The Tritons are on the move again — this time in leadership. UC San Diego is set to appoint veteran administrator Andy Fee, currently the Deputy AD at Seattle University, as its next Director of Athletics. The search was facilitated by Parker Executive Search.
This announcement comes at a pivotal moment for UCSD, which only days ago revealed its intent to leave the Big West Conference for the West Coast Conference — the same league where Seattle U currently resides. Fee will oversee the Tritons’ 24-sport, 600-student-athlete department, and Fee will inherit the challenge of guiding both a conference transition and an athletic department still fresh off its jump to full Division I membership.
Fee is no stranger to the region as he is a native of Laguna Niguel (60 miles north of the UCSD campus) and also worked at the University of San Diego earlier in his career. Additionally, from 2017 to 2022, he served as Athletic Director at Long Beach State, where 18 of 19 programs reached postseason play under his watch. He spearheaded significant facility upgrades, including a $6 million soccer/softball clubhouse and renovations to the Walter Pyramid and Blair Field, while also securing nearly $2 million in private donations.
Industry sources close to the UCSD search said the search committee especially valued Fee’s California ties and his prior experience as a sitting Division I athletic director.
Most recently, Fee has been serving as Deputy AD at Seattle University after a two-year run at the University of Washington as Deputy AD & Chief of Staff. At UW, he helped oversee a $150M+ budget, guided the transition to the Big Ten, managed Learfield’s multimedia rights partnership, and assisted with fundraising for a new basketball practice facility. He also supervised men’s basketball and rowing, with the latter capturing a national championship in 2024.
Fee has also held leadership roles at UC Santa Barbara, the University of San Diego, and Arizona State University, and chaired NCAA men’s water polo committees between 2018 and 2022. Fee earned his B.A. from Arizona State and an M.A. in Education from the University of Phoenix.
Fee replaces Earl Edwards, who in June announced he would step down after 25 years leading the Tritons. Edwards was the architect of UCSD’s climb from Division III to Division I and will continue in a new role as Athletic Director Emeritus and special advisor to Chancellor Pradeep Khosla.
The timing is ideal for Fee, as there is considerable momentum for the institution and its athletics department. UCSD just wrapped up its first year of full NCAA Division I eligibility with unprecedented success. Both men’s and women’s basketball qualified for March Madness — the first school to ever pull that off in year one of eligibility. The men won 30 games, a Big West title, and a tournament bid, while the women joined them in the Big Dance. The institution has been on a fundraising tear and wrapped up its $3 billion campaign in 2022.
Fee now inherits the challenge and opportunity of building on that momentum while also preparing UCSD for its move to the WCC. For a program that was competing in Division III as recently as 2000, the next chapter under Fee will be critical in defining what kind of Division I institution UC San Diego becomes.
