NEW YORK CITY — Not long after Peter Pilling settled into his role as the athletic director at Columbia University, he sat in a cabinet meeting with then-President Lee C. Bollinger, surrounded by people who are respected experts and leaders in their various fields of endeavor.

Pilling looked around and smiled. “I’m not worthy to be in this room,” he thought.

Pilling has been the AD at Columbia for more than 10 years now, overseeing the 31 sports that compete for, and represent, the private Ivy League research university in New York City.

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During that decade, the Lions have captured seven national championships, 14 national individu

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