U of U gets to work on USOPC’s Collegiate Advisory Council

Athletic Director of the University of Utah, Mark Harlan. Photo: courtesy of the University of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The University of Utah’s Athletic Director, Mark Harlan, a member of the Collegiate Advisory Council (CAC) of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) will participate in appointing three new members for his first time since being appointed himself last year.

The USOPC announced on Wednesday that Robin Harris (Ivy League), Grace Latz (University of Wisconsin-Madison/US Rowing) and Sydney Barta (Stanford University/USA Track & Field) will join the CAC as new members.

When members term out, new ones get appointed.

The fact that Harlan wasn’t a student athlete himself at University in Arizona hasn’t held him back from being an administrative leader on the American collegiate athletic landscape, kicking things into gear for the last seven years he’s been the U’s athletic director.

During Harlan’s tenure, Utah has won five team national championships, earned 11 NCAA Top 4 finishes, claimed 32 conference championships (24 of which have come just over the past four years) and earned 46 berths in either NCAA Championships or a bowl game, achieved by 10 different sport programs.

“It is a great honor to be called to serve on the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council, and to contribute to the collaboration that will bring even greater alignment between our country’s intercollegiate athletics organizations and the work of the Olympic and Paralympic movements to support the collegiate athletes who compete for Team USA,” Harlan said in a statement when he was appointed. “The University of Utah is uniquely positioned to play a strong role in these efforts, with Salt Lake City’s history and future as an Olympic Games host, as well as the 30-plus Team USA athletes affiliated with the university who competed in the 2022 Winter Games.”

The University of Utah was the site of the 2002 Olympic Village the hub of housing athletes, and is slated for a repeat performance in 2034.

Harlan’s current contract goes through 2028 at Utah.

Among the achievements during the record-setting run from Utah from 2020-25:

• The Utah Ski Team has won four of the past five NCAA championships and was runner-up in its only non-championship season;
• Gymnastics extended its streak to five consecutive Top-4 NCAA Championships finishes;
• The football program earned back-to-back Pac-12 Championships and Rose Bowl berths in 2022 and 2023;
• Utah’s student-athletes earned 22 Academic All-America Awards—21 of which have come in the past four years, the most in a four-year span in department history.

With the addition of Harris, Latz and Barta, the 12-member council will be comprised of: 

1. Bernard Muir (USOPC CAC chair)
2.  *Sydney Barta (Stanford University)
3.  Greg Byrne (University of Alabama)
4.  Jen Cohen (University of Southern California)
5.  *Lauren Crandall (Wake Forest University)
6.  Bubba Cunningham (University of North Carolina/USOPC board representative) 
7. Mark Harlan (University of Utah) 
8. Robin Harris (The Ivy League) 
9. *Grace Latz (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
10.  Rob Mullens (University of Oregon) 
11. Jamie Pollard (Iowa State University) 
12. *Kendall Spencer (University of New Mexico)  

*Athlete representatives