The search committee and advisory group of booster representatives in association with the Parker Executive Search firm hired by Montana State will unveil five finalist candidates for MSU’s vacant athletic director position this week, MSU vice president of administration and finance Terry Leist said in an email late last week.
Leist is the chair of the search committee.
Matt Whisenant
MSU’s recruiting efforts yielded a pool of 60 applicants which has been narrowed down to five. Matt Whisenant, the deputy athletics director at Wyoming, is the first finalist who will visit campus. On Monday, Whisenant met with President Waded Cruzado as well as multiple constituent groups throughout a full day of interviews, Leist said.
Whisenant will be the first finalist to meet and greet the community. Each introduction event will be held from 5 until 6 p.m. in the Stadium Club on the third floor of Bobcat Stadium Monday through Friday.
“Due to the very competitive and sensitive nature of athletics executive searches, we will be announcing the name of each candidate on the morning of their campus interview, as recommended by our search consultant,” Leist said. “A one-page biography will also be provided at that time.”
Whisenant, a defensive end and outside linebacker at East Tennessee State in the 1990s, is in his 12th year in Laramie. He has served as the Deputy Director of Athletics for the Cowboys for the past four years. He is involved with every aspect of the Wyoming athletic department, including direct oversight of the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling programs. He is also involved with academics, compliance, sports medicine, and strength and conditioning.
Whisenant’s responsibilities also stretch to budgeting, fundraising and revenue enhancement, something Montana State has stated will be key factors in the candidate chose to replace Peter Fields.
He started his career at UW as Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance in 2002, became an Assistant AD for Compliance and Olympic Sports in 2004, was promoted to Associate AD for Student-Athlete Services in 2005, was named Associate AD for Internal Operations in 2006, and became Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations in 2007 before accepting his current position in 2010.
Whisenant has a bachelor’s degree in physical edutation from ETSU obtained in 1996 and a master’s degree in sports science from East Tennessee State obtained in 1999. He has finished his course work for his Ph.D. in sports management from Ohio State according to the Wyoming athletics website.
