In 1867, the Trustees gave a student-led baseball team a $200 grant to purchase equipment and with that, Columbia went on to defeat NYU and City Colloege, but lose to Yale and Princeton, in its first season of intercollegiate athletics. In 1870, Columbia played its first football game, only the fourth intercollegiate contest in the history of the sport, on November 12, 1870. Columbia lost to Rutgers by a score of 6-3. In 1873 in its first outing, Columbia crew placed fourth in a field of thirteen, but, the very following year, they won the first regatta of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. Track fielded its first team in 1876. Early sporting events such as these were both student-run and student- and alumni-financed. There were numerous alumni-controlled organizations in charge (e.g, Columbia College Athletic Union (CCAU) and later the Columbia University Athletic Association (CUAA), and some for separate sports (e.g. Columbia University Football Association).

In 1901, the University Council passed a resolution to appoint a University Committee of Student Organizations to supervise and control all student organizations, athletic and other. And so, the faculty were put in control of athletics at Columbia, but alumni remained involved. Each team had a graduate manager. It was in this period, that the Columbia Lion was adopted as a sports symbol (1910).

In 1931, the University Trustees took control over intercollegiate athletics when the Athletic Association's debt exceeded $200,000. The Trustees argued that athletics should be considered a student activity, conducted by the University for the benefit of students. The takeover also coincided with the glory days of Lou Little's football teams. Between 1931 and 1934, Columbia won 30 games, tied 2 and lost 4, and won the 1934 Rose Bowl.

Ralph J. Furey, who had been appointed Director of Athletics in 1943, was the first to be appointed Director of Physical Education and Athletics in 1946. Centralizing control under one department allowed administrators to enhance the educational value of the physical education curriculum. This joint arrangement has been in place since.

Ralph J. Furey (1946-1968); Kenneth G. Germann (1967-1973); Alvin Paul (1974-1991); John A. Reeves (1991-2004); Dianne Murphy (2004-2015); Peter E. Pilling (2015-present).