Missouri Western State University has named four finalists for the director of athletics position. The finalists include two senior administrators in Big 12 athletic departments, the athletic director at a top NCAA Division II school and a former Western athletic director.

“The search committee had an outstanding pool of more than 80 applicants to choose from,” said Dr. Robert A. Vartabedian, Western’s president. “I think all of our athletes, coaches, alumni and fans will agree that the four finalists are exceedingly well-qualified, and I’m very excited to bring them on campus and get to know them better.”

The four finalists will visit Western’s campus for interviews later this month. The schedule will be announced when it is finalized.
The finalists are:

Mark Alnutt, the senior associate athletic director for administration at the University of Missouri. Alnutt was promoted to that position in 2009, after three years as associate athletic director for administration. In that role, Alnutt provides administrative oversight to the sports of football, track and field, cross country, gymnastics and golf, leads the department’s project management team and has direct oversight of the media relations
office. He also manages postseason travel arrangements for each of MU’s 20 intercollegiate sport programs and handles the scheduling for a number of sports. He has overseen a number of facility improvements, including a $5 million video board project throughout the MU Sports Complex, a $2 million expansion and renovation of Taylor Baseball Stadium, and the current construction of a $5.6 million new Golden Girls/Gymnastics practice facility.
Alnutt spent the previous six years as football’s director of operations. In that role, his duties included coordinating the team’s travel plans, overseeing the football budget, handling compliance issues, scheduling facilities, assisting with recruiting operations and managing the day-to-day operations of the football program.

Alnutt was a three-year letterman for the Tigers as a linebacker and tight end and was voted the team’s Champion of the Year as a senior in 1995. He graduated that year with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and earned his Master of Public Administration with an emphasis in sports psychology in 2000, also at Mizzou.

Alnutt is a volunteer board member and coach with the Columbia Youth Football League. He previously served as the president of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Boone County, and was selected to participate in the 2002-03 NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males. In June of 2005, he received recognition by Columbia Business Times as one of Columbia’s 40-Under-40 business leaders, for his work in the community. He also participated in the Division I-A Athletic Director’s Institute in July of 2005 and 2007, attended the NACDA Mentoring Institute in June of 2008 and was appointed to the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics committee in December of 2008. In 2010, he received the university’s Barbara S. Uehling Award for Administrative Excellence.

Don Kaverman, the current athletic director at Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis and director of athletics at Western from 1995-1999. In his year at Harris-Stowe, he has led upgrades to athletics’ facilities, including a new basketball floor and soccer and baseball field improvements; developed a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; worked to improve academic support for at-risk student-athletes; and improved fiscal accountability and communication in the department.

From 1999 to 2009, Kaverman was athletic director at Southeast Missouri State University, an NCAA Division I school in Cape Girardeau, Mo. During his 10 years there, Southeast claimed more than 30 Ohio Valley Conference championships and sent nine teams and numerous individual athletes to NCAA postseason competition. In addition, half of all student-athletes earned a cumulative grade point average exceeding 3.0. Kaverman oversaw almost $5.2 million of capital improvement projects at Southeast.

At Western, Kaverman eliminated a budget deficit in the athletic department, increased funding by more than 35 percent by expanding the corporate sponsorship program and oversaw several capital improvement projects, including new seating for the Looney Arena.
Before his time at Western, Kaverman served as associate director of athletics for business and financial affairs at San Diego State from 1992-1995 and associate director for student-athlete services from 1988-1992. Prior to that, he was head athletic trainer at San Diego State, coordinator of sports medicine at Ferris State University, conditioning coordinator and assistant athletic trainer for the Detroit Lions and assistant athletic trainer at Northwestern University.

Kaverman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Master of Arts in physical education from Michigan State University.
Active in a number of organizations, Kaverman has served on the NCAA Committee for Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, chairing the Drug Education/Drug Testing Subcommittee. He is an active member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and is the past President for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association. In addition, he served on the NCAA FCS Football Committee and the Division I Football Issues Committee.

Kaverman is the recipient of the 1988 Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award from the California State University system and the 1980 Outstanding Young Man in America Award from the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Jeremy McClain, director of athletics at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., an athletic department with 13 sports and approximately 350 student-athletes, a position he has held since 2007. He also serves as the executive director of the Green & White Fund, the athletics fundraising arm. McClain helped secure $4.5 million for the first phase of Delta State’s athletic master plan, and secured corporate funding for a $1 million scoreboard/videoboard project. Over two years, corporate sponsorship dollars increased by more than 100 percent. McClain worked with selected architects and engineers on several projects, and negotiated departmental contracts with various providers, including Nike, Cellular South and All-Sport.
Delta State’s student-athletes have been successful in the classroom and in athletic competition. During McClain’s tenure, graduation rates of student-athletes increased from 50 percent to 69 percent. Teams won six Gulf South Conference championships. The Delta State football team competed in the NCAA Division II national championship game last year, and the women’s basketball team made two consecutive Final Four appearances. The school has hosted eight NCAA regional events as well as nine regionally televised and two nationally televised sporting events.

McClain has been a member of NCAA regional football and baseball selection committees and is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame selection committee. He received the Gen. Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director of the Year Award from the All-American Football Foundation in 2010.
Prior to serving as Delta State’s athletic director, McClain was the university’s director of development in 2006 and 2007. He secured more than $250,000 in pledges during his first three months in that position. He previously worked as a marketing representative for Federated Insurance Company in Calhoun, Miss., and as an account executive for the Jackson Senators professional baseball team.

McClain was an All-American baseball player at Delta State, setting many school pitching records that still stand. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox organization in 1999 and played professional baseball for the next five years, and was named a Central Baseball League all-star three times. He graduated from Delta State with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1999 and a Master of Business Administration in 2002.

Kurt McGuffin, assistant athletic director/director of athletics development at the University of Colorado-Boulder, a position he’s held since 2010. McGuffin created and implemented a new annual giving program which increased total giving by 15 percent and added more than 600 members in the first year. He assisted with fundraising and development of a new $15 million court sport practice facility.

Prior to his time at Colorado, McGuffin served 10 years in the Kansas State University athletic department. From 2008-2010, he served as senior associate athletic director for external operations. He was the administrator for men’s basketball, men’s and women’s track and field/cross country and men’s and women’s golf. He oversaw all external operations in the department, including development, ticketing, marketing and communication offices. The department completed more than $25 million in facility enhancements.

McGuffin had a role in drawing more fans to Kansas State sporting events. He led marketing campaigns that generated the biggest football opening day crowd in Kansas State’s history and led the sales group that sold out men’s basketball games three out of four years. During his tenure, Kansas State women’s basketball and volleyball were in the top 10 nationally for attendance.

Previously at Kansas State, McGuffin served as associate director of athletics for development from 2005-2008. In that role, he directed the efforts of six fundraisers and four staff members to raise more than $12 million annually. He also oversaw the ticket office, which generated more than $16 million in revenue. McGuffin successfully completed the $90 million athletics department piece of the $500 million “Changing
Lives” university-wide capital campaign, and oversaw a $6.5 million growth in the endowment for athletics.

Also at Kansas State, McGuffin served as assistant director of athletics for annual giving and assistant director of athletic development. He also served as assistant director of athletics for development at the University of Idaho in 1999 and 2000, and as a graduate assistant for fundraising at Wichita State University, director of men’s basketball operations at Eastern Washington University and head men’s basketball student assistant at Kansas State.
McGuffin received his Bachelor of Science in Education from Kansas State in 1996 and his Master of Science in Education from Wichita State in 1999.

— MWSU News Release —