John Hartwell Named Troy University Director of Athletics; Press Conference Transcript

TROY, Ala. – John Hartwell has been named the new Troy University director of athletics, TROY Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., announced Friday at a press conference.

Hartwell, 47, comes to Troy following nine years at the University of Mississippi where he was the senior executive associate athletics director, serving as the number two administrator in athletics.

Hartwell served as the treasurer and chief operating officer of the University of Mississippi Athletic Association Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) organization that generates over $17 million annually for the Ole Miss Athletics Department through priority seating and major gifts.

He was responsible for the day-to-day administrative oversight of the football, men's basketball and baseball programs, along with sport oversight of the softball and men's and women's track & field and cross country programs. Hartwell also oversaw the Rebels' business office, ticket office, equipment room, merchandise sales, concessions and football scheduling. Hartwell has scheduled several marquee football games for the Rebels including a home-and-home series with Texas beginning this season.

Hartwell managed the growth of the Ole Miss athletic budget from $26 million in the 2003 fiscal year to over $47 million in the 2012 fiscal year. He also chaired the search to hire men's basketball head coach Andy Kennedy in 2006. He was heavily involved in negotiations that increased revenues with contracts for apparel and footwear (Nike), merchandise sales (Sports Avenue/LIDS), concessions (Centerplate), wireless provider (C Spire) and video boards (Daktronics). He served on the Southeastern Conference