Athletics Director
Athletics Director Gene Taylor
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THE ANNOUNCEMENT |
WATCH: A Video Ride-A-Long with AD Gene Taylor
LOOK: The Reaction...
LOOK: The Arrival...
READ: K-State to Introduce Taylor as AD
Gene Taylor, who spent more than a decade leading North Dakota State to championship levels of success as its Director of Athletics before serving as the Deputy Athletics Director at Iowa, was named the Director of Athletics at K-State in April 2017.
Taylor’s first year in the Little Apple was met with championship performances on the field and in the classroom, in addition to finalizing a senior leadership team, meeting K-Staters from all over the country, continued fundraising success and immediately continuing to improve the facility infrastructure to enhance the experience of all Wildcat student-athletes. Highlighting the first 12 months on the job competitively were a Big 12 Outdoor Women’s Track and Field championship, a bowl win over UCLA and an Elite 8 appearance from the men’s basketball team, while Taylor and staff fundraised and announced plans for a new $12 million Baseball and Soccer Facility that is set to break ground in the next few months.
As Athletics Director at North Dakota State, Taylor immediately spearheaded a comprehensive evaluation of the Bison athletic department in 2001, all while successfully guiding the athletics program through the unpredictable waters of reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II and securing conference affiliations for all 16 sports. The Bison are currently members of The Summit League, Missouri Valley Football Conference and Western Wrestling Conference.
Taylor also played an instrumental part of forming the Great West Football Conference in February 2004, an affiliation that gave the Bison football program an immediate home in Division I.
The success of the football program is well documented, highlighted by three-straight FCS National Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013 under head coach Craig Bohl as the Bison quickly became one of the most revered football programs in all levels of college sports.
In addition to football, the NDSU men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, softball and women’s golf programs all regularly qualified for NCAA tournaments, highlighted by softball advancing to the 2009 Super Regional, while the Bison totaled 53 Summit League team championships since 2009 under Taylor’s guidance in addition to 62 Academic All-Americans, three NCAA Woman of the Year national qualifiers, four NCAA Elite 89 selections and 20 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners.
The NDSU athletics budget tripled from $5 million in Taylor’s first year to $15 million, while the scholarship endowment grew to $11.2 million, and Team Makers booster club support tripled from $750,000 to $2.8 million.
In 2014, Taylor accepted the role of deputy athletics director at Iowa where he has been responsible for the administrative oversight of the department’s day-to-day operations while also serving as the leading advisor to the Director of Athletics and the primary decision maker in his absence.
He also supervises and manages all the department’s administrative units, capital projects as well as serving as the direct sport supervisor for field hockey, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s soccer, baseball and wrestling. Taylor also has oversight of the football and men’s and women’s basketball programs daily operations, which included postseason and bowl travel coordination.
Twice Taylor has been recognized for his success by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He was selected as the FCS Central Region AD of the Year in June 2008 and June 2012. Taylor received the Blue Key Honor Society Doctor of Service Award, one of the most prestigious honors an NDSU faculty member can be bestowed, in April 2012.
A student assistant to the associate athletics director in his undergraduate days at Arizona State University, Taylor arrived at NDSU after a 15-year stint at Navy (1986-2001) as an administrative assistant, assistant ticket manager, ticket manager, assistant athletic director for tickets and operations, and associate athletic director.
Taylor is a 1980 business management graduate of Arizona State, and he received his master’s degree in sports administration in 1985 from St. Thomas University in Florida.
He worked in the ticket office at Southern Methodist University in 1985-86 before joining the Naval Academy. His tenure at Navy included serving as the commissioner of the five-team Collegiate Sprint Football League that includes Army, Navy, Penn, Princeton and Cornell.
Taylor, 59, and his wife, Cathy, have one daughter, Casey, and a son, Jared. Casey graduated from North Dakota State with a degree in sports management and works in the Minnesota Athletics Department, while Jared attends Northern State University in South Dakota where he plays football.
