Longtime North Carolina A&T athletics Director Earl Hilton will step down this summer at the conclusion of his contract, ending a 15-year tenure marked by historic athletic and academic growth, the school announced Tuesday.
University leaders said a national search for Hilton’s successor will begin immediately. He will remain in the role until a new director is selected and in place.
Hilton has led A&T’s 17 intercollegiate sports programs since 2011.
“North Carolina A&T is tremendously grateful for the outstanding leadership Earl has provided for our student-athletes over the past 15 years,” Chancellor James R. Martin II said in a statement about Hilton. “He created an environment in which more than 300 student-athletes each year never lose sight of the fact that they are students first. We have especially appreciated his steady hand in a time of unprecedented change throughout the NCAA.”
Hilton made immediate impact on and off the field
The school reported that under Hilton, student-athlete graduation rate increased by more than 51%, annual giving to athletics rose, and Aggies sports teams captured more than 70 individual, team, and national championships, including multiple HBCU national football titles.
From 2015 to 2019, A&T football became the standard-bearer for HBCU athletics with four Celebration Bowl victories. Track and field athletes added to the school’s national profile with three medals — two gold — at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and a runner-up finish at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships, the highest ever for a Division I HBCU.
Hilton also oversaw the launch of two new varsity programs in men’s and women’s golf and guided the Aggies’ transitions from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference to the Big South Conference in 2020 and the Coastal Athletic Association in 2022, though the football team has struggled since moving to the Coastal.
In recognition of his work, Hilton was named Athletics Director of the Year for NCAA Football Championship Subdivision institutions in 2019.
Hilton proud of work at A&T
Reflecting on his tenure, Hilton said he was proud of how far the program has come.
“It has been my singular privilege to have worked with so many wonderful and talented student-athletes and the dedicated coaches and staff who support them,” Hilton said in a statement. “I have been blessed to be part of a remarkable community of boosters and fans who have sustained us with unflinching resolve. I am honored to have witnessed historic academic and athletic achievement and look forward to our continued success under the leadership of Chancellor Martin and the next athletics administration.”
