List of Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic directors

In its earliest days, the Nebraska Department of Athletics had no central figure or "athletic director," and the history of how this position developed is unclear. The department's first leaders typically were part-time officials who held others titles and responsibilities at the university. Oftentimes this person served on the Athletic Board, a group of faculty members which governed the department. Early heads of the department were given the title "Athletics Manager" – the first was multi-sport coach and physical education professor Raymond G. Clapp, who filled the role from 1902 to 1905.^[3] The first individual to hold the title "athletic director" was E. J. Stewart, who served from 1916 to 1919 and also coached football and basketball during parts of his tenure.^[4] However, Nebraska does not consider Stewart its first athletic director because it was not a full-time administrative position; this designation belongs to Fred Luehring, who became AD in 1920.^[5] Like Clapp and Stewart, many of Nebraska's early athletic directors simultaneously coached one of the university's major varsity teams, primarily football – six of NU's first ten athletic directors also coached football during their tenure.

Aside from Bob Devaney, NU's football coach for the first six of his twenty-six years as athletic director, the position has been a standalone role since 1954. Including Devaney, five members of the College Football Hall of Fame have held the position.