Dan Coonan, former executive associate athletics director at the University of California, Berkeley, is Santa Clara University’s new director of athletics and recreation.

Coonan, who signed a six-year contract, will oversee all aspects of operating the department’s 17 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports as well as its recreation, intramural, and club sports programs. “We spent a lot of time making sure the right candidate understood the culture and traditions of Santa Clara University,” said Rick Giorgetti, president of the Bronco Bench Foundation.

Coonan becomes the fifth director of athletics at Santa Clara since Pat Malley took over the reins in 1965. Since that time, Tom O’Connor (1986–92), Carroll Williams (1992–2000) and Cheryl Levick (2000–2004) have served in that role.

While at Cal, Coonan, 41, oversaw all aspects of football and men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball. He also managed the department’s strength and conditioning and sports medicine units as well as legal affairs and event management. He also conducted the search for football coach Jeff Tedford, and negotiated the institution’s first multi-sport apparel and equipment contract with Nike.

A 1984 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Coonan earned a J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1987.