Tulsa athletic director Rick Dickson announces retirement

Image: Tulsa World

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Tulsa athletic director Rick Dickson announced his retirement on Friday.

Dickson, a Tulsa native who previously served as athletic director at the school from 1990-94, returned to his alma mater in September 2020 on an interim basis to help the department through the COVID-19 pandemic. He then decided to stay on, agreeing in August 2021 to a three-year contract.

Overall, Dickson spent 32 years as a collegiate athletic director. In between his stints at Tulsa, he was the AD at Washington State from 1994-2000 and at Tulane from 2000-15, a period that included Hurricane Katrina doing extensive damage to Tulane’s New Orleans campus in 2005.

Tulsa said in a news release that fundraising increased by 25% each year under Dickson’s guidance. Tulsa won 10 American Athletic Conference titles in various sports during his second stint as AD.

Earlier this week, Tulsa sports information director Don Tomkalski announced he will retire on May 31st after a 40-year career. Tomkalski, the longest-tenured athletic department employee, worked under seven ADs. He worked with 10 head coaches for football and 11 for men’s basketball.