Sue Bower named athletic director at Academy of the Sacred Heart

After more than a quarter-century in New Orleans, Sue Bower is coming back.

The former Tulane women’s golf coach and administrator and St. Martin’s Episcopal athletic director has been named athletic director at Academy of the Sacred Heart, the school announced last week.

“Sacred Heart is known for giving young ladies the opportunity to grow both intellectually and spiritually, but it also has strong athletic traditions,” Bower said as part of the school’s announcement. “I am excited to work with an outstanding leadership team and help the school not only maintain but enhance its excellence in athletics. I look forward to my return to New Orleans and working with a great group of coaches and students.”

Most recently, Bower served as athletic director at Guilford College in North Carolina.

Bower first arrived in New Orleans in 1992 as head women’s golf coach at Tulane, a position she held until 2005, when the program was one of eight to be shut down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It came at a time when her program was peaking, having reached the NCAA Championship in the spring of 2005 for the first time in school history.

Despite the shutdown of the golf program, she remained on the Green Wave staff in an administrative role for another decade, including roles as associate athletic director and senior woman administrator.

Bower was named AD at St. Martin’s in 2016 and remained there until 2018, when she accepted the position at Guilford.