Higher Ed Athletics

Pauline Thiros has studied and worked her entire adult life at Idaho State University. The Bengals Hall of Famer served on the president's cabinet as the VP for Advancement before moving into the AD position. Thiros shares the emotional state she found herself in when the opportunity to become the AD appeared, and why she went for it. Thiros talks fan support in Idaho and why she places such a...

Houston Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez joins HEA for a conversation on how he is operating Houston athletics two years into his tenure. Nuñez discusses his working relationship with Chancellor Renu Khator and explains why he intentionally sought out presidents earlier in his career to better understand higher education leadership (and why future ADs should do that today). I asked Nuñez how ADs are...

New AD interview out on Tuesday with Houston AD Eddie Nunez. Until then...some of you may have listened to me introduce HEA Insider subscription a few weeks ago. I've since rebranded it to "The Modern AD" and I want to share the first monthly edition with you for free. The Modern AD is a monthly briefing on the business, leadership, and evolution of the athletic director position fro...

Dan Bartholomae and I cover a lot in this conversation because there has been a lot going on with the Broncos. Bartholomae starts off explaining how WMU is going to play a hockey game at their football stadium next year and turning it into a weeklong community opportunity to get on the ice. We then talk about the new Kalamazoo Event Center that will be the new home of the WMU hockey and basketball...

Garrett Klassy has been the AD at Fresno State for almost 2 years and is leading the Bulldogs into the Pac-12 this summer. Expect to hear a lot in this interview, beginning with the evolving profile of the FBS AD position. I asked Garrett if he thinks FBS ADs will always be the key decision-maker for head coaching hires throughout the department or if that will maybe fall off to a deputy AD in the...

Jovan Overshown has been at Baylor since 2017 and now serves as the Deputy AD/COO providing strategic direction for the athletic department. Jovan shares early in the conversation how she has learned to embrace new opportunities in revenue generation and what industries she looks to for inspiration and creative ideas that can be applied to Baylor. We talk about Leadership Waco and how programs lik...

Jamaal Walton is a former Keydet football team captain and came back as the VMI Athletic Director in May 2024. Walton shares what it's like coming back as the AD at your alma mater and what others should consider if the same opportunity comes up. Walton then explains the situation that VMI was in when they opted-out of the House settlement and why they decided to now opt-in. The conversation s...

Marcus Hilliard has worked for some incredible leaders during his career, including Danny White, Gerald Harrison, Kevin White, and Stan Wilcox. He is a UT alumnus who fully appreciates getting to work with an incredible team of Vols leaders and colleagues. The first half of the conversation is a deep dive on those leaders and what he's learned. Then we get into how he learns and what he looks...

Tim McMurray is the former AD at the institution we now know as East Texas A&M. Before that he was a senior-level administrator at Maryland, SMU, NIU, Texas State and Lamar. McMurray is now the VP at Game One, an apparel and equipment company that outfits colleges in Adidas, Nike and Under Armour. I was talking with Tim about getting Higher Ed Athletics polos for the show and that turned into...

Just how difficult is it to run a FCS athletic department right now? In what ways will the football national championship help Montana State with both fans and corporations? Those that watch Higher Ed Athletics know I think highly of Leon Costello, and this interview will show you why. We talk about fan support and the trickle-down-effect of North Dakota State reclassifying as FBS. Is there pressu...

Haven Fields Sr. is constantly looking to get better. That's what I took out of this conversation. From the great ADs he's worked for like Troy Dannen, Beth Goetz and Josh Whitman, to his personal board of directors, Fields has clearly paid attention as he continues his path to the AD chair. Haven talks about what he's learned from those ADs and how he consumes and stores insights to k...

To continue demonstrating how I think about AD openings as I work to break into executive search, here are my shortlists for Toledo, Kentucky, Oregon State and Wisconsin. I try to base these names off reality (contracts), trends and situational needs of the institutions. I do not use sources for these names and no one has influenced me to mention their names. These are not predictions but instead...

Devin Crosby joined HEA to talk in-depth about New Haven's 5-day decision to reclassify from D2 to D1. Under his watch New Haven raised $9 million to help support the transition. The first half of the episode is about institutional vision and alignment. Then the conversation shapes into advice on how ADs can think creatively to solve problems, like manufacturing a football rivalry with a local...

