Big Sky Conference

Arizona State’s Cooper Jones to interview for MSU AD position

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Cooper Jones, the executive associate athletic director for the Sun Devil Club at Arizona State, is on the Montana State campus on Thursday as the fourth of five finalists MSU will bring to Bozeman for its athletic director opening.

Wyoming Deputy AD Matt Whisenant interviewed on Monday and Utah Deputy AD Kyle Brennan was on campus on Tuesday. Eastern Michigan Deputy AD Christian Spears interviewed on Wednesday. Peter Fields has served as Montana State’s AD since 2002. Earlier this year, MSU President Waded Cruzado announced Fields’ contract would not be renewed upon its expiration on June 30.

Jones emerged from a pool of more than 60 applicants. A search committee including: Terry Leist, MSU Vice President of Administration and Finance; Camie Bechtoldt, MSU Senior Associate Athletic Director; Brett Forder, President, Bobcat Club; George Haynes, MSU Faculty Athletic Representative; Ellen Kreighbaum, Former MSU Athletic Director; Chris Kukulski, Bozeman City Manager; Bob Mokwa, Member, MSU University Athletic Committee; Chad Newell, Bobcat Student Athlete; Riley Nordgaard, Bobcat Student Athlete; Cory Pulfrey, Chairman, MSU Alumni Foundation Board; and Melanie Stocks, Director, MSU Sports Facilities teamed with the Parker Executive Search firm to research each candidate and add to the pool any person the consulting firm felt was a good fit. The committee and Parker Executive whittled the group to eight semifinalists before announcing five finalists would come to Bozeman this week.

Jones is in fourth year in Tempe as the executive associate athletic director for development and the executive director of the Sun Devil Club at Arizona State. Jones is responsible for all fundraising initiatives within ASU athletics and oversees the annual fund, major gift, planned & estate giving, young alumni, volunteer representative, letter winner and sports specific outreach programs for ASU.

Jones spearheaded the recent rebranding initiative at ASU. He also led the executive campaigns to renovate Sun Devil Stadium, Phoenix Municipal Stadium and Papago Park. As a senior member of the athletic department, he has participated in coaching searches, season ticket pricing, media relations efforts, academic benchmarks and the overall multi-year strategic plan for Sun Devil athletics.

Jones came to ASU from the University of North Texas, where he was the senior associate athletic director for development. At UNT, Jones directed a seven-person Development office that was responsible for the identification, cultivation and solicitation of over 500 prospects annually. He was the chief fundraiser for Apogee Stadium, the $80 million campaign for a new on-campus facility which constituted the first major athletic facility upgrade in over 35 years. Jones had direct oversight of the Mean Green Club, the athletic scholarship fund at UNT. Under his leadership, annual membership levels rose over 250 percent and financial support increased over 225 percent in dollars raised during that same period of time. Jones has also held various development positions at Louisville, Maryland, and Georgia Tech.

Jones, a native of Conyers, Georgia, earned a bachelor’s degree journalism and public relations with a minor in history and health care communications from Ohio University. He was a three-year letter winner and senior captain for the Bobcats and made the Dean’s List as a member of the football team.

Jones is married to the former Tiffany Goodman, who was a member of Georgia Tech’s first-ever ACC champion softball in addition to being an Academic All-Conference selection. The couple welcomed their first child, Jackson Allan, on August 30th, 2013.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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