Fresno State hires Garrett Klassy as athletic director

Fresno State has hired its next athletic director, choosing University of Houston assistant AD Garrett Klassy, ​​in part because of his strong track record in development and revenue generation during a 30-year career in college athletics.

Klassy was in his first year at Houston and, interestingly, he was hired by Fresno State the same week his boss, Houston athletic director Chris Pezman, was fired. Houston’s administration was reportedly frustrated by Pezman’s lack of progress in fundraising and sponsorships as the Cougars entered the Big 12 Conference. The department in 2022-23 received 47% of its revenue from support university. At Fresno State, university support accounted for only 31 percent of athletics revenue that same year.

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Klassy replaces Terry Tumey, who entered into a mutual separation with the university in March.

An official Fresno State press conference is expected to take place next week.

“I am deeply excited about the opportunity to work with Garrett,” Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said in an athletic department release. “He has an impressive background in athletics and demonstrates integrity, intentional passion and strategic energy. Having grown up on a dairy farm, he embodies our values, understands our culture and exemplifies our work ethic at the highest levels.

Before moving to Houston in June 2023, Klassy spent four years at Nebraska where he was a senior assistant athletic director and oversaw the revenue generation and external operations units. He managed fundraising efforts for a $100 million capital campaign to build a new football operations center, and also created an in-house agency to manage the media rights and radio network of the Cornhuskers.

Klassy has experience as an athletic director at Illinois-Chicago, where he rebranded athletics fundraising and secured a $10 million naming rights deal for the basketball arena -ball, which included $750,000 for scholarships.

He also served as an assistant athletic director at Oregon in 2005, working on fundraising campaigns for Matthew Knight Arena and the Hatfield-Dowlin Football Operations Center. Former Fresno State athletic director Jim Bartko was the Ducks’ assistant athletic director for donor relations at the time.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to President Jiménez-Sandoval for the opportunity to lead Fresno State Athletics,” Klassy said. “This is an incredible moment for me and my family, and I am committed to working tirelessly to aggressively move Fresno State Athletics forward in this changing landscape of college athletics. I look forward to embracing the rich culture and values ​​of the Central Valley, and am excited to engage with Red Wave’s passionate fan base. Together, we will build on our traditions and reach new heights of success.

At Fresno State, Klassy will face a number of challenges, starting with a crumbling Valley Children’s Stadium, an operating revenue deficit and planned changes to Division I sports after the NCAA settled three federal antitrust cases that will open the door to revenue sharing and payment. student-athletes.

The Bulldogs’ financial crisis includes a reduction in institutional support – it was reduced to $15.5 million in 2022-23 from $18.1 million in 2021-22 – and is expected to be reduced again this year with the system of California State University and its 23 campuses preparing. for a drastic reduction in state funding.

Fresno State is also well behind other CSU schools in the Mountain West Conference in tuition revenue – San Diego State took in about $13 million from tuition in 2022-23 and San Jose State $8.8 million, while the Bulldogs’ athletic department received $4.2 million. million.

So Fresno State slipped into the Mountain West. Total athletics revenue was $48.9 million in 2022-23, according to the most recent financial report the athletic department submits annually to the NCAA, ranking eighth out of nine public schools in the conference with publicly available data.

The Bulldogs trail San Diego State ($103.9 million), Colorado State ($64.3 million), Boise State ($60.7 million), UNLV ($56.6 million), Wyoming ($50.1 million) and Nevada ($49.5 million). Data from New Mexico and Utah State are not yet available, and Fresno State ranks ahead of San Jose State.

Fresno State placed third in 2017-18, just six years ago.