Brady Barke named to enhanced athletics role at SEMO

Brady Barke, Southeast Missouri State University's athletics director since 2016, has been named vice president for intercollegiate athletics, according to a Thursday, May 4, release from the school.

"Southeast Athletics operates like any other division within the university," SEMO president Carlos Vargas said, "so the vice president title both better aligns with our own organization structure and mirrors a change we see in other athletic departments nationally. It also allows for procedural changes to create better efficiencies with processes like hiring approvals."

Barke started at SEMO in 2008 as assistant director for compliance and eligibility.

Before becoming SEMO's AD eight years later, the Webster University alumnus also served as senior associate to the president and secretary to the SEMO Board of Regents (now Governors), and as interim director of athletics.

In addition to his undergraduate degree, Barke holds an MBA from SEMO and a Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University School of Law.

While a student at Webster, Barke was a member of the basketball and golf teams, and was inducted into the Webster Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.

Record

Brady Barke

Brady Barke

• In 2020-21 under Barke's tenure, SEMO claimed its first OVC Commissioner's Cup, symbolic of overall athletic excellence in conference-sponsored championships.
• Barke won the 2021-22 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Cushman & Wakefield AD of the Year Award.
• In fall 2022, SEMO's Department of Athletics registered a 3.36 grade-point average, its highest fall GPA in seven years.

"When he was selected as director of athletics, I said then that Brady would move our program forward and to the next level, and he has certainly done so. We are seeing unprecedented success in our athletics program under his leadership, both in terms of championships and the academic success of our student-athletes," said Vargas, university president since July 1, 2015.