Tony Belt
Tony Belt joined the UVA athletics department as senior associate athletics director for student success in December of 2023. Belt previously worked at Toledo since 2020 as the Rockets’ associate athletic director for student-athlete support services. He was elevated to senior associate athletic director of student-athlete experience in the spring of 2023.
At Virginia, Belt is responsible for creating and implementing a vision and strategy for the academic support and student development department. He oversees programming to emphasize and improve the holistic development and welfare of the department’s student-athletes, including but not limited to, academic support services, leadership development, career development, personal development, brand management and community engagement.
Reporting to the deputy athletics director for competitive excellence, Belt’s role at UVA includes developing and sustaining a high-performance student-athlete development and academics team. He works to provide vision, supervision and ensure the effective collaboration between the student success units. He collaborates with athletic department personnel and head coaches to develop and implement strategies, policies and protocols that promote the academic success and welfare of student-athletes.
At Toledo, Belt oversaw academic services, student-athlete development, community and campus engagement, student conduct and served as the diversity, equity and Inclusion officer for the athletic department.
Belt helped to lead the Rocket’s to new heights academically during his tenure. For six consecutive semester’s, Toledo student-athletes broke previous grade point average records, while posting an all-time high in the spring of 2023 with a 3.472 departmental GPA. The Rockets also set all-time highs in both NCAA graduation success rates and academic progress rates.
Belt came to Toledo after serving as William & Mary’s director of student-athlete support
services, where he oversaw a department that supported approximately 500 student-athletes in academic advising, scheduling, admissions and eligibility.
Prior to his stay in Williamsburg, he worked directly with football and volleyball programs at Duke (2015-19) that each ranked among the top-10 in NCAA academic progress rate rankings. Belt has also spent time providing academic support to student-athletes at the Louisville (2014-15), Towson (2013-14) and Virginia Tech (2012-13).
A native of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., Belt earned his bachelor’s degree in sport administration (2010) and master’s degree in education (2012) from Louisville. During that time, he worked with the football program as an intern and graduate assistant in academic services. Belt also enjoyed tremendous success athletically by becoming the Cardinals’ first track and field national champion (indoor long jump) and finished his career as a seven-time All-American and 10-time Big East champion. In 2022, Belt was inducted into the Louisville Athletics Hall of Fame.
Belt and his wife Melanie were married in 2022.