Lanny Bradford was hired as the Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine in August 2021. Bradford made the move north to Flagstaff after nearly a decade at the University of Arizona. Bradford oversees NAU's Sports Medicine team, a unit that is full of tradition in large part due to former head athletic trainer and NAU Hall of Famer Mike Nesbitt.
 
Initially joining the Arizona Athletic Department in 2002, Bradford served as athletic trainer for the Wildcats' football, baseball and swimming & diving programs through 2006. After leaving Arizona that year, he returned to Tucson in 2013 where he took over the role of associate athletic trainer and resumed work with the football team. Bradford was promoted to the role of Head Football Athletic Trainer in August 2020, and served in that role until arriving in Flagstaff.
 
In between his two stints at Arizona, Bradford worked at the University of California, Berkeley from 2006-08 as the Head Football Athletic Trainer, and from 2008-13 at Northwestern University as the athletic trainer with the men's basketball and men's and women's golf teams.
 
Bradford got his professional start at Purdue University, where he was a graduate assistant athletic trainer before moving on to work at Buena Vista University. During his two years at Buena Vista, Bradford handled the primary medical care for men's and women's soccer, women's basketball, wrestling, baseball, and softball.
 
A native of Hugoton, Kan., Bradford resides in Flagstaff with his wife and son.