The Under Armour AD of the Year Award program was created to honor intercollegiate directors of athletics for their commitment and administrative excellence within a campus and/or college community environment. The award spans seven divisions (NCAA FBS, FCS, Division I, II, III, NAIA/Other Four-Year Institutions and Junior/Community Colleges) and annually honors 29 athletics directors (four from each division) as regional winners, and one international recipient. Harris will receive his award this upcoming weekend in Orlando, Florida. Harris will officially begin his retirement on July 1^st, 2009.

Dan Harris has dedicated himself to Baker University, the Heart of America Athletic Conference, and to the NAIA over his 26 year career while serving as director of athletics for the last 15 years. Due to his efforts over the past five years, every athletics field received a new Daktronics scoreboard, Liston Stadium installed FieldTurf for football and soccer, a new polyurethane track, and a new baseball stadium was constructed along with significant upgrades to the softball complex. The fall of 2008 was a banner year as every fall sport qualified for postseason competition. The highlights included a football team playing in the first round of the NAIA National Championships and the men's soccer team traveled to Fresno, California to participate in the "Sweet Sixteen" round in the National Championships. In the fall of 2009, Dan Harris will add wrestling and women's bowling bringing the total number of sports sponsored by Baker University to 21. Baker has embraced the "Champions of Character" program under Harris's leadership by instilling it into the department's mission statement. As a result, Baker has been named a "Champions of Character" institution since the program's inception in 2001. Harris constantly works to develop personnel, develop and monitor operational budgets, schedule events, submit information for compliance, monitor eligibility and oversee recruitment and retention of student-athletes. - NACDA Selection Committee