The purpose of the qualitative descriptive study was to explore how at least 10 athletic department leaders perceived the evolving managerial roles of the athletic director at a university in the Southeastern US. Mintzberg's Managerial Roles Theory provided the framework for the study and the basis for the following three research questions: How do athletic department leaders perceive the evolving interpersonal roles of the athletic director? How do athletic department leaders perceive the evolving informational roles of the athletic director? How do athletic department leaders perceive the evolving decisional roles of the athletic director? The researcher used purposive sampling to select 10 athletic department leaders who participated in semi-structured in-person interviews. Using Braun and Clarke's 6-phase step by step inductive thematic data analysis, the results revealed eight final themes. First, athletic department leaders perceived the interpersonal role of the athletic director to be an evolving people leader, assessor of the context of communication, and figurehead of innovation for the athletic department. Next, the athletic department leaders perceived the informational role of the athletic director to be one where the athletic director continually monitors information on rule changes and social media platforms. The athletic department leaders also perceived the informational role of the athletic director to be a spokesperson disseminating new information and responsibilities. Lastly, the athletic department leaders perceived the decisional role of the athletic director to be an evolving decision maker for conflict resolution and negotiator of budgets and contracts for the athletic department. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]