Athletics University News

July 20, 2023 | Mike Enright '88 (CLAS), University Communications

In Memoriam: Former Director of Athletics Lew Perkins

Perkins directed the athletics department to unprecedented success both academically and athletically as the school won six NCAA Division I Championships during his time at UConn

Lew Perkins celebrates the 2003 women's basketball national championship with Diana Taurasi and Geno Auriemma at Gampel Pavilion.

Lew Perkins celebrates the 2003 women's basketball national championship with Diana Taurasi and Geno Auriemma at Gampel Pavilion (UConn Photo).

Lew Perkins, who served as director of athletics at the University of Connecticut for 13 years from 1990 to 2003, passed away Tuesday in Lawrence, Kansas, at the age of 78.

Perkins directed the athletics department to unprecedented success both academically and athletically during his time at UConn, as the school won six NCAA Division I Championships – four in women’s basketball and one each in men’s basketball and men’s soccer. UConn teams won 60 Big East Conference championships under his direction.

“On behalf of the University of Connecticut, I want to extend my sincere condolences to Lew’s wife Gwen and the entire Perkins family,” says current UConn Director of Athletics David Benedict. “Lew was a dynamic leader and had a clear vision for just how successful UConn athletics could be on a national level. His legacy is still felt today at UConn in the across-the-board success that we enjoy in all our sports.”

Former UConn Athletics Director Lew Perkins poses with four championship trophies.
(UConn Athletics Photo)

Perkins was the driving force for the successful upgrade of the UConn football program to FBS status. Through Perkins’ leadership, legislation was passed in May 2000, to fund the building of Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, which opened in 2003.

UConn’s varsity programs in women’s lacrosse, women’s ice hockey, and women’s rowing were all created by Perkins between 1997 and 2000 as part of an extensive Title IX Compliance Plan.

He also led UConn to new heights in fundraising and corporate partnerships.

In 2000, Perkins was honored as the inaugural winner of the National Athletic Director of the Year award as selected by Street & Smith SportsBusiness Journal, in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

Perkins served a four-year term on the NACDA’s executive committee while he was UConn’s athletic director and had terms on two prestigious national-level committees — the NCAA Championships/Competition Cabinet and the NCAA Bowl Certification Committee.

A native New Englander, Perkins hailed from Chelsea, Massachusetts, and was inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame in 1989. He left the region during his college days, playing basketball at the University of Iowa from 1965 to 1967 and earning his undergraduate degree in 1967.

From 1969 to 1980, Perkins served as athletic director at the University of South Carolina at Aiken as that institution grew from a junior college to a four-year school. During his tenure at USC-Aiken, he was also the head basketball coach from 1969-79.

From 1980-83, Perkins served as associate athletic director at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1983, Perkins was named athletic director at Wichita State University, and in 1987, he moved to become athletic director at the University of Maryland, where he remained until accepting the same position at UConn in July 1990. He served as the director of athletics at the University of Kansas from 2003-2011.