Eric George joined the Rice Owls in late 2023 after 4 years at Clemson where he started as the Senior Associate AD/CFO before being promoted to Deputy AD. He is a business-minded strategist with a CPA that has worked for some incredible athletic directors. This conversation is mostly focused on how George thinks in his job, how he learns from others, and how he and his wife processes opportunities...

The idea of "AD Film Study" is to watch a handful of athletic director press conferences and break them down in a way that I think can help future ADs in preparing for their introductory press conference, whether that be in their words or understanding the settings of the press conferences. At the end I offer a list of final thoughts and tips based on what I observed. I watched Bryan Bla...

Ziggy Siegfried has been the AD of the Evansville Purple Aces since April 2022 after serving as the AD at CSU Bakersfield for 8 years. Siegfried hosted me for a visit in Evansville and gave me a tour of campus before sitting down for a wide-ranging conversation. Fighting for Evansville Fan Market Share. Donor Fatigue, Revenue Generation & Naming Rights. Uniform Patch Strategy. Deputy ADs as Ba...

Lee De Leon joined the Blue Raiders in 2021 as Deputy AD after a long career at some incredible places, including Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and Houston on his way to becoming a young first-time AD at Abilene Christian from 2014-2018. We've seen a recent trend of several young ADs being hired as first-time ADs at New Mexico State, Austin Peay State, New Mexico and UL Monroe. So I start the...

This conversation is absolutely loaded with strategic advice for current and aspiring ADs. Chance Miller brought new ideas to Coastal Carolina, including wild halftime shows and free concessions at football games. Chance explains where the ideas come from and how they've worked so far at Coastal. Despite being hired in 2024, Chance is already working with a new president (and served on the pre...

In this episode, Travis studies the AD search at Syracuse from the perspective of who he thinks a board and new chancellor would (or should) select. One outsider. One Commissioner. Two Sitting FBS Athletic Directors. If you will be interested in AD or Deputy AD jobs between now and the next 2-3 years, fill out the new Candidate In-Take Form on the HEA website so you can be added to the HEA databas...

In this episode, I sit down with John Daniel of the University of Cincinnati to discuss the modernization of one of the most innovative athletic departments in the country. John shares insight into Cincinnati’s record-setting financial year, the institution’s critical support before full revenue distribution from the Big 12 Conference kicked in, and how the House Settlement has once again reshaped...

I spent about 12 hours researching this situation and looking at the potential candidates for this position and I kept coming back to why it will likely be Ryan Berryman. I have never met or spoken to Ryan Berryman nor have I talked to any sources about this position since I use my own filtered analysis, not sources, to look at these searches. Berryman is the perfect institutional fit and he will...

In this episode, I narrate parts of 3 previous AD conversations I had with Duke's Nina King, Cornell's Nicki Moore, and North Carolina's Bubba Cunningham. Nina shares about replacing Coach K just a few days on the job and goes in-depth about the Chief of Staff position for an AD. Nicki talked about the difference between being a power school administrator that leaves for a small school...

If the AD search breakdowns and interviews have been helpful, please consider financially supporting HEA with a tip . CollegeAD reported this week that there are 5 finalists for the Charlotte AD job, including 2 sitting ADs and 3 P4 Deputies. I do not think they will hire a sitting athletic director. In this video, I outline who I think those deputy candidates could be or at least outline why the...

Come for the insights, stay for the Landman behind-the-scenes NIL story. Ryan Peck has learned from some incredible athletic directors, most recently Wren Baker, Jeremiah Donati, and now Mike Buddie. In this conversation, Peck definitely shares what he's learned from the deputy positions, but I wanted to see how an up-and-coming senior administrator is carving out his own experiences in the jo...

Since 2026 is the 250th birthday of America, and I'm reading books about the American Revolution, I thought it made sense to ask Army Athletic Director Tom Theodorakis to join HEA for a conversation. Theo shares what it feels like every day at West Point and why it is such a special place. I asked him what perspective he gets from working at different institution types, including P4 schools, a...