Long-time Alabama athletics staffer lands AD job at Arkansas State
By Andrew Olson
Published:
After more than a decade at Alabama, Jeff Purinton has accepted the athletic director position at Arkansas State.
Purinton’s hire was announced Wednesday by Arkansas State University System President Dr. Chuck Welch.
“I could not be more excited about the hiring of Jeff Purinton as the next Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics at Arkansas State,” Welch said in the program’s announcement. “From the very first conversation I had with Jeff, I knew that he was someone who would elevate our program to unforeseen heights. Jeff’s experience, combined with his incredible relationship skills and his network across the nation, made him an exceptional candidate for our position. Jeff has literally overseen every aspect of a premier athletics department, and every single person I talked with said it is his time to run his own department. I am thrilled that department is ours, and I cannot wait to see what he accomplishes for our university.”
Purinton had been with Alabama athletics since 2007. He worked with the football program as Associate Athletics Director for Football Communications from 2007-to-2015. Over the last few years, Purinton has held the positions of Senior Associate AD (2015-18), Executive Associate AD (2018-19) Deputy AD (2019-21), and most recently, Executive Deputy Director of Athletics.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be named the next Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics at Arkansas State University,” Purinton said in his released statement. “Thank you to System President Chuck Welch and everyone involved in the search process. It was handled in a first-class manner all the way through. I definitely had an interest when I got the first call about it, and after I had a chance to sit down and talk in-person with Chuck and Brad (Phelps), I was certain Arkansas State was a school I wanted to be a part of. They were genuine and authentic, and you felt a trust with them right off the bat. I felt like it was the right place and the right timing, but most importantly the chance to work with the right people.
“Successful college athletics programs have alignment with their leadership, and I believe that is a strength at Arkansas State,” Purinton continued. “I am excited to be associated with an outstanding program that has enjoyed many achievements in the classroom, in competition and in the community, and I look forward to continuing to develop the Red Wolves’ strong national brand.
“We can’t wait to get to campus and meet our student-athletes, coaches, staff members, donors and fans. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Jonesboro, and our family is excited to get to know the community and be part of that. Wolves up!”
Purinton is familiar with Arkansas State’s current head football coach. Butch Jones took the job after serving on Nick Saban’s staff from 2018-to-2020. Arkansas State went 2-10 last season, the first under Jones.
Arkansas State’s announcement includes quotes from Saban, Greg Byrne, Nate Oats and Mark Ingram:
“There are many qualities that make Jeff Purinton a great leader. The thing I appreciated about Jeff from the first time I met him was how direct and honest he is. We always tell our executive team and people we work with, don’t tell me what I want to hear, tell me what I need to know. You never have to worry about that with Jeff. He tells you what is on his mind in a constructive and helpful way. You need to be able to do that to be an effective leader. Jeff is a person that people like to be around. He’s a good communicator and he’s very trustworthy. He’s able to create a vision and help execute it as well as help communicate that vision. He is someone the coaches trust, and they appreciate his insight. From Coach Saban to Nate Oats to our golf coaches to our track coaches, they enjoy getting insight and counsel from Jeff to help them in their ability to coach their teams and make decisions. That could be from a budget standpoint, travel standpoint or a student-athlete experience standpoint. He’s well-rounded in those experiences, and he’s earned the trust of our coaches across the board. That is a very important tool to have when you are running an athletics department. In my opinion, one of the things that is needed in college athletics leadership positions is people who have been on campus and worked directly with student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff, University leadership and the fan base. Arkansas State hit a home run with Jeff Purinton – he is going to be a very successful AD.”
· Greg Byrne (Alabama Director of Athletics)“I always say that the number one thing that makes our organization special is the people. In terms of our staff and administration, Jeff would be one of those people I’m talking about. He works extremely hard, he thinks ahead and is proactive when you deal with any big picture issues, and he does it with a positive attitude. Anytime we’ve had to deal with a high pressure or stressful situation, he’s calm and doesn’t get flustered in those moments. We hired Jeff in the summer of my first year (2007) at Alabama in large part because he brought great outside perspective and had really strong national relationships. I relied on Jeff often, especially those first few years, in areas beyond just the media in terms of building the football program to where it is now. He moved up in terms of his administrative role here and has done an outstanding job as our football oversight. I don’t have any doubt Jeff will make an outstanding AD for Arkansas State.
· Nick Saban (Alabama Head Football Coach)“During my time as a student-athlete at Alabama, Jeff really helped me grow as a person and understand how important it is to represent yourself the right way on and off the field. We always talked about what you wanted your brand to be. We not only had a lot of great coaches at Alabama, but we had really good people like Jeff on staff that made the program better in some of the external areas as well. He helped me deal with all of the Heisman media demands, and I remember sitting up in New York just like it was yesterday getting my speech ready in case I won. That’s as nervous as I’ve ever been when my name was called, but I felt like I was prepared for the moment. I’ve got a lot of great memories with Jeff, and I appreciate him helping me get to where I am today. When I go back to ‘Bama with my family, Jeff is one of the first people I go and see.”
· Mark Ingram (New Orleans Saints RB, 2009 Heisman Trophy Winner)“We weren’t going to take just any coaching job when we were at Buffalo because we had a great situation there, had made it to the NCAA Tournament two straight years, and we’d recently bought a house that we were renovating. After Greg (Byrne) and Jeff came up to meet with us about the opening at Alabama, there was no doubt that we were going to make the move to Tuscaloosa. They did an outstanding job of presenting all of the positive things Alabama had to offer and answered each and every question we had. Knowing Jeff would be our sport administrator for men’s basketball was an important factor, and his support has been a key part of what we are building here. Especially with a new staff coming in, Jeff was invaluable in helping us navigate through the first couple of seasons. We were able to win the SEC regular season and the tournament championship in our second year, and advance to the Sweet 16. The support from Jeff and our administration is a big reason why.”
· Nate Oats (Alabama Head Men’s Basketball Coach)
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
