Mark Alnutt

Mark Alnutt, senior associate athletics director for administration at the University of Missouri, has been named director of athletics at Southeast Missouri State University.

The announcement was made today during a news conference in the Aleen Vogel Wehking Alumni Center at Southeast.

Alnutt participated in an off-campus interview April 12 in St. Louis and was on campus for final interviews today. He was among two finalists for the position following a national search conducted by a search committee including representatives from the Board of Regents, faculty, staff, students and the community.

Alnutt begins his new duties at Southeast on or about May 21. He replaces John Shafer who retired last June. Cindy Gannon has been serving as interim director of athletics since that time.

“Mark brings with him a tremendous breadth of experience and the caliber of credentials to move our program forward and into the future,” said Kenneth W. Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University. “All of us are looking forward to having Mark join us at Southeast.”

Alnutt has been serving as senior associate athletics director for administration at the University of Missouri after spending three years as the associate athletics director for administration.

Mike Alden, director of athletics at the University of Missouri, said, “I think Southeast Missouri State University is getting a terrific leader in Mark Alnutt. We will miss him here, but our loss is Southeast’s gain and all of us here are very proud of Mark and all that he has accomplished.”

In his current role, Alnutt serves as the administrative liaison for football; supervises track and field, cross country, gymnastics and golf; spearheads the department’s project management team; serves as the primary point person for the Athletic Department, overseeing all aspects of facility project master planning, development, management and implementation; and is involved with external department operations, including development, game operations, marketing, media relations, Mizzou Sports Properties and ticket operations.

Alnutt also manages postseason travel arrangements for each of the University of Missouri’s 20 intercollegiate sport programs. He oversees Missouri’s Nike contract, the Big Wheels and Flying Tiger programs and the department’s relationship with Old Hawthorne Golf Club. In 2009, he oversaw a $5 million video board project through the University of Missouri Sports Complex with the centerpiece being a new board at Faurot Field. He also oversaw the design and construction of the new Golden Girls/Gymnastics practice faculty completed last fall. He also has been actively involved in the solicitation and stewardship efforts of capital gift giving.

Alnutt spent the previous six years at the University of Missouri as director of football operations, adding an assistant athletic director title prior to the 2005-2006 season. In that role, his duties included coordinating the team’s travel plans, oversight of the football budget, handling compliance issues, scheduling of facilities, assisting with recruiting operations and managing the day-to-day operations of the football program.

He coordinated public relations and community service events for football, and oversaw all organizational aspects for the University of Missouri’s trips to the 2003 and 2005 Independence Bowl games played in Shreveport, La. He also represented the football program as part of the design team that planned the $16 million expansion and renovation project which turned the Tom Taylor Building into the Missouri Athletics Training Complex.