Athletic Administration Director of Athletics • 5th year • Northern Colorado, 1983 The landscape of college athletics has changed drastically over the past decade and that renovation also has been demonstrated at Middle Tennessee, particularly during the four-plus years since Chris Massaro was named director of athletics on April 8, 2005. Proving to be a true visionary, Massaro has helped revolutionize the Blue Raiders’ athletic department while helping pave the way for even greater success in future years. During his short but highly successful reign, Massaro has overseen unprecedented success not only in the university’s athletic programs but also in regard to academic success, facility upgrades, and a proven record of hiring coaches who have thrived under his watch. Under Massaro’s leadership, the Blue Raiders have captured the Sun Belt’s all-sports trophy three times in five years. Since his arrival, Massaro has enhanced the Blue Raiders’ broad-based, 17-sport programs. Among the accomplishments included in the last four years: • The Athletic Department has captured 18 Sun Belt Conference championships and earned 12 coach of the year honors. • The athletic program has had a record 15 nationally televised events during his four-year tenure. • Middle Tennessee’s football team earned an at-large invitation to the Motor City Bowl in 2006, the first bowl appearance during the Division I era. • The women’s volleyball team reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 2007. • The men’s golf team received its first-ever at-large invitation into the East Regional in 2008 and subsequently advanced to the National Championship where they finished 15th in the country. They backed up that effort with another NCAA regional in 2009. • The women’s basketball team appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 2006 and 2007 and returned again in 2009. The team narrowly missed reaching the Sweet 16 in 2007 after earning a No. 5 seed. • The Middle Tennessee tennis doubles team of Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom won the National Championship in 2007 – the first NCAA doubles title in Athletic Department history. • The Middle Tennessee track teams have combined for four conference titles and the 2007 men’s outdoor squad finished No. 21 in the nation while the 2009 women’s indoor team ranked tied for 30th. • The Blue Raider baseball team captured the regular season and tournament championship in 2009 and advanced to the NCAAs. Massaro’s success at Middle Tennessee doesn’t stop with the athletic teams. There has been a tremendous track record for hiring quality coaches with head football coach Rick Stockstill, women’s head basketball coach Rick Insell, and men’s golf coach Whit Turnbow – and all Massaro hires – each earning Sun Belt Coach of the Year in their first seasons and men’s tennis coach David McNamara who won the Sun Belt and Coach of the Year honors in his second season. In all, Massaro’s guidance has provided coaches with the resources to produce 18 conference titles, 19 NCAA postseason appearances, one Sun Belt Conference Athlete of the Year, and 12 Coach of the Year awards. Academic enhancement has also skyrocketed under Massaro’s leadership. Massaro, who was appointed to a panel on APR Improvement Plans for the 2007 NCAA Convention, inherited a football program with a national-low score of 812 and saw it increase to a current 990 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2009. As a whole, the Athletic Department has improved from a 908 score when Massaro was hired to an impressive cumulative (four years) score of 951 in 2007-08. All 17 Middle Tennessee sports teams achieved passing marks of 925 or higher in 2006-07 with four teams turning in a perfect mark of 1,000. In 2007-08, 16 of 17 teams topped the 925 mark. Massaro, who spent 20 years at the University of South Carolina prior
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to his appointment at Middle Tennessee, also overhauled the annual Blue Raider Athletic Association’s annual giving program, which resulted in a record number of members and financial giving in 2008, indicating the fourth such year record numbers have been realized. The annual campaign has improved 40 percent since his arrival. Facility upgrades also have been at the top of Massaro’s impressive list of accomplishments. He completed a $6 million capital campaign for the new baseball stadium and initiated a series of major renovations to existing athletic facilities during the previous three years, including a state-of-the-art soccer and track complex. Most recently, a state-of-the-art golf performance center was completed in December 2008. In the midst of numerous upgrades, Massaro also has initiated generous contributions that made it possible to install a new synthetic surface in Floyd Stadium for the 2006 season. Additionally, new videoboards – one for football and two inside Murphy Center – were installed in 2007. In a span of four years Massaro’s hiring practices have been regarded as excellent. On Dec. 12, 2005, he made his highest profile hire when he selected Stockstill to take over the football program. Stockstill became just the second head coach in the I-A era and led the Blue Raiders to a league championship and a bowl appearance in his first season. Two days following his hiring, Massaro was pressed into action to find a replacement to lead the nationally recognized women’s basketball program. Massaro made his first hire when he brought on board legendary high school coach Rick Insell to take over the program. Both Insell and Stockstill won championships in their first seasons on the job. Massaro has also made a significant upgrade in the Blue Raider football schedule. During the summer of 2005, he announced a home game in 2007 that made Virginia the first team from the highly regarded ACC to visit Floyd Stadium, and then quickly added a second ACC member when Maryland agreed to make the trip to Murfreesboro in 2008 and the Blue Raiders rewarded him with a 24-14 upset. On his 100th day on the job, Massaro made one of his biggest announcements: a five-year contract with the University of Memphis to play football that started in 2007. The Tigers will become the first in-state Division I-A (FBS) football team to play the Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro. Massaro has also worked out a homeand-home series with Mississippi State that will see the Bulldogs coming to Floyd Stadium in 2009 – making them the first SEC program to play in a Sun Belt stadium – and nearby Georgia Tech that will have the Yellow Jackets coming to Murfreesboro in 2011. In March 2008, Massaro made another big move when he announced a four-game series with neighboring rival Vanderbilt of the SEC. The series begins in 2015 and the teams will play twice in Murfreesboro and twice in Nashville. The Glenwood Springs, Colo., native joined the South Carolina staff under the Ohio University sport administration program in 1985. Massaro helped usher the Gamecocks into the SEC and learned under legendary athletic director Dr. Mike McGee. Massaro earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Northern Colorado in 1983 and his master’s degree in sport administration from Ohio University in 1986. At UNC, Massaro was a five-year football team member. Massaro is also heavily involved in community service projects and organizations. He is a member of the Red Cross Board, the City Golf Commission and the Rutherford County Sports Council Executive Committee, and he served on the search committee for the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce president. Massaro and his wife, Cindy, have four children: Hank, Lainey, Rachel, and Ben.
2009 Middle Tennessee Volleyball