Janice Ruggiero officially joined UNM Athletics in 1991, and she serves as the school’s Deputy Athletic Director for Internal Operations. Ruggiero was promoted to that position in December of 2015 after earning the title of associate athletic director on July 1, 2000. She also serves as the Senior Woman Administrator, a title she has held since 2000.
She served as the Acting, and then Interim Athletic Director for UNM from June through September, 2017 after the retirement of Paul Krebs.
Part of Ruggiero’s duties as Deputy Athletic Director is the oversight of UNM’s athletic performance areas, training room, academic services, compliance, and serves UNM Mountain West liaison. She has sport oversight for women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s track and field, and women’s golf. She previously spent four years in charge of compliance at UNM.
She has in the past served on several NCAA committees: as a member of the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee from 2002-04, as a member of the Legislative Council from 2008-2014, as member of the Women’s Basketball Rules Committee from 2011-2014, and as a member of the Women’s Basketball Oversite Committee from 2015 -2018. She was also named as one of the top 10 Senior Woman Administrators by College AD in February 2015.
Ruggiero was a member of the UNM women’s basketball team as both a player and a coach. She played for the Lobos from 1984-87 until the program was discontinued, then transferred to the University of Hawai’i for her senior season. Ruggiero was an assistant coach at UNM after the program’s reinstatement from 1991-93.
Ruggiero graduated from UNM in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and General Management. She completed her master’s degree in Sports Administration during the summer of 1997. Ruggiero has two sons; Leonard Jordan (LJ) and Alex, who both graduated from UNM and are continuing with Grad school at UNM.