Bryan Blair is the the 14th athletic director in the history of the University of Toledo, is the first African-American to hold the post. When he arrived at Toledo in 2022, he was just 37 years old, the youngest FBS athletic director in the nation at the time. He joined the Rockets after serving as the deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Washington State University from 2018-22.
Prior to his term at WSU, Bryan was the senior associate athletic director at Rice University from 2014-18, which was his second stint at that school.
He also served at Rice for the first time as a compliance coordinator from 2011-12. While serving as senior associate AD at Rice, he served as a member of the athletics department’s senior leadership team, while overseeing sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, compliance, and seven of the department’s 16 NCAA Division I sports programs.
Bryan holds a law degree from the University of South Carolina and earned his undergraduate degree in history at Wofford College.
Bryan played four seasons as a nose tackle for the Wofford football team from 2003-06. He was a team captain as a senior in 2006 and was named the team’s Defensive Lineman of the Year.