A list of 5 potential candidates for Wichita State to hire as new athletic director
A handful of candidates with Wichita State and Kansas ties have emerged as possible candidates for the Shockers in their national search for an athletic director.
The university has paid at least $70,000 to hire Parker Executive Search to help find a replacement for Darron Boatright, who was fired without cause on May 4 by president Rick Muma and recently reached a $300,000 settlement with WSU.
With an expected hiring to come in mid-June, here are five candidates who could become Wichita State’s next athletic director.
Scott Garrett
Current title: Cleveland State athletic director (since 2019)
Wichita State/state ties: Worked as Wichita State’s assistant athletic director under Eric Sexton from 2008-10. Also spent nine years at Kansas State as an executive associate athletic director for external operations and chief revenue officer.
The case: In his first stint as an athletic director, Garrett is off to a strong start at Cleveland State, a school similar to WSU where there is no football team and basketball is the main priority.
He made a home-run hire for the men’s basketball coaching position in first year on the job, giving Dennis Gates, who was an assistant at Florida State, his first Division I head coaching job. Gates led CSU to back-to-back Horizon League championships, the 2021 NCAA Tournament and the 2022 NIT before being hired by Missouri this offseason.
Garrett has also spearheaded record-breaking donations at the school, where he helped create an annual fund that CSU reported had doubled in membership and increased overall donations by nearly 30% in just its second year.
On top of the success of the sports team and the dramatic rise in fundraising, Garrett also oversaw the athletic department this past year when CSU had a record-breaking cumulative GPA of 3.55.
He knows WSU from his two years working there from 2008-10 and is familiar with the state of Kansas, as he spent nine years at K-State where he was responsible for all aspects of administration, including strategic revenue generation initiatives and fan experience programming.
It should be noted Garrett recently received a contract extension and bump in salary to $205,000 at Cleveland State through June 2026.
Brian Pracht
Current title: Notre Dame associate athletic director for industry and campus engagement (since 2013)
Wichita State/state ties: Worked as Wichita State’s senior associate athletic director for external operations from 2003-10. He is also an Emporia native who graduated from Emporia State in 1994.
The case: After nearly three decades of working his way up the ladder, a return to his home state and leading an athletic department the Emporia native has experience with could be appealing enough to leave Notre Dame.
Pracht would come with plenty of diverse experience: he spent six years as an assistant commissioner for the Southland Conference, three years at Arkansas as the associate athletic director for marketing and licensing and the past nine years at Notre Dame in a role that began as an assistant AD in marketing and evolved to an associate AD in industry and campus engagement.
Pracht has established a strong reputation for leading strategic marketing and ticketing initiatives at football-crazed schools, while also being skilled in revenue generation, fan engagement and sport supervision. His new role at Notre Dame, which he was promoted to in April, has him working on engaging and building relationships with key industry members and university departments to improve campus life.
While at WSU, Pracht managed the marketing, development, media relations and ticket offices while also being the administrator of the men’s basketball program under Mark Turgeon and Gregg Marshall.
Kurt McGuffin
Current title: Tennessee-Martin athletic director (since 2017)
Wichita State/state ties: Earned a Master of Science degree in education from WSU in 1999 and was also a graduate assistant for fundraising. The Iola native also spent a decade at Kansas State (2000-10), where he was a senior associate athletic director for external affairs.
The case: The chance to return to his home state and the place where he earned his Master’s from seems appealing enough.
Not to mention the pay bump: McGuffin’s salary was $156,000 in the 2019-20 fiscal year, although he did sign a contract extension to keep him at UT Martin through June 2025. Any changes to his salary were not publicized.
McGuffin has carved out a reputation as an all-star fundraiser during his career.
At K-State, where he spent a decade from 2000-10, he helped complete over $25 million in facility enhancements, led a $90 million campaign, and helped increase annual giving by 50% and endowments by over 70%.
In his year at Colorado (2010-11), he created and implemented a new annual giving program that increased total giving by 15% and added more than 600 members in its first year.
He spent six years as the athletic director at Missouri Western, where student-athletes hit all-time highs in average GPA and graduation rate and he helped significantly increase revenue generation, as well as annual and endowment giving. He launched a capital campaign that produced five of the largest gifts in school history and helped finish off $13 million in building upgrades.
McGuffin has continued that line of fundraising to help implement significant facility upgrades at UT Martin, as well as overseeing the department that has now seen student-athletes break the average GPA for five straight semesters.
While the men’s basketball program has struggled recently, the UT Martin football team is coming off a record-breaking season that saw the Skyhawks win 10 games, the most since becoming a Division I program in 1992, and reach the second round of the NCAA FCS playoffs.
Mike Harrity
Current title: Army deputy athletic director and chief operating officer (since 2020)
Wichita State/state ties: No WSU ties, but is a Kansas City native who graduated from KU and worked there for seven years.
The case: Harrity gained serious traction last spring for the open athletic director position at Kansas, his alma mater.
There’s nothing to link Harrity to WSU, other than the chance to potentially lead an athletic department for the first time, a jump he seems poised to make after nearly two decades of high-level experience.
Harrity earned a reputation for fundraising at Notre Dame, where he spent the majority of his time from 2013-20 as the senior associate athletic director and as a member of the executive team.
He has since expanded his duties at Army, where he leads the daily operations of external units centered around development, ticketing, strategic communications, licensing and branding. He also leads the school’s sports medicine, strength and conditioning and performance nutrition program and he also serves as the sport administrator for men’s basketball, football and men’s lacrosse.
In 2017, Harrity was selected as one of 25 senior-level athletic administrators nationally to participate in the prestigious NCAA Pathway Program. The program prepares them to become well-rounded leaders who are equipped with the tools to be an effective athletic director.
He is also a published author and has written a book on creating cultures of sustained excellence.
Sean Lester
Current title: Kansas deputy athletic director for administration (since 2003)
Wichita State ties: No WSU ties, but does have in-state experience after working at KU for nearly two decades.
The case: There’s nothing to directly link Lester to the opening at WSU, but he has done strong work at KU for nearly two decades and would bring plenty of in-state experience.
Lester has been a constant in the KU athletic department since 2003 and has twice served as interim athletic director in his career.
During his career in Lawrence, he has built a reputation known for generating revenue, budget management and leading fundraising projects. He was instrumental in the expansion of KU’s indoor football facility, Rock Chalk Park and the 2009 renovations at Allen Fieldhouse.
Lester, a Mansfield, Connecticut native, came to KU after a six-year career at Connecticut, where he served as an assistant athletic director for capital projects.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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