Utah High School Activities Association Director Rob Cuff Announces Retirement
Jan 23, 2026, 9:22 AM | Updated: 3:34 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – For 17 years, former basketball coach Rob Cuff has led the Utah High School Activities Association through some of its most significant changes and challenges. But Thursday night, he announced he’s calling it a career.
In a press release posted to the Association’s webpage, Cuff said he will retire on July 31, 2026. That’s essentially the end of this school year, and it gives the Board of Trustees about six months to hire his replacement.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the UHSAA, our member schools, and students for the past three decades,” Cuff said in his statement. “When I joined the UHSAA staff, I could not have imagined a more challenging and satisfying journey. The opportunity to serve as UHSAA Executive Director has been extremely rewarding.”
A graduate of Richfield High School, Cuff was a player, a teacher, and a coach before taking a job as an assistant director of the UHSAA in 2001. In 2009, he was hired as the sixth executive director of the Association, which has governed high school sports in Utah for the past 100 years.
Director of @UHSAAinfo Rob Cuff will retire at the end of the school year after 17 years as the Association’s director…25 years of working at the Association. He was a HS basketball coach and champion of the mission of prep sports #highschool #sports
— Amy Donaldson (@adonsports) January 23, 2026
Cuff led the Association through massive expansion, including adding new sports, new member schools, and entering into sponsorships and advertising deals that have made prep sports a financially valuable commodity.
Under his leadership, the Association added girls’ golf in 2008. But it took more than a decade to convince schools to add any other sports until boys and girls lacrosse became the 11th athletic offering in 2017. Play was scheduled for the 2019-2020 school year, but COVID delayed the start until 2021.
Since then, the Association has approved girls wrestling (2021), competitive cheer (2022), boys volleyball (2024), and esports (2025). In his time at the helm of the Association, the number of member schools also grew from 122 to 160. More than 100,000 students participate in 25 sports and activities.
The growth has come with controversy, resulting in legislative battles, lawsuits, and public criticism. In 2024, one legislative battle overhauled how the Association was governed, and the group was sued over a rule restricting how some international students could participate in sports.
The Association was prevented by a federal judge from enforcing that rule, but the lawsuit is ongoing.
The most vexing issues for Cuff and the Association revolve around how to maintain the competitive balance of high school sports. A change to the state’s transfer rule in 2024 tried to create more uniformity, while still considering some exceptional individual circumstances.
As the Association has grown, Cuff has remained steadfast in his belief that the purpose of high school sports remains central to everything they do. Their goal is to encourage participation, and that has oftentimes conflicted with the ever-growing club sport universe and college scholarship expectations of student athletes and their parents.
Cuff’s colleagues praised his service in the press release.
“Rob Cuff’s 25 years of service to high school activities in Utah has left an extraordinary and lasting legacy,” said Luke Rasmussen, chair of the Board of Trustees. “His leadership helped shape one of the strongest and most respected high school sports cultures in the nation. Rob’s impact goes far beyond policies and programs—he has elevated opportunities for students, strengthened communities, and modeled what servant leadership looks like. He will be deeply missed, and his legacy will be incredibly hard to replace. I am profoundly grateful for his contributions to our state and honored to have worked with him in different capacities over the years.”
Cuff said the people he’s met and the connections he’s made are what he will treasure most from his tenure.
“The most enjoyable benefit of being involved in education-based activities has been the relationships and friendships I have developed with such quality and dedicated people,” Cuff said.
“I want to thank my staff over the years for their dedicated and determined work on behalf of UHSAA member schools. I also want to thank the support of my family, friends, and all the people I worked with who have supported me throughout my career. Thank you to the very supportive UHSAA Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve this outstanding organization.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
