Former Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton died Friday. He was 60.

Hamilton had been battling cancer and was in line to receive a liver transplant, according to posts on his Instagram account on July 23 and Oct. 8.

“At the end of last week, I was notified … that I was now officially listed for a transplant,” the Oct. 8 post said. “I am in position #1A and so we are off to see what happens at UCHealth as they told me to be on-site by no later than this weekend. We covet your prayers. We also ask that you pray for the family who will suffer death to give me Life. God is good.”

Hamilton was the Tennessee athletic director from 2003-11 and was in the UT athletic department for nearly two decades.

Hamilton and his wife, Beth, adopted five children, including three from Ethiopia. They first adopted daughter Madison and son Matthew before adopting Nate, Kiya, and Kalu. Hamilton was a devout Christian.

“In my opinion, you don’t find a better person than Mike Hamilton,” former UT women’s AD Joan Cronan, whose lengthy tenure overlapped Hamilton’s, told Knox News. “He’s a special person of strong faith, a wonderful family man and colleague and he loved the University of Tennessee.”

Mike Hamilton’s tenure as Tennessee athletic director

The Clemson University graduate came to Tennessee from Wake Forest, where he was assistant director of development.

Hamilton succeeded Doug Dickey, who retired in 2003.

Hamilton was on Dickey’s staff as the senior associate director prior to being appointed AD. He worked at Tennessee from 1992-2011, serving as UT’s associate director of athletics for development and marketing.

Hamilton oversaw an era of Tennessee athletics with football success in the front half and basketball success in the back half, including the program’s only Elite Eight in program history in 2010. The basketball program also won the SEC in 2008 and reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history.

Hamilton was at the helm of the athletic department when former football coach Phillip Fulmer was fired in 2008.

He made a splash when he hired football coach Lane Kiffin to replace Fulmer, but Kiffin departed for Southern Cal after one season and he hired Derek Dooley. He also fired Todd Raleigh, who he hired in 2007 after firing Rod Delmonico, a coach who had led the Vols to the College World Series. Hamilton resigned on June 7, 2011 amid NCAA issues in the Vols basketball program, leading to the ouster of Bruce Pearl amid unethical conduct violations.

“I’ve never experienced more challenge or frustration in my 26 years of professional life than during the last 18 months,” Hamilton said at the press conference. “I accept the responsibility for the things that have led to some of these challenges. Ultimately, I think today was inevitable based upon today’s operating environment in college athletics.”

UT men’s tennis played for the national championship and finished second in the nation in 2010 under Hamilton’s watch.

What Mike Hamilton did after Tennessee tenure

Hamilton was hired in 2018 as the executive vice president of the University Partnership Group at Learfield, which connects universities with corporate sponsorships and branding opportunities.

Hamilton turned to nonprofit work when his Tennessee tenure ended. He spent three years working as the president of engagement for Blood:Water, a nonprofit and Christian-based organization in Nashville. Blood:Water worked with grass roots workers in Africa to address and try to correct the HIV/AIDS and water crises there.