Fresno State officially opened the search for its next athletic director on Monday a couple months after parting ways with Terry Tumey.
Monday’s job posting comes in spite of the fact that Fresno State has instituted a hiring freeze in the wake of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May revision to the budget, which projects the deficit to be $27.6 billion.
The big picture: Whoever Fresno State hires to lead its 17 scholarship programs will take home a salary between $340,000 and $390,000 annually, according to the job posting.
- The university also offers medical, dental and vision plans for candidates, membership in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), sick and vacation time and 15 paid holidays every year.
Go deeper: Any interested candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree and at least five years of senior level experience in college athletics administration.
- Fresno State would also prefer candidates have a master’s degree or equivalent and at least five years of experience as an athletic director.
- Other job requirements include having excellent administrative and financial management skills, a demonstrated ability to lead and fundraise for comprehensive campaigns and recruit and mentor coaching staff, among others.
- The position will be open until filled, with university President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval not setting a public deadline to hire the next athletic director on the application.
What we’re watching: If Jimenez-Sandoval wants to have continuity within the athletic department and not bring in an outsider that would likely hire new senior level staff, two people could be of early interest.
- Jimenez-Sandoval could start the search with Rob Acunto, who is currently serving as the interim athletic director.
- Acunto joined Fresno State as a deputy athletic director in August 2023 following four years as the athletic director at Presbyterian College. He also worked at UTEP, The Citadel, American University, Cornell and the Atlantic 10 Conference.
- In his role as deputy athletic director, Acunto oversaw all internal operations, including compliance, academic services, human resources and personnel and sports administration.
- Jimenez-Sandoval could also look to bring back Tim Collins, who left Fresno State last year to become the athletic director at Eastern Washington.
- Collins was the senior associate athletics director for development at Fresno State for five years.
