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In the fall of 2025, Craig Pintens will start his eighth full academic year as the Athletic Director at Loyola Marymount University. Pintens was officially named to this position in June 2018, bringing extensive leadership experience from programs that have won national championships.
Since taking on the role, Pintens has revitalized LMU Athletics during one of its most successful eras ever by hiring eleven of the fourteen current head coaches, reorganizing the senior management team, upgrading facilities, and reaching record-breaking fundraising achievements.
Athletic Success
The Lions have consistently ranked in the top twenty of the Learfield Directors' Cup Final Standings among Division I-AAA schools during every recorded year, demonstrating a focus on national success. In the most recent year, the Lions had the best finish in the Director’s Cup, finishing 7th in Division I-AAA and 90th overall in Division I.
Since 2018, LMU Athletics has participated in seventeen NCAA postseasons with eight different teams. Notably, the beach volleyball team has reached the NCAA Quarterfinals five consecutive years, from 2021 to 2025, with an appearance in the national championship match in 2025. In the fall of 2023, the men’s soccer team reached their first-ever NCAA Quarterfinals. The Lions have secured fifteen regular-season titles and, in 2022-2023, LMU earned the WCC Male All-Sports Award for the first time, showcasing their dominance across various sports.
Director's Cup Standings Under Pintens
2018-2019: 18th in Division I-AAA; 155th overall
2019-2020: N/A (COVID-19)
2020-2021: 17th in Division I-AAA; 140th overall
2021-2022: 9th in Division I-AAA; 117th overall
2022-2023: 17th in Division I-AAA; 131st overall
2023-2024: 13th in Division I-AAA; 115th overall
2024-2025: 7th in Division I-AAA; 94th overall
Academic Success
The athletic department's current cumulative GPA is 3.384, with each team maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00. The GPA of Lions’ student-athletes currently exceeds that of the entire student body. Additionally, the graduation success rate (GSR) stands at 95 percent, five points higher than the national average.
Record Fundraising
Fundraising has reached new heights, with the three highest years on record in FY21, FY22, and FY23, each surpassing the $4.8 million mark. The record peak was in FY22, with over $5.82 million raised. Records were also set for the total number of donors, with the highest in Pintens’ first year, FY19.
LMU Athletics has excelled on the annual Day of Giving, raising over $600,000 in consecutive years, with a record of $658,288 in FY22—a 76.9 percent increase from the previous year, driven by 1,680 donations. Since Pintens' arrival, athletics has led the Day of Giving efforts in six of the past seven years.
LMU is a leader among Division I-AAA schools in NIL, being at the forefront of change, by being the first in the space to adapt and establish a collective and becoming one of the first schools to establish a General Manager position for NIL.
Hiring and Retaining Coaches
Pintens has hired 10 of the 14 head coaches currently at LMU. During Pintens' tenure, head coaches have been recognized thirteen times as Conference Coach of the Year. In March 2020, he appointed Stan Johnson as LMU's new men's basketball coach, which has put LMU on its best trajectory since the historic 1989-90 season. In his first season as head coach, Johnson led his team through the COVID-19 pandemic and posted a winning record in the WCC for the first time since the 2011-12 season. LMU's 95 ranking in Johnson's first year is the highest NET (or RPI at that time) since the Elite Eight season of 1990. Johnson followed that with a fourth-place finish and the second-best NET/RPI ever in his third season (2022-23). Five different coaches whom Pintens has hired have earned Conference Coach of the Year honors.
Enhanced Facilities
LMU Athletics' facilities are continually improving. Construction began in spring 2024 on a significant renovation of Gersten Pavilion, which will feature an expanded Academic Success Center, film rooms, a training table, and new office spaces for the basketball teams. The Gersten Pavilion has undergone multiple upgrades, including enhanced locker rooms, training areas, a redesigned floor, improved lighting, modern seating, a new lobby entrance, a spirit shop, and a complete rebranding. Additionally, Page Stadium (baseball), Smith Field (softball), Sullivan Field (soccer), Aquatics, Tennis, the Chad and Ginni Dreier weight room, the training room, the Lions Athletic Center, and the Burns Back Court Practice Gym have all been fully renovated and rebranded.
Additionally, lighting has been installed at Smith Field and the Aquatics facility. In spring 2023, LMU opened its first new competition venue since 2006, featuring a four-court beach volleyball facility adjacent to the Burns Recreation Center.
Before LMU
Pintens joined LMU after spending seven years as the senior associate athletic director at the University of Oregon. During his tenure there, he played a key role in elevating Oregon's athletic programs to notable success, culminating in 17 national championships. He enhanced the fan experience, streamlined strategic planning, and improved athletics operations, promotions, and fundraising, all while overseeing the marketing and communications departments. Before his time at Oregon, Pintens gained experience at Louisiana State University, Marquette University, and the University of Texas-Pan American. As the Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing at LSU, Pintens developed strategic ticket sales initiatives that resulted in record-breaking ticket sales and attendance rates, along with a social media strategy that established a prominent presence in college athletics.
At Marquette, he set attendance and revenue records for both the men's and women's basketball teams, ranking in the top ten nationally for men's basketball attendance. At the University of Texas-Pan American, he oversaw sales, promotions, and game-day operations, successfully securing the university's first Spanish radio broadcast deal.
Pintens is a talented public speaker who has spoken at conferences across the country. He has earned over 40 awards from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators for his work in season ticket campaigns, advertising, ticket sales, new media, video, and corporate sponsorship.
Pintens is also a member of the Wisconsin Bar. He earned his Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.
Family
Pintens is married to Jill, and they have four children: Kaitlin (LMU '26), Jackson, Tate, and Avery.
