Football
- Title:
- Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football Administration
Edward Stewart, a veteran intercollegiate athletics administrator with 27 years of experience, enters his third season as the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Southern California. In this role, Stewart is a member of the executive staff, serves as a sport administrator, and leads strategic initiatives for the athletic department.
Stewart is recognized for his proficiency in guiding large institutions and conferences through complex transitions and alignments. His experience in this area was instrumental in USC’s transition to the Big Ten Conference. This builds upon his previous work at the Big 12, where he played a key role in conference realignment efforts.
Stewart’s prior experience includes thriving in leadership roles within a Power Four conference office and at two major public Division I Football Bowl Subdivision institutions.
He has specific expertise in football administration and operations, most recently serving 16 years as the Executive Associate Commissioner for Football at the Big 12 Conference. In this role, he served as a member of the senior leadership team where his responsibilities with football included overseeing the governance of policies, sport and game operations for regular-season and postseason competition, guiding the return and execution of the Big 12 Football Championship Game and managing all aspects related to officiating. Stewart has negotiated more than $200 million in stadium venue agreements and bowl game contracts, served on the College Football Officiating Board of Managers, College Football Officiating Competition Committee and NCAA Football Rules Committee. He also served as the conference office liaison with medical professionals for student-athlete health and safety, where he spearheaded the league’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the safe return to athletics competition across all sports.
Stewart’s career as an athletics administrator began at Michigan State University where he spent two years as an academic counselor for the football team. Prior to his arrival at the Big 12 office, he was an executive staff member and Associate Athletics Director for Administration at the University of Missouri. While at Mizzou, Stewart was the administrative liaison for the football program, supervised Olympic sports and student-athlete development and safety as well as managed the institution’s Nike apparel contract and made a significant impact in fundraising and university-wide outreach initiatives.
A community leader, Stewart is an active public speaker, speaking at international conferences such as the International Association of Defense Counsel annual meeting on International Sports Law. He has been recognized as a top community leader, having led a record-setting United Way Campaign that raised nearly $500,000 for families in need and previously served on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Moorland YMCA at Oak Cliff.
A native of Chicago, Stewart holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Arts degree in Adult and Continuing Education from Michigan State. Team captain and starting linebacker on the 1994 Nebraska national championship football team, Stewart was voted the Big Eight Conference Defensive Player of the Year, consensus All-America and a Butkus Award finalist in 1994. He played two years of professional football in the NFL and NFL Europe before transitioning into his career in college athletics.
