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UIL Executive Director Bill Farney To Retire

Media Contact: Kim Rogers
Phone: 512-471-5883
Fax: 512-471-6589
Email:

Date: Jan 28, 2009
Category: General Information


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. Bill Farney, University Interscholastic League (UIL) executive director, will retire on Jan. 31, following 31 years of service.

Dr. Farney has been UIL executive director since 1995, and was UIL assistant director and athletic director prior to that.  During his tenure at the UIL, Farney developed the academic and fine arts programs and implemented the sports of team tennis, boys and girls soccer, girls softball and boys and girls wrestling. He established officials’ associations for soccer and volleyball, coordinated regional academic and athletic contests with Texas colleges and universities, developed and administered reclassification and realignment for public schools, and conducted goal-setting seminars for school districts.  He has been a member of seven different national athletic rule-making committees, participated in and published athletic injury research and initiated the Coaches and Officials Positive Expectations (COPE) program.

“Dr. Farney’s work with schools and coaches across Texas since 1977 has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Texas students involved in athletic and academic pursuits,” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. “He has been a guiding force for UIL during some difficult times, including the inception of the state ‘No Pass, No Play’ rule in the 1980s and overseeing testing for steroids more recently.”

University President William Powers Jr. said, “I congratulate Bill Farney for the tremendous contribution he has made to high school athletic and academic competitions for more than three decades.  I have known Bill since the 1980s, when I was a member of the UIL State Executive Committee, so I know firsthand that he has made a major difference to UIL and to the students of Texas.  We will miss him, but we will benefit from his legacy for years to come.”

Prior to working at the UIL, Farney was superintendent of schools at Crawford Independent School District and was a principal for six years at Robinson and Lorena high schools.

Farney received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Tulsa. He then went on to Baylor University where he earned both a master’s and doctor’s degree in education.  Farney is the sixth executive director in the 100-year history of the University Interscholastic League. 

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