2009 FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE
Admin.
LAURA TIETJEN
KURT MCGUFFIN
REID SIGMON
Executive Associate Athletics Director Nebraska ’81
Senior Associate Athletics Director/ External Operations Kansas State ’96
Senior Associate Athletics Director/ Administration Wake Forest ’96
Kurt McGuffin is in his 10th year in the Kansas State development office. McGuffin oversees ticket, fan experience/sales and communication offices along with also serving as the sport administrator for men’s basketball and track and field and helping lead the department’s major gifts efforts. During his time in the athletic department McGuffin has led the Mike Ahearn Scholarship Fund to record numbers in both revenue and members. He assisted with the athletic department’s $100 million part of the university’s successful $500 million “Changing Lives” capital campaign. He also was charged with implementing the new Ernie Barrett Athletic Endowment Society in 2006 and both a football and basketball donor seating plan in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Prior to joining the K-State staff in 2000, McGuffin spent one year as assistant athletics director for development at the University of Idaho where he was responsible for all fund-raising in Southern Idaho and assisted with a $10 million capital campaign for facility expansion. He graduated with a master’s degree in sports administration from Wichita State in the fall of 1999 after working as a graduate assistant for the Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization. He was Director of Men’s Basketball Operations at Eastern Washington during the 1997-98 season. A native of Iola, Kan., McGuffin earned a bachelor’s from Kansas State in 1996. While at K-State, he served as a student manager for the Wildcat men’s basketball program from 1992-97. He is married to the former Jessica Whisler, a 1997 K-State graduate. The couple has two sons, Bryce and Brett.
Reid Sigmon was named Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration in July and will manage finance, contractual and legal matters for the department and serve as Kansas State Athletics’ liaison with the University Counsel and the Vice-President for Administration and Finance office. He will also oversee the athletic department’s human resources and information technology offices and play a special role in assisting with the department's strategic planning efforts. Sigmon was the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee for the past two years where he and the committee were responsible for ensuring the readiness of the Tampa Bay region, coordinating the numerous logistics involved with the event and fulfilling all obligations to the NFL. As Executive Director, Sigmon served as the primary local liaison to the NFL and the community for all planning and preparation for Super Bowl XLIII and was responsible for day-to-day operations of the organization including the developing and managing of the Host Committee staff, volunteers and budget. Under Sigmon’s leadership, the Host Committee fulfilled all of its obligations to the NFL and the community through a combination of fundraising and sound fiscal management. Prior to Super Bowl XLIII, he served as Director of Stadium Development and Event Operations for the Cleveland Browns (20052007) and Vice President of Operations for Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville from 2003-2005, as well as Director of Operations for Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa Bay (1999-2001) and Assistant Director for the Tampa Bay Organizing Committee for the 1999 NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four in St. Petersburg, Fla. He began his professional career in 1996 at Wake Forest where he served as an Operations Assistant for two years. Raised in North Carolina, Sigmon graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wake Forest in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in politics. He was a letterman on the football team and a member of the ACC Honor Roll. In May 2003, he received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Florida, where he was President of the MBA Association and a Matherly Scholar.
Executive Associate Athletics Director Laura Tietjen is beginning her 10th year at K-State. She plays a significant role in the overall progress and development of the athletics department and oversees the offices of student services, compliance and sports medicine. She also serves as the department’s senior woman administrator, is the main liaison with the Big 12 office and oversees the women’s basketball, volleyball, equestrian, rowing and tennis programs. Tietjen came to K-State from the University of Evansville, where she became just one of 19 female Division I athletic directors. In her first year as athletics director, a school-record three Purple Aces’ teams - women’s soccer, men’s basketball and women’s basketball - won Missouri Valley Conference Championships and reached the NCAA Division I Tournament. In her second year, women’s soccer and baseball reached the NCAAs, while women’s basketball played in the National Invitational Tournament. Tietjen also worked closely with university officials to a form a comprehensive plan and secure funding for on-campus facilities that included the opening of a new soccer stadium in 2000 and new baseball and softball stadiums in 2002. Prior to her stint at Evansville, she spent nine years at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, including three as assistant women’s basketball coach and head women’s tennis coach, and eight years as senior woman administrator and compliance coordinator. Tietjen earned her bachelor’s degree from Nebraska in 1981 where she played basketball and earned the 1980 Harmon Award as the Cornhuskers’ most outstanding female athlete. She also has a master’s degree from Nebraska-Kearney and has all but dissertation doctoral course work completed from the University of New Mexico in athletic and educational administration. In 2009, she was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame for her accolades, which includes holding the second all-time single game scoring record of 57 points.
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