Dr. E. J. Brophy

Dr. E.J. Brophy was named Vice President and Director of Athletics at the University of Tampa after a comprehensive national search. He officially joined the University of Tampa on October 1, 2025.

Brophy brings to UTampa nearly three decades of experience in collegiate athletics with a progressive track record across leadership, fundraising, and student success. At UTampa, he is specifically tasked with overseeing all athletics programs, including hiring and supervising coaching and administrative staff, strategic planning to address current and future program needs and ambitions, and managing the department's budget and revenue generation efforts.

Previously as Associate Athletic Director and member of the Athletic Senior Leadership Team at Samford University, Brophy was responsible for identifying and soliciting potential new donors, as well as stewarding dozens of existing donor accounts. He was also the director of the Varsity Letterwinner S-Club, which connects former student-athletes with Samford.

Previously, Brophy worked a total of 13 years as the director of athletics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), and at the University of West Alabama (UWA). In both positions, Brophy oversaw all external and internal aspects of the athletic department and served as chief fundraiser.

At UAH, Brophy aggressively marketed the athletics program, with teams winning multiple conference titles and qualifying for national championships. At UWA, where he was nominated as Division 2 Athletic Director of the Year, Brophy improved athletics facilities, enhanced the University's booster club, successfully negotiated corporate partnerships and radio broadcast agreements, and created the Junior Tiger Kids Club.

At UAH Brophy developed a plan to enhance the overall marketing, visibility, and fundraising efforts of the athletic department, which yielded immediate success. Brophy solicited a $100,000 gift for the naming of the Kelly Basketball Court and a $50,000 gift for the creation of the Rod & Becky Duke Student-Athlete Academic Center, both in the Spragins Gymnasium. Fall 2011 also saw the total renovation of the UAH tennis courts as well as a brand new scoreboard installed for men's and women's soccer.

UAH established a department record for revenues in 2017-18, raising over $1 million for a third consecutive year. As part of this record-breaking fundraising effort, a complete renovation of the weight room at Spragins Hall was completed in the fall of 2018. A new athletic website design was also launched in fall 2011, and a new state-of-the-art athletic videoroom was completed in early 2012. UAH also added three new scorer's table video boards for basketball and volleyball in fall 2013. UAH athletic facilities also continued to improve under Brophy's watch, as the Buster Douthit UAH Softball Press Box was erected before the start of the 2013 softball season.

Corporate giving and athletic sponsorships skyrocketed by over 410% in the first year of Brophy's tenure at UAH, as did contributions to the newly created Charger Club, resulting in several new revenue streams for the department. The new Junior Charger Kid's Club also become quite popular, with dozens of youngsters participating. The 2011-2012 basketball campaign marked the first year in UAH history that the lower reserved level of Spragins Gymnasium was sold out before the season. This significant spike in pre-season ticket sales, along with the restructuring of basketball season ticket pricing, generated a 33% increase in basketball ticket revenue. Under Brophy's watch, attendance at soccer games swelled by more than 25%, contributing to a 44% increase in income from the previous year.

UAH Athletics also reached new fundraising heights in fiscal year 2011-12, as the athletic department surpassed the million-dollar mark for the first time. This feat was duplicated in the 2015-16 fiscal year, as athletic revenues once again exceeded the one-million dollar plateau and were the highest in school history. Typically, UAH ranked first among non-football schools in the Gulf South Conference in fundraising dollars during Brophy's tenure.

In addition to on-the-field success, the Chargers were also strong in the classroom under Brophy's watch, as more than 550 academic awards were bestowed upon UAH student-athletes during his time in Huntsville. Included in those honors was 52 GSC All-Academic Team members, 39 WCHA All-Academic Team selections, five Peach Belt All-Academic Team honorees, and 22 Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District award winners.
 
While at UWA, Brophy led the effort to improve athletic facilities, including renovations to Tiger Stadium, the UWA Football Practice Facility, the Tartt Baseball Complex, Pruitt Gymnasium, and the UWA Softball Facility. These improvements included the construction of a new softball locker room, the development of a Cross Country Clubhouse, and upgrades to locker rooms for various sports, such as football, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball. Brophy also supervised completion and final funding for the 41,000-square-foot Dora Dahlberg Beard Indoor Practice Facility for baseball and softball in 2007. New synthetic turf for football and soccer was also installed in Tiger Stadium in the summer of 2010.

In the area of fundraising, Brophy enhanced the University's booster club by giving it a new name – The Tiger Club – which, along with a newly developed corporate sponsorship program, procured over $1,000,000 during his five-year tenure at UWA. Brophy was also instrumental in negotiating corporate partnerships with Coca-Cola and Adidas, as well as securing new radio broadcast agreements and expanding the overall sports program's visibility.
 
Before joining UWA, Brophy worked at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as the assistant athletic director for external affairs and, prior to that, as assistant director of athletic development.
 
After an all-conference baseball career at UAB from 1989 to 1992, Brophy was drafted as a 37th-round selection by the Philadelphia Phillies and spent four seasons in their minor league system, reaching the Triple-A level in 1995. At the conclusion of his playing career, Brophy was named assistant baseball coach at Samford University in 1996 and held the same post at the University of Montevallo in 1998. He was the head baseball coach at Wallace Community College in Selma, Alabama, from August 1998 until January 2003. In recognition of his 100th collegiate coaching victory in 2002, he was named to the Alabama and American Baseball Coaches Century Club.
 
Brophy graduated from UAB in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Physical Education from UAB in 1998 and a Ph.D. from UAB in Educational Leadership in August 2009.
 
Brophy is married to Cindy Wooten, formerly of Birmingham, Alabama. They have two children: son Brooks and daughter Bailey.