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University of Massachusets Athletics
Staff Directory
Minyard, Mike
Mike Minyard
- Title:
- Senior Associate AD for Marketing, Sales & Fan Experience
- Email:
- Phone:
- 545-7102
Mike Minyard serves as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Marketing, Sales & Fan Experience at the University of Massachusetts. A member of the department's leadership cabinet, Minyard oversees marketing, ticketing and fan experience efforts, while contributing to department-wide planning and revenue strategy.
Mike brings over a decade of senior-level NCAA Division I leadership experience, with a proven track record in revenue generation, fan engagement, brand building and sport supervision. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the planning, fundraising, and execution of over $200 million in facility projects and renovations, in addition to delivering record-breaking results in sponsorship sales, ticket sales, and attendance.
From 2022 to 2024, Minyard served as Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Fan Engagement at the University of South Florida. Mike was a member of the department's senior staff and oversaw all aspects of marketing, promotions, advertising, fan experience, and videoboard operations, while providing support for ticket sales initiatives resulting in over $6.5 million in ticket revenue in 2023-24, a 64-percent increase from the previous academic year.
USF was named one of the 2023-24 Best College Athletic Departments in the country by Front Office Sports. Football attendance in 2023 ranked second among NCAA Division I G5 programs and had the greatest rate of growth in the country outside of the Power Five conferences. Men’s basketball also saw a tremendous improvement in attendance during the 2023-24 season, ranking seventh nationally in increased attendance. The Bulls had three sold out crowds of over 10,000 fans at three games for the first time including the best on-campus crowd (10,659) in the program’s 53-year history. Minyard also provided strategic leadership for a women’s basketball Education Day promotion that drew 9,574 fans—the largest regular-season crowd for a women’s college basketball on-campus game in the State of Florida in over 20 years.
Prior to his move to South Florida, Minyard oversaw the external units at California Baptist University (2018-22) and Austin Peay State University (2017-18) while also serving as the sport supervisor for a variety of programs including men's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's water polo, and women's cross country and track & field.
Mike was the Associate Athletics Director for External Relations while at California Baptist in Riverside. He served as a member of the department's executive leadership team through arguably the most successful four-year transition to the NCAA Division I level in the modern history of college athletics. CBU received formal approval from the NCAA on the completion of the transition in 2022. Minyard created the university’s first licensing program, and spearheaded the department's in-house sponsorship program, generating over $3 million in sponsorships, including a record $265,000 deal. The Lancers experienced record support, setting new marks in a variety of attendance and revenue categories. Notably, men's basketball attendance ranked fourth among the 15 NCAA Division I programs in Southern California, trailing only San Diego State, UCLA and USC. Minyard also led a national media campaign in 2021 for the undefeated women’s basketball team that earned coverage by the Associated Press, LA Times, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Yahoo! Sports among others.
Prior to CBU, Minyard was the Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs at Austin Peay in Clarksville, TN where he was a member of the senior staff for nearly two years. The Govs raised a school-record $4.75M through donations, sponsorships and ticket sales in 2017-18. Minyard also helped secure naming rights for the club level of the football stadium, and managed a successful bass fishing tournament fundraiser that engaged donors in a creative and memorable way.
From 2012 to 2017, Minyard was Associate Athletics Director for Sales and Promotions at Liberty University, where he was a member of the department's senior staff, overseeing the department’s marketing, sponsorships and ticketing efforts, assisting in the execution of a strategic plan that led to the announced move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level in February 2017. Minyard managed an in-house sponsorship program that generated over $2 million in new agreements during his tenure, including the largest partnership in school history at $625,000. Among the fan experience highlights, the Liberty Baseball gameday experience was ranked No. 4 nationally by Stadium Journey in 2015, behind only South Carolina, LSU, and Mississippi State.
Minyard holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing from ORU and a master's degree in Information Technology Management with a concentration in Business Analytics from CBU.
A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mike has been an active community member over the years, volunteering with the March of Dimes, YMCA youth programs, and Adopt-A-Highway. He and his wife, Katie, a former cross country and track & field student-athlete at Gardner-Webb University, reside in Belchertown with their son, Memphis, and rescue dog, Murphy.
Mike brings over a decade of senior-level NCAA Division I leadership experience, with a proven track record in revenue generation, fan engagement, brand building and sport supervision. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the planning, fundraising, and execution of over $200 million in facility projects and renovations, in addition to delivering record-breaking results in sponsorship sales, ticket sales, and attendance.
From 2022 to 2024, Minyard served as Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Fan Engagement at the University of South Florida. Mike was a member of the department's senior staff and oversaw all aspects of marketing, promotions, advertising, fan experience, and videoboard operations, while providing support for ticket sales initiatives resulting in over $6.5 million in ticket revenue in 2023-24, a 64-percent increase from the previous academic year.
