In October 2021, Bill Petitt transitioned to Asscoiate Athletic Director for External Affairs, a position he filled from 2008-14. Petitt served as the UT Dallas Director of Athletics from 2014-21.
In his seven years as AD, Petitt saw the Comet programs reach unprecedented success. UT Dallas collected 22 American Southwest Conference titles and 16 runner-up finishes, representing 11 programs, since the start of the 2014-15 academic year and have had 32 squads selected for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
Additionally, UTD has seen a multitude of facilities improvements and have expanded its athletic staff. Under Petitt, the Comets added their program's first-ever Strength & Conditioning coach, later adding a full-time assistant, addition of four varsity sports, and expanded the the Sports Medicine staff to four full-time members.
As UTD's primary athletics development officer prior his recent position, Petitt oversaw a 400 percent growth in external revenue since 2008 and ensured that athletics was one of the first university components to reach its goal in UTD's $200 million "Realize the Vision" capital campaign.
During Petitt's tenure at UTD, corporate sponsorships tripled and the university had seen more than $4 million in athletic facility improvements over a seven-year period. The Comet Club, UTD's athletic foundation, doubled in size from 2009 to 2014 and has grew to more than 500 members in each of his final two years in the position.
Prior to his arrival at UTD, Petitt served as Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations and Marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2003-07, where he served as director of corporate sponsorships for the athletic department. Additionally, he directed the athletic media relations staff and served as editor for all external marketing and public information material, including the design of UTA's athletic web site. He served the prior three years as an Assistant Sports Information Director at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Petitt was also the SID at West Texas A&M University from 1987-90.
Petit also has several years of experience in both the print and broadcast media. He was a sportswriter for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1991-95), then an award-winning sports editor for the Kerrville Daily Times (1995-2000). Petitt served as the sports director of KRNH-FM in Kerrville from 1998-2006 and was the sports director of KCRS-AM/FM radio in Midland-Odessa from 1991-95. He received the "Best Newscast" award in the Texas Press Association statewide competition in 1993.
A native of Lubbock, Texas, Petitt attended Texas Tech University and graduated cum laude from University of Texas-Permian Basin. He is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth area Sports Alliance. Petitt has been equally involved in the community, serving on the school board at Nolan Catholic High School, was a member of the Capital Needs Steering Committee for Arlington ISD in 2019, and as a member of the Dallas chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
