JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida Athletic director Lee Moon is calling a career and said his reason for stepping away is simple.
“I’m old,” he said.
After leading the Ospreys for the last 12 years, Moon is just the sixth athletic director in school history. He took over during a time as the Ospreys transitioned into NCAA Division I in 2009 and oversaw the growth of the program on numerous levels.
UNF became a destination for marquee track and field events. The school is currently hosting the NCAA East Preliminary track and field championships for the sixth time. UNF will also host that event in 2023 and 2025. The Ospreys also reached the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the first time in 2015, playing Robert Morris in the First Four game in Dayton.
Under Moon’s lead for the last 12 seasons, UNF’s athletic program has gone to another level, producing 41 Atlantic Sun Conference players of the year, claiming 46 regular season and tournament championships and making 81 NCAA postseason appearances.
Moon hopes to continue to work in athletics in some capacity but said that it was time for a change. The difficult college sports season due to the coronavirus pandemic made it clear to Moon that the time to step away was now.
“This has been hard. If you look around the landscape of college athletics, this Covid year has taken a toll on a lot of AD’s,” he said. “It is just a lot of stress to run the program to manage the student-athletes and coaches and get them through the process. And it has worn on me.”
Moon was named an Athletic Director of the Year for the Division I-AAA level by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) earlier this year.
Moon said that even though he is retiring he will still be at UNF sporting events.
“I’m going to keep my season tickets and I’m looking forward to being a loud fan in the stands,” Moon said.
Moon’s replacement will be selected from internal candidates and announced shortly.