Alford to lead CMU athletics with education, fundraising background
After being named associate vice president and director of athletics at Central Michigan University today, Michael Alford offered three priorities he intends to focus on upon entering his new position on July 3.
The current senior associate athletics director for administration and development at the University of Oklahoma's first message was to make education a top priority for the student athlete experience. Alford's parents were both teachers and received master's degrees in education.
"Our job in athletics is to support the educational mission of the university and celebrate the achievement of our student athletes as they prepare for life," Alford said.
He said he will also focus on competing for championships and engaging in the CMU community.
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Alford was selected from a nation-wide search that featured 37 applicants, 19 of which come from Division I schools. Eight candidates have athletic director experience, nine are senior associate athletic directors and nine come from Power Five conferences, said committee chair and vice president of advancement Bob Martin.
Alford replaces Dave Heeke, who became athletics director at the University of Arizona after spending 11 years at CMU. Alford is expected to earn about $250,000.
President George E. Ross said the new athletic director shined during their one-on-one interview when Alford highlighted the importance of educating student athletes beyond the playing surface.
"Michael stood above (the other candidates) in my conversations with him," Ross said. "I was looking for a person who can uphold a leadership standard at CMU (and) recognizes that athletes are students first."
Alford also stood out among the candidates with his background in fundraising and marketing. He recently planned and managed a $160 million end zone facility project at Oklahoma, and led several capital campaigns, such as one for a $7 million basketball performance center that will open in 2018.
He joined OU in 2012 from the NFL's Dallas Cowboys where he served as senior director of corporate partnerships and sales since 2008. During his tenure with the Cowboys, Alford cultivated corporate relationships that resulted in over $400 million in contractual revenue for the club. He managed all aspects of programming for Cowboys Stadium, which opened in 2009, and has hosted numerous college football contests, concerts and other marquee events, including Super Bowl XLV.
Alford called his upcoming experience at CMU a "learning process." He said he plans to sit down with each head coach individually to hear their visions, particularly when it comes to facilities.
"You've got two ears and one mouth for a reason," he said. "That's what I'm going to be doing — hearing visions. I also want to hear the vision in the community and among students. (I want to) listen to their experiences at games and on campus and learn everything about it."
At Oklahoma, Alford helped run an athletic department with an annual budget of more than $120 million. At CMU, the athletic budget is around $30 million, nearly 75 percent of which is subsidized by student tuition dollars.
Ross said in a press release that he was looking for a candidate "who has an unwavering commitment to upholding CMU's reputation as one of 13 universities without a major NCAA violation."
In February 2014, The Oklahoman released some of the University of Oklahoma's self-reported NCAA rules violations. Alford made the list of minor violations with a congratulations Tweet to head coach Lon Kruger and OU basketball after a recruit committed to the school on the same day. Alford sent the Tweet on April 17, 2013 and deleted it five minutes later.
Last October, he was announced as a finalist for the athletics director at the College of Charleston. The three candidates visited campus on Oct. 17-18, 2016, for interviews with the search committee and meetings with coaches, faculty, staff, student-athletes and college administrators.
Unlike other recent searches conducted by the university, such as the Dean of Libraries, College of Communications and Fine Arts Dean and the Provost, the search for the athletic director did not include public forums for students and staff to participate in.
On April 17, Central Michigan Life requested, through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, the applications of eight candidates interviewed by the search committee by phone or Skype. On April 25, the university requested an additional 10 days to fulfill the request. After the 10 day extension period ended on May 9, the university granted the request for the four finalists, but denied access to the applications of the non-finalists.
Alford is the seventh athletics director at CMU since 1940. He will be introduced at a press conference on Thursday, June 8 in the John G. Kulhavi Events Center.
