Staff Directory
- Title:
- Senior Associate Athletic Director
Capital Projects, Facilities, Event Management
- Email:
- Phone:
- 919-962-5191
Rick Steinbacher, a proud Tar Heel, former All-ACC football student-athlete and long-time Carolina Athletics leader, has served the University of North Carolina for more than 25 years in a variety of senior administrative roles. He currently oversees capital projects, facilities and event management while serving as a sport administrator for football, women’s lacrosse and field hockey.
Steinbacher has helped lead the completion of more than $200 million in capital projects—including Dorrance Field, the Bill Koman Practice Complex, Karen Shelton Stadium, the Woody Durham Media and Communications Center, Finley Fields, the Kenan Football Center Expansion/Sports Medicine Complex, Women’s Basketball practice and locker room renovations, the award-winning Finley Golf Course renovation and the Chewning Tennis Center renovation.
From 2012–19, Steinbacher served as Senior Associate AD for External Affairs, overseeing marketing, ticketing, sponsorships, creative services, communications and multimedia rights. He negotiated UNC’s $151 million multimedia rights agreement with Learfield Sports, led the development of two athletics strategic plans and launched the “UNC: A Better Blue Begins With You” culture initiative in partnership with the Disney Institute. Under his leadership, Carolina Athletics’ annual revenue grew from $46 million in 2006 to $180 million in today.
Steinbacher began his Carolina administrative career in 2000 after five years at Procter & Gamble, where he was selected for a national corporate redesign consulting role and completed advanced executive training. He also served as a vice president with Learfield’s Tar Heel Sports Properties and as a color analyst and sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network from 1994–2013.
A four-year letterwinner and team captain for Carolina football, Steinbacher earned All-ACC honors in 1993 before graduating from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in 1993 with a degree in business administration.
Deeply committed to the Chapel Hill and North Carolina communities, he has served on the boards of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, The Carolina Club and Chapel Hill Meals on Wheels and has been active in faith-based mentorship and service initiatives.
Steinbacher and his wife, Val—also a Carolina graduate—live in Chapel Hill and are the parents of daughters Donna and Kiersten, both double Tar Heel alumnae. Donna is a critical care pharmacist at UNC Hospitals and Kiersten is the assistant to the director of operations for Carolina men’s basketball.
