Player Bio: Bob Roller

Bob Roller

Hometown:
Pearisburg, Va.

Position:
Director of Athletics

Alma Mater:
Virginia Tech, 1983

Bob Roller was named Samford's third full-time athletics director in May 1999 and has overseen one of the most exciting periods in the history of Samford athletics. In his nine years at the helm of the athletics department, Roller has led a major facilities upgrade. Additionally, he has overseen the department's recent move into the prestigious Southern Conference, one of the nation's oldest conferences.

Athletics facility upgrades have been swift during Roller's tenure. Foremost is the Pete Hanna Center, which opened in October of 2007. The Hanna Center is the largest building on Samford's campus and holds 6,000 spectators for graduation or concerts, and 5,000 for sporting events. The new home of Bulldog basketball and volleyball, the Hanna Center features a state-of-the-art fitness center for all Samford students, plus offices for the athletics department, academic center, weight room and training rooms.

Another addition to the Samford athletics facility plan was unveiled in the spring of 2007 with the opening of the Pat M. Courington Tennis Pavilion, which houses the Samford tennis offices and locker rooms, plus three indoor and six outdoor NCAA courts.

In the fall of 2008, Samford will break ground on a new football field house, which will be located in the south end zone of Seibert Stadium. The new facility will include offices for the football coaches, a weight room, locker room, training room, player's lounge and meeting rooms.

Early in Roller's tenure, Samford constructed Joe Lee Griffin Field for baseball in 1999. The 2004 season saw upgrades to the softball complex and a complete renovation of the soccer field with permanent seating for record crowds. Seibert Stadium's natural grass was replaced with a state-of-the-art LSR Blade Synthetic Surface in 2005 for football.

Samford has spent the last five years in the Ohio Valley Conference. In its time in the league, Samford won 13 team championships, and Samford women's teams claimed the Women's All-Sports Trophy three times (2003-04, 2006-07 and 2007-08). Samford won championships in women's soccer (four), women's tennis (four), women's cross-country (two), baseball, men's golf and men's tennis.

All these accomplishments have taken place while Samford has maintained high academic standards. The school recently had five teams receive Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA. Public Recognition Awards go to teams that have APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports nationally.

The Roller family: Bob, Julie and Brad

Roller came to Samford in 1997 to direct the Samford Athletic Foundation. During his first two years, the foundation saw record growth in individual and corporate donations to the university's athletics programs. Roller held that position until May 1999, when then-President Thomas E. Corts named him to the top position within the athletics department.

In the summer of 2003, Roller was elected to the prestigious executive committee of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics [NACDA] to serve a four-year term. He joined athletics directors from Kansas State, Stanford, Army and Clemson on the governing committee that oversees the activities of the 6,000-plus member organization.

In 2006, Roller was named chairman of the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup Committee for NACDA. The Directors' Cup is awarded to the top universities in NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA for overall athletics success throughout the intercollegiate season.

Before his arrival at Samford, Roller was vice president of AdCraft Sports Marketing in Louisville, Ky., for seven years. During that time, he helped create the Sears Collegiate Champions program, which honors all champions of men's and women's sports throughout the nation at every level of college athletics.

While with AdCraft, a division of Host Communications, Inc., Roller created and managed a publishing division and helped launch NCAA Football USA, which involved promotion, licensing and merchandising for college football programs at all levels of intercollegiate athletics.

Roller was director of communications for the Orange Bowl Committee in Miami, Fla., from 1988 to 1991. He was with the Orange Bowl when Federal Express became its first title sponsor in 1989.

The Pearisburg, Va., native began his career in sports information. He earned his degree from Virginia Tech in 1983 and worked as a student assistant in the sports information office for four years. He was the sports information director at UNC Wilmington and East Carolina University from 1983 to 1988. While at UNC Wilmington, Roller, 47, was also executive director of the university's athletics fund-raising program.

Roller holds a master's degree in education administration from Samford.

His wife, Julie, is also a Virginia Tech graduate. She received her master's degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. She has served as a minister to children at two Birmingham-area churches. They have one son, Brad, 23, a recent Samford graduate.