By Brian Roe, Sports Writer
The worst kept secret in the ACU athletics department is finally out as former ACU basketball standout Jared Mosley was promoted to director of athletics Aug. 4. Mosley, who served as the associate director of athletics for the last two years, is the seventh director of athletics in ACU history.
Mosley enters his fourth year as a member of the ACU athletics staff. He served one year as an assistant basketball coach before working the last two years as the associate director of athletics.
Mosley said his experience with ACU and with the athletics department should be an advantage during this transition.
“This is a unique situation because working as the associate director provided some good experience,” Mosley said.
Mosley is familiar with the last two athletic directors, which should help ease the transition. He was a student-athlete when Stan Lambert was the athletic director, and he also played and worked for the sixth athletic director at ACU, Shannon Hays. Hays was the basketball coach from 1996-1999 and the director of athletics in 2002-2003.
“Working with them allowed me to see what worked and what didn’t work,” Mosley said. “I was allowed a good amount of responsibility and got into a lot of different areas of focus.”
Mosley’s duties as the new director of athletics will include responsibility for the athletics budget, athletic events, facilities oversight, marketing, NCAA compliance, student-athlete development and other special projects.
One of his first duties as athletic director was to hire a full-time NCAA compliance coordinator. Mosley chose Abilene’s own Robert Rubel to fill the role. Mosley was in charge of this department while serving as the associate director of athletics.
“Robert Rubel was coaching in Oklahoma but is from Abilene, and we are really ex-cited to have him on our staff,” Mosley said.
Mosley said one thing he wants to add to the athletic department is reconnection with former ACU student-athletes.
“We want to be connected with the former lettermen after they leave ACU and we want to stay connected with them,” he said.
For now Mosley will be connecting with the new responsibilities of an ACU athletic director including fund raising, day-to-day operations and development. Despite all the work that needs to be done, Mosley said this job is quixotic for both he and his family.
“To have the opportunity to stay in Abilene and stay at ACU is a dream come true for me,” he said. “We are one of the top division II schools in the nation, we have great coaches and we have a great staff. I’ve always wanted to stay involved in athletics and I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
