiglione arrived at OU in 1998 after spending five years as AD at then-Big 12 rival Missouri. He had one of his first big decisions immediately after arriving in Norman, firing football coach John Blake and hiring Bob Stoops.

That move definitely paid dividends as - in his second season as coach - Stoops led the Sooners to the 2000 national championship, the highlight of a career in which Stoops won 10 Big 12 titles and became the school’s all-time winningest coach.

When Stoops announced his retirement from coaching shortly before the 2017 season, Castiglione quickly replaced Stoops with then-offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, who led OU to multiple College Football Playoff appearances before resigning late in the 2021 season to take over at USC.

Castiglione replaced Riley with Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, a longtime assistant under Stoops who was part of the 2000 national championship staff. But that has yet to gain traction, as Venables has two losing records in his three-year tenure, including a 2-6 conference record last season in OU’s SEC debut.

Another Castiglione hire was tapping Lon Kruger as men’s basketball coach in 2011. Kruger led OU to the Final Four in 2016 while guiding future NBA players such as Buddy Hield and Trae Young.

Though Castiglione didn’t hire softball coach Patty Gasso, who was already there at OU by the time Castiglione arrived, that has become the most successful program at the school, winning eight national titles since 2000. OU has also experienced success in both men’s and women’s gymnastics, winning multiple national titles in each of those sports.

A possible name to watch as Castiglione’s replacement at OU is current Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon, a former senior assistant AD for Castiglione and is related to the famous Selmon brothers who were standouts for OU football in the early 1970s. Another name who may be contacted is Florida State AD Michael Alford, another former assistant AD at OU.

In all, including his tenure at Missouri along with OU, Castiglione has groomed 32 individuals to become athletic directors or commissioners. He also received the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics award for the nation's top athletic director in 2000 and again in 2018.