President DesRoches names Tommy McClelland as new director of athletics at Rice

The following message was sent to the Rice community in an email July 30:

Dear Rice Community,

I’m excited to announce that Tommy McClelland, deputy athletic director at Vanderbilt University, will join Rice as the university’s next director of athletics. Tommy will begin his new role Aug. 14.

Tommy brings the values of academic excellence and deep integrity that define Rice, coupled with a passionate desire to compete successfully at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. These attributes will be critical for Rice’s first season in the American Athletic Conference and the years to follow.

At Vanderbilt, Tommy has provided oversight of the transformational Vandy United campaign. The largest athletics fundraising campaign in school history, Vandy United has raised over $300 million to support the construction of nearly $300 million in new and renovated athletic facilities at the university. As the deputy athletic director overseeing external affairs and revenue generation, he plays a critical role in fundraising and planning the projects while also overseeing the football program and directing the Commodores’ marketing and promotional efforts, ticket operations and sales, fan engagement and hospitality, broadcasting and Learfield partnership.

Tommy joined Vanderbilt in 2020 after a landmark term as director of athletics at Louisiana Tech. During his seven-year tenure at the school, athletics thrived under Tommy’s leadership, which was underpinned by his philosophy of building champions on the playing fields, in the classrooms and in life. Under his leadership, Louisiana Tech experienced its most impressive run since the 1970s. The Bulldogs boasted postseason appearances by football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, golf, and track and field, including six straight bowl wins. Tommy achieved similar success with men’s basketball winning 20 in seven out of the eight seasons (including a 121-11 record at home) he led and a pair of regular season conference titles.

While leading Louisiana Tech into its Conference USA era, Tommy impacted the athletics department through fundraising, facility improvements, coaching hires and overall student-athlete development. Perhaps the most tangible sign of Tommy’s impact at Louisiana Tech were the $23 million Davison Athletics Complex and $18 million press box and luxury suites at Joe Aillet Stadium. These two facilities not only changed the landscape of football game days in Ruston, but also produced more than $1.2 million in additional revenue per year for the athletics department.

Off the field, Louisiana Tech student-athletes blossomed in the classroom under Tommy’s direction with nearly 1,200 student-athletes recognized on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll, including a record 212 in 2018-19. Louisiana Tech continued to earn high marks in both the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report and Graduation Success Rate with Tommy at the helm.

Tommy previously served as the director of athletics at McNeese State University where he was the youngest NCAA Division I athletic director when he was hired at the age of 26. Tommy boasts more than 14 years of athletic director experience and also groomed a few successful athletic directors in Stephen F. Austin’s Ryan Ivey and Florida Atlantic’s Brian White. Both served on Tommy’s senior staff.

Tommy will take over for former athletic director Joe Karlgaard, who left Rice this month for a position in the private sector.

Tommy is joining Rice at an extraordinary moment in Rice’s history with the July 1 move to the AAC, which provides vast opportunities and potential for growth for Owl sports and our amazing student athletes.

In addition to leading Rice through the transition to the AAC, Tommy will partner with university leadership in efforts to elevate the university brand, the on-campus experience of all Rice community members and the engagement of the university’s spirited alumni base through the advancement of the its intercollegiate athletics enterprise.

Tommy earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern State University in 2004 and completed his master’s degree in sports administration in 2005. He walked on to the Demons football team and eventually earned a scholarship. He also competed in the javelin for the Northwestern State track and field team.

Tommy is also a 2012 graduate of the Executive Program of the Sports Management Institute and attended instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

He and his wife, Jessica, have two sons, Lawson and Grayson.

Please join me in welcoming Tommy and his family to Rice and to Houston.

I would like to thank my fellow members of the search committee who selected Tommy after a nationwide search was launched earlier this month by Parker Executive Search, one of the country's premier executive search firms: Elle Anderson ‘01, Board of Trustees member; Leo Costello, associate professor of art history and faculty athletics representative; Robert T. Ladd ‘78, chair of the Board of Trustees; and Brian Patterson ‘84, Board of Trustees member.

I would also like to thank Tanner Gardner, senior associate director and chief operating officer of Rice Athletics, who will serve as interim director of athletics starting Aug. 1 and until Tommy joins Rice mid-month.

Go Owls!

Warm regards,

President Reginald DesRoches