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Lenoir-Rhyne has tapped Collegiate Sports Associates to assist with its search for the next AD. Senior Executive Director of Development Andy Anderson will chair the 11-member search committee that includes two athletics administrators, two HCs, Bears Club President Matt Winters and more. (link)

The Hickory Daily Record’s Sarah Johnson gets comments from Lenoir-Rhyne supporters about the departure of VP of Athletics Kim Pate. Support John Moretz, whose name is on the Bears’ Football stadium, says he is reconsidering future donations to the institution and where they may be directed, stating: “This is not a decision that is good for the whole community of LR. I cannot go anywhere, to church, to Backstreets (restaurant), to any public place without people going, ‘What in the world is going on at LR?' […] But while I’ll support LR the question as to where it goes depends on how those who govern listen … Right now, the governing body, to me, is not making the proper decisions that support the community and what I think LR is here to do. […] I know the conversation among many is to give to the [Bears Champions Collective]. It is a safe place to invest in LR and make a positive impact with student athletes.” Former Bears Club President/football alumnus Bob Fincher adds: “The Board's silence and inaction, particularly in light of President (Fred) Whitt's ongoing involvement with the athletic department -- which has experienced significant leadership turnover -- are deeply concerning. […] For the university, or for any business, to not have safeguards in place that prevent an outgoing leader, senior leader, CEO, president, whatever, to not have safeguards in place that prevent an outgoing leader from making legacy decisions is negligent on the part of the board. It’s a lack of oversight and it gives me great concern. I would say the same thing for an incoming president or leader.” (link)

The Daily Herald’s Mike McGraw chats with Roosevelt leaders about the transition to DII, with AD Michael Cassidy telling McGraw: “We thought it was a good move. It's a differentiator for our athletic department. We're Chicago's only NCAA Division II school. We just started athletics at Roosevelt in 2010, so I think this was part of our maturation process. I think we prepared ourselves well.” Cassidy added that the Lakers have no plans to move Football or Morris Field out of Arlington Heights, rather he hopes stadium expansion is in the cards for Roosevelt. More. (link)

@1QLeadership Question: Does age matter if someone has the capacity to do the job?

Tangela Cheatham, Deputy Athletic Director for Sport Administration and Senior Woman Administrator at Central Michigan, talks about being trusted with an executive level position at an early age. The woman who hired her, CMU Director of Athletics Amy Folan, was also trusted early in her career.

• credits 'supported autonomy' as a critical development tool

• most of her current responsibilities were new experiences when she was hired

• understands that she will never know everything, thus she is always willing to learn

Cheatham describes leaning on Folan to understand the depth of the Deputy position. She also gives her thoughts on impostor syndrome. Throughout her career, Cheatham has always considered caring about people as her primary skill. 🎧 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

The NCAA has released the results of its study of online harassment of college athletes. The study was conducted in partnership with Signify Group, which used its Threat Matrix to monitor public comments targeting the online profiles of student-athletes, coaches and officials participating in seven NCAA championships and the College Football Playoff National Championship. The study flagged more than 72K messages identified by Signify’s algorithm from a wider dataset of 1.3M posts/comments targeted at the social media profiles of the aforementioned participants and found that 18% of all abuse was sexual, making it the most prevalent type of abuse used to target male and female student-athletes. 12% of all abuse was related to sports betting, with more than 740 instances. As betting markets increased, so did the prevalence of harassment, with 19% rates in men's basketball and football. Some abuse flagged in other categories indicated that the posts were betting-related. Additionally, 10% of abuse consisted of racist content; 9% of abuse was homophobic/transphobic; 6% of abuse, approximately 380 instances, was violent; 80% of the abuse in the study was directed at March Madness student-athletes; and women's basketball student-athletes received approximately three times more threats than men's basketball student-athletes. NCAA President Charlie Baker: "I've heard too many student-athletes talk about abusive messages they have received, and for the first time ever, we now have evidence of the scale at which this is occurring. It's incredibly alarming and completely unacceptable. Fans have to do better, social media companies have to do more to identify and remove this content, and we all need reminders about responsible social media usage. … We will exhaust all options to reduce the harassment and vitriol student-athletes are experiencing too often today." Lots more. (link); Full summary analysis. (link)

In today’s edition of The Future Is Now: Mississippi State (DI) is using a chatbot built by AI firm Satisfi Labs to help sell tickets, and Extra Points publisher Matt Brown explains: “What Satisfi built is a chatbot system to allow fans to get better information before they purchase tickets to an event, to allow customer service staff to spend more time on the phone answering more complicated or bespoke questions, and to give athletic departments better data on fan needs. Satisfi CRO Bill Bailey points out the system wasn’t built so schools could lay off customer service representatives but to “save man-hours,” thereby freeing up staff to focus on upselling customers, answering more difficult questions, or conducting higher-level tasks. Bailey: “We also found that at Mississippi State, nearly 57% of chats were handled after regular business hours.” So, rather than displacing human interactions, the chats were giving athletic departments the chance to get more data and answer more questions than they otherwise could. Brown goes on to note the chatbot “doesn’t immediately try to sell anybody anything or even capture specific user data. But as the user asks more questions, the system can make suggestions that can drive revenue or ask questions to capture critical customer support data. Bailey doesn’t recommend just coming flat out and asking for email addresses or demographic data, as most users these days have had bad chatbot experiences.” He tells Brown: “As a customer, you want a chatbot to help you. If the first thing the bot asks you is about your data, well, as a user, you then think you’re just trying to collect marketing data. But let’s say a user asks about pricing for kid’s tickets. Well, that can be a time to organically mention kids tailgate promotions, kids merchandise, tell them where the face painting is, etc.” More from EP. (link)

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel’s James Burky dives into the departure of Colorado Mesa Track and Field HC Brad Gamble and Cross Country HC Shane Niksix over the summer. The change came after friction between coaches and administration, with student-athletes expressing concerns over the manner in which the announcement was made – via a Zoom call in early June. According to Burky, student-athletes’ frustrations were sparked by the lack of an explanation by administrators about the move and the manner in which it was communicated. Burky adding: “In the meeting, McDermott said: ‘The money has been there for this program. Whether it’s been spent or not, it’s hard for me to say. But there is money there, there (are) scholarships there.’ Sources told the Sentinel that scholarship finances appeared to be a point of contention at the administrative level and between the track and field and cross country programs. Sources also said there were concerns over academic ineligibility and the rate of stress fractures in athletes.” President John Marshall on the handling of the personnel change: “One of our campus values is humility. And I think bringing that spirit of could we do things better? Did we do things as well as we possibly could have? I think we can always do things better. And I think you can look back and say we can always improve what we’re doing,” Marshall said. “If they’re concerned, that is valid. And if they’re concerned about it, then it’s real. And I think our task is to do our best to listen, try and address what we can. If it’s personnel-related, there’s limits to that.” (link)

Check out this morning’s Coaches.wire, which tracks every single coaching move across college athletics. (link)

Clark Atlanta rolls out a new alumni relations structure as it moves away from the previous external alumni association setup. CAU has promoted VP of Alumni Affairs to VP/Chief Alumni Engagement Officer and will hire two alumni-focused roles in addition to a new alumni advisory council. President George French Jr.: “By reinventing our alumni engagement model, we’re ensuring that CAU leads in alumni relations among all institutions and fosters a stronger, more connected global alumni base.” (link)

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(Posted from most recent over the last 30 days)

(NEW!) Senior Associate Athletic Director of Human Resources (University of Southern California / Los Angeles, CA): USC seeks a Senior Associate Athletic Director for Human Resources to lead HR initiatives, drive leadership development, and align HR strategies with USC’s mission. (DI) More details HERE.

(NEW!) Vice President of Marketing (Florida Victorious / Gainesville, FL): Florida Victorious, Proud NIL Partner of the Florida Gators, is looking for a creative thinker with drive who can continue to increase brand awareness and participation in our organization! (DI) More details HERE.

(NEW!) Assistant Athletic Trainer (St. Mary's University – Texas / San Antonio, TX): The Assistant Athletic Trainer is responsible for recognizing, treating, rehabilitating, and providing care and first aid to St. Mary's University intercollegiate student-athletes year-round. More details HERE.

Director of Athletics (Fort Valley State University / Fort Valley, GA): Fort Valley State University (FVSU), a state and land-grant institution of the University System of Georgia, invites applications for the position of Director of Athletics. More details HERE.

Director of Integrated Marketing (D2.ticker/Drive & Company / Remote, US): Drive brand awareness of its publications & products, the cross-promotion of its portfolio and work in unison with our dozens of advertising partners to ensure positive results via marketing campaigns. More details HERE.

Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreational Sports (Fordham University / Bronx, NY): Fordham University is now accepting applications for their Athletic Director position. DHR Global is overseeing the search process on behalf of Fordham University. (DI) More details HERE. The D1.dossier for this position is available HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director, Communication and Digital Strategy (Lynn University / Boca Raton, FL): Primary communications contact for Fighting Knights and secondary for other sports. Creates content, designs media guides, compiles stats, and manages website and social media. Reports to the AD. More details HERE.

Associate Director of Athletics - Compliance (Gannon University / Erie, PA): The Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance serves as a senior member of the athletic administrative team and coordinates and leads all aspects of an NCAA compliance and rules education program More details HERE.

Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine (Lake Erie College / Painesville, OH): LEC is an NCAA Division II program that competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). This is a full-time position. More details HERE.

Head Coach, Softball (Lake Erie College / Painesville, OH): LEC is an NCAA Division II program that competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). This is a full-time position. More details HERE.

Assistant Softball Coach (University of Texas at Dallas / Richardson, TX): Supports the head coach in developing and maintaining a softball program that is athletically competitive within the Lone Star Conference (LSC) and NCAA Division II. More details HERE.

Vice President and Director of Athletics (University of New Mexico / Albuquerque, NM): The Vice President and Director of Athletics plans, administers, and directs all NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic programs for men and women. (DI) More details HERE. The D1.dossier for this position is available HERE.

Executive Director (College Sports Communicators / Fully Remote, US): College Sports Communicators (CSC) is seeking a proven and innovative leader with passion for the college sports communications and content creation industry to serve as its next Executive Director. More details HERE.

Senior Accountant (Big Ten Conference / Rosemont, IL): The Senior Accountant supports the Controller with day-to-day financial operations, ensuring the integrity of accounting information while providing timely financial reporting. (DI) More details HERE.

Deputy Athletic Director, External Affairs (Northwest Missouri State University / Maryville, MO): Deputy AD responsible for external arms of the department: corporate sponsorships, booster club, and fundraising specifically. More details HERE.

Director of Athletics (Truman State University / Kirksville, MO): The AD is the chief administrator for Truman State University's intercollegiate athletics program and leads the development and management of 18 sports with over 30 head and assistant coaches. More details HERE.

Executive Director, Coast Guard Academy Athletic Corporation (United States Coast Guard Academy / New London, CT): The CGAAC Executive Director will lead a start-up non-profit, manage all operational, financial, and programmatic requirements of the organization and display a passionate, entrepreneurial skillset. (DIII) More details HERE.

Head Men's and Women's Track Coach (Henderson State University / Arkadelphia, AR): Henderson State University is seeking an energetic, enthusiastic individual for the position of Head Men’s and Women’s Track Coach. More details HERE.

Head Softball Coach (Colorado School of Mines / Golden, CO): Colorado School of Mines Department of Athletics invites applications for the Head Softball Coach. Mines is a public research university devoted to engineering and applied science. More details HERE.

Head Field Hockey Coach (Barton College / Wilson, NC): Barton College is seeking a Head Field Hockey Coach to launch our inaugural program and oversee all aspects of it. More details HERE.

Team Lead of Transfer Eligibility (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) / Kansas City, KS): The transfer team lead will manage eligibility for students with breaks and transfers in the NAIA, overseeing team workload and maintaining resources, procedures, and training materials. More details HERE.

Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations (Pepperdine University / Malibu, CA): The role will report directly to the director of athletics, and will lead and execute the brand, marketing and revenue generation strategies for Pepperdine Athletics, using a data driven approach. (DI) More details HERE.

Assistant AD, Bronco Productions & Digital Strategy (Western Michigan University / Kalamazoo, MI): Responsible for all creative video projects and production efforts for the athletic department. (DI) More details HERE.

Head Softball Coach (DePauw University / Greencastle, IN): Recruit, coach, mentor and graduate outstanding student-athletes in an environment that supports nationally competitive athletics opportunities at the #1 liberal arts college in Indiana. (DIII) More details HERE.

Assistant/Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Academics (Dallas Baptist University / Dallas, TX): DBU is seeking an Asst/Assoc AD for Compliance and Academics to assist the Director of Athletics in planning, supervision and conduct of all NCAA and club sport athletic programs. (DI) More details HERE.

Vice President and Director of Athletics (Villanova University / Villanova, PA): Villanova seeks a bold, collaborative and innovative leader to work with colleagues and across campus to provide strategic leadership to ensure the continued elevation of the Athletics Department. (DI) More details HERE.

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