Christian Spears is an American athletic director currently serving at Marshall University. He has been the athletic director at Marshall since February 2022.
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Athletic director |
| Team | Marshall |
| Conference | Sun Belt |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | San Marino, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Washington (BS) Long Beach State University (MPA) Ohio State University (JD) |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 2003–2009 | Southern Illinois (assistant AD) |
| 2009–2014 | Northern Illinois (associate AD) |
| 2013 | Northern Illinois (acting AD) |
| 2014–2017 | Eastern Michigan (deputy AD) |
| 2017 | Eastern Michigan (interim AD) |
| 2017–2022 | Pittsburgh (deputy AD) |
| 2022–present | Marshall |
Career
editSpears began working as the associate director of athletics at Northern Illinois University in 2009 after spending the previous six years as the assistant athletic director at Southern Illinois University.[1] In 2013, Spears was named acting athletic director at NIU after Jeff Compher left to become the athletic director at East Carolina University.[2]
In 2014, Spears was hired as deputy AD at Eastern Michigan University. In 2017, he was named interim AD after Heather Lyke left to become the AD at the University of Pittsburgh.[3] Shortly after becoming interim AD, Spears followed Lyke to Pitt as the deputy athletic director.[4]
In February 2022, Spears was named athletic director at Marshall University replacing interim AD, Jeff O'Malley.[5][6] As athletic director of Marshall, he oversaw the completion of the fundraising to build a new baseball stadium for the Thundering Herd baseball team.[7]
References
edit- ^ Nitz, Steve (April 1, 2009). "Christian Spears' division I responsibilities increase". Northern Star. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Mitchell, Fred (April 4, 2013). "NIU names Spears acting AD". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ "Christian Spears named Eastern Michigan interim athletic director". Detroit Free Press. March 27, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Paul, Tony (May 12, 2017). "EMU interim AD Christian Spears leaving for Pittsburgh". The Detroit News. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Brocato, Joe (February 25, 2022). "Christian Spears introduced as Marshall's new Director of Athletics". WV Metro News. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Zimmer, Justin (March 1, 2022). "New AD Christian Spears Sets Priorities". The Parthenon. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Creasey, Luke (September 29, 2022). "Gift from state completes fundraising for Marshall baseball stadium". The Herald-Dispatch. Retrieved September 29, 2022.