When AthleticDirectorU last surveyed thousands of DI administrators across the country in the spring of 2022, COVID was by far the most significant driver of professional burnout, exhaustion and disengagement. Three years later, the pandemic is over, but industry professionals continue to battle with myriad issues caused by the evolution of NIL and the transfer portal, the House settlement, the dawn of the revenue-sharing era and other stressors. Our findings reveal that burnout in 2025 is even higher than it was during COVID, a concerning trend that confirms anecdotal evidence as experienced professionals continue to flee college athletics.
In this three-part AthleticDirectorU series, we will reveal this year’s Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) scores and compare them to the results from 2022, gather feedback directly from practitioners to understand what they think is working and where there’s opportunity to improve, and share insights from industry professionals about possible solutions.
In addition to the quantitative breakdown of this year’s OLBI scores themselves, Part 1 will feature some contextual observations from Southern Conference Commissioner Michael Cross, who was instrumental in helping ADU construct the inaugural survey in 2022.
Here are the 2025 overall results for college athletics administrators for burnout (moderate risk), exhaustion (high risk) and disengagement (high risk).