USF was named one of the 2023-24 Best College Athletic Departments in the country by Front Office Sports. Football attendance in 2023 ranked second among NCAA Division I G5 programs and had the greatest rate of growth in the country outside of the Power Five conferences. Men’s basketball also saw a tremendous improvement in attendance during the 2023-24 season, ranking seventh nationally in increased attendance. The Bulls had three sold out crowds of over 10,000 fans at three games for the first time including the best on-campus crowd (10,659) in the program’s 53-year history. Minyard also provided strategic leadership for a women’s basketball Education Day promotion that drew 9,574 fans—the largest regular-season crowd for a women’s college basketball on-campus game in the State of Florida in over 20 years.
Prior to his move to South Florida, Minyard oversaw the external units at California Baptist University (2018-22) and Austin Peay State University (2017-18) while also serving as the sport supervisor for a variety of programs including men's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's water polo, and women's cross country and track & field.
Mike was the Associate Athletics Director for External Relations while at California Baptist in Riverside. He served as a member of the department's executive leadership team through arguably the most successful four-year transition to the NCAA Division I level in the modern history of college athletics. CBU received formal approval from the NCAA on the completion of the transition in 2022. Minyard created the university’s first licensing program, and spearheaded the department's in-house sponsorship program, generating over $3 million in sponsorships, including a record $265,000 deal. The Lancers experienced record support, setting new marks in a variety of attendance and revenue categories. Notably, men's basketball attendance ranked fourth among the 15 NCAA Division I programs in Southern California, trailing only San Diego State, UCLA and USC. Minyard also led a national media campaign in 2021 for the undefeated women’s basketball team that earned coverage by the Associated Press, LA Times, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Yahoo! Sports among others.
Prior to CBU, Minyard was the Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs at Austin Peay in Clarksville, TN where he was a member of the senior staff for nearly two years. The Govs raised a school-record $4.75M through donations, sponsorships and ticket sales in 2017-18. Minyard also helped secure naming rights for the club level of the football stadium, and managed a successful bass fishing tournament fundraiser that engaged donors in a creative and memorable way.
From 2012 to 2017, Minyard was Associate Athletics Director for Sales and Promotions at Liberty University, where he was a member of the department's senior staff, overseeing the department’s marketing, sponsorships and ticketing efforts, assisting in the execution of a strategic plan that led to the announced move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level in February 2017. Minyard managed an in-house sponsorship program that generated over $2 million in new agreements during his tenure, including the largest partnership in school history at $625,000. Among the fan experience highlights, the Liberty Baseball gameday experience was ranked No. 4 nationally by Stadium Journey in 2015, behind only South Carolina, LSU, and Mississippi State.
Minyard began his athletics career at Oral Roberts University, where he spent 11 years in progressively expanded roles. As a student, he served as a team manager and student assistant coach, and was the video coordinator assisting with individual workouts and scouting reports for the men’s basketball team from 2001 to 2006. The program advanced to postseason with appearances in the NIT (2005) and NCAA Tournament (2006). He also interned in media relations, managing stats, serving as SID for multiple sports, and overseeing the department’s in-house website.
After graduation, he spent one season as a high school basketball coach at High Point Christian Academy in North Carolina before returning to ORU in a full-time role as Director of Marketing/Ticket Sales. In that role, he developed marketing and ticket sales plans, coordinated advertising, sold group tickets and sponsorships, and supported the Golden Eagle Club annual fund, premium seating and donor hospitality initiatives, and fundraising events including an annual golf tournament and table sales for preseason dinners and auctions.
He also negotiated a national TV deal with Fox College Sports and launched a women’s basketball field trip promotion that drew 4,243 fans and helped ORU win the NCAA Pack the House Challenge three straight years. ORU led the Summit League in men’s basketball attendance in both 2009–10 and 2011–12. Minyard was recognized for his contributions at ORU in 2010 when he was named to the Tulsa Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list.
Mike has been recently selected by industry peers as a top marketing administrator in college athletics by receiving an invitation to the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Veterans Summit (2022-24) and Revenue Generation Summit (2025). Minyard has led award-winning marketing teams, earning 10 NACMA "Best of" Awards during his career:- Gold: Video Board Segment (2008), Radio Commercial (2013), Promotional Video (2016)
- Silver: Promotional Schedule Poster (2014), Promotional T-Shirt Design (2016), Video Board Segment (2016), Digital Video Segment (2022)
- Bronze: Revenue Producing Video (2017), Fan Engagement Video (2022), Single-Game Attendance/Sellout Campaign (2024)
Minyard holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing from ORU and a master's degree in Information Technology Management with a concentration in Business Analytics from CBU.
A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mike has been an active community member over the years, volunteering with the March of Dimes, YMCA youth programs, and Adopt-A-Highway. He and his wife, Katie, a former cross country and track & field student-athlete at Gardner-Webb University, reside in Belchertown with their son, Memphis, and rescue dog, Murphy.
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