Boise State Athletics
Boise State Athletics Hires Jim Hilliard as Associate Athletic Director for Compliance
8/31/2026 1:39:00 PM | General, Broncos United
BOISE, Idaho – Boise State Athletics has hired Jim Hilliard as associate athletic director for compliance, bringing an extensive background in collegiate athletics compliance, financial aid, eligibility, legal affairs, and NCAA rules administration to the department. Hilliard will oversee the compliance office supporting all 18 Boise State sport programs, serving as a member of the department's senior staff, and working as the primary sport administrator for cross country and track/field.
"Jim brings a strong combination of extensive collegiate compliance experience and a legal background to Boise State," said Boise State Director of Athletics Jeramiah Dickey. "When we talk about our core values at Boise State, Jim has shown those out in his actions, specifically our core values of 'integrity' and 'serve.' He is a Bar Raiser who will help position Boise State Athletics for continued success as we navigate a constantly evolving college athletics landscape."
Hilliard joins Boise State after seven years at the University of Illinois, where he served in multiple compliance roles, most recently as director of compliance, eligibility and financial aid.
At Illinois, Hilliard was responsible for administering, documenting and monitoring student-athlete eligibility while serving as a primary point of contact for compliance matters across multiple sports. His responsibilities included rules interpretations, conduct investigations, violations reporting, waivers, student-athlete reinstatement requests, and interpretive requests for men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's tennis, swimming and diving, wrestling, and women's volleyball.
He also oversaw all aspects of financial aid, including packaging and processing student-athlete aid, monitoring institutional and outside awards, overseeing the National Letter of Intent program, and monitoring/projecting team scholarship allocations.
Prior to Illinois, Hilliard served as director of compliance at Southern Illinois University from 2018-19. In that role, he oversaw financial aid, recruiting monitoring, playing and practice seasons, competition and practice eligibility, conduct investigations, violations reporting, waivers, reinstatement requests, and interpretive requests. He also helped develop and implement departmental policies and procedures, establish rules education programming, and manage complimentary admissions for all sports.
Hilliard began his collegiate athletics compliance career at California State University, Northridge, where he served as a compliance coordinator from 2017-18. His responsibilities included financial aid oversight, playing and practice season monitoring, recruiting monitoring, official visit approvals, eligibility, team rosters and squad lists, as well as preparing NCAA and Big West Conference violations reports, waivers, and interpretive requests.
In addition to his extensive athletics compliance experience, Hilliard brings a significant legal background to Boise State. From 2015-22, he served as a project attorney and performed contract work for the commercial litigation firm Jesse Dean-Kluger, P.A., in Miami, Florida. Earlier in his legal career, he spent seven years as a litigation associate with bankruptcy and securities litigation firms, drafting pleadings, motions, discovery requests, and research across a range of litigation and bankruptcy matters.
"Boise State Athletics has built a tremendous reputation for excellence, and I am excited to join an organization that is committed to doing things the right way while continuing to raise the bar," Hilliard said. "I look forward to working with our student-athletes, coaches, and staff to help Boise State navigate the opportunities and challenges facing college athletics."
Hilliard earned his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law in 2007. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University in 2004, where he was a four-year letterman in football and a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity.
