LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell has announced the return of Zach Leach as Associate Athletic Director for Compliance and NIL Integration. Leach previously served as the university's Director of NCAA Compliance from 2019 to 2022. He returns to the River Hawks after three years at Holy Cross, where he held the role of Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance.

"We are thrilled to add Zach to the Athletics Executive Team as well as our lead administrator for our compliance program," said Senior Associate Athletic Director/SWA Sandra Roecker. His experience and skillset are exactly what we need as we move forward in the new NCAA Division I landscape.  Zach's contributions and perspectives will make a positive impact in our department and campus community."

At Holy Cross, Leach oversaw all aspects of NCAA, conference, and institutional compliance, while also leading the department's Rules Education efforts. In addition, he served as the sport administrator for men's and women's ice hockey and men's and women's golf and was a member of the Board of Directors for Atlantic Hockey America and Hockey East.

"I'm truly excited to be back in Lowell and grateful to AD Lynn Coutts and her team for the opportunity," said Leach. "My hope for this role is to preserve the integrity of foundational NCAA rules on this campus while also looking to the future to adapt to and capitalize on a new age in college athletics. I look forward to helping navigate the River Hawks through this ever-changing landscape and I am energized by all that our student-athletes, coaches, and staff can accomplish."

Before his time at Holy Cross, Leach worked for over five years with the Boston Bruins as a Salary Arbitration Consultant. In that role, he scouted and tracked statistics for arbitration-eligible players, prepared pre-arbitration reports, and conducted statistical analysis of comparable players. He also supported various projects under the direction of the Assistant General Manager.

During his first tenure at UMass Lowell, Leach played a key role in managing institutional compliance processes through ARMS software, overseeing student-athlete eligibility, transcript evaluations, NCAA Eligibility Center and NLI processing, and liaising with key campus offices. He also conducted bylaw research, submitted waivers and interpretations, and supported financial aid and scholarship processes.

Leach earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts in 2014, followed by a Juris Doctor with a Sports and Entertainment Law Certificate from the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law in 2018.