Citizenship United States Role Athletic director | Name John Currie Education Wake Forest University | |
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Occupation Athletic Director, Kansas State University Residence Manhattan, Kansas, United States | ||
John A. L. Currie (born April 1, 1971) is the director of athletics at Kansas State University (Kansas State Wildcats). His official title is director of the department of intercollegiate athletics and he is also the CEO of K-State Athletics, Inc. (KSA, Inc.).
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Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, is a member of the Big 12 Conference and one of the 65 Power Five conferences schools. Currie replaced Bob Krause on June 7, 2009.
Education
Currie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a minor in politics from Wake Forest University in 1993 and a Master’s of Science degree in sports management from the University of Tennessee in 2003.
Early Career
Currie began his professional career at Wake Forest in 1993 as a Deacon Club intern before being named Assistant Deacon Club Director in 1994, a position he held until 1997. Following a two-year stint as Assistant Athletics Director at Wake Forest University, Currie joined the University of Tennessee staff in 1997 as Executive Director of the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund. While at Tennessee, he also served in several roles, including executive associate athletic director, senior associate athletic director, associate athletic director for external operations, associate director for development, marketing and tickets, associate athletic director for development, and assistant athletic director for development.
While in Knoxville as executive associate athletic director Currie was named one of Knoxville's 40 Under 40.
Kansas State University Athletic Directorship
Currie administers K-State Athletics’ $71 million budget, manages the 165-employee department and maintains relations with 450 student athletes. As an athletics department administrator, he has cultivated ongoing relationships with alumni, donors, staff, and student athletes. Under Currie's leadership, the department projects a 4.4 million dollar increase for the 2016 fiscal year. Since Currie arrived at KSU, the athletics department has seen a 26 million dollar increase in its budget. The 2010 budget was 44.1 million dollars. Under Currie's leadership, the department's budget attained a surplus for six consecutive years.
Awards and Achievements
During Currie's tenure, Kansas State won conference championships in football, men’s basketball and baseball in a single year. The success earned Currie the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year award for 2013 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
In addition, the University has added $190 million worth of new and upgraded facilities. These include the West Stadium Center at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, as well as a basketball training venue. Construction of a new football complex was scheduled to open in September 2015.
Currie announced in a letter to K-State Nation that the athletics department is devoted to creating "A World-Class Student-Athlete Experience". The K-State AD has emerged as a model intercollegiate athletics program among university and college programs in recents years, and much of its success has been attributed to the leadership of Currie.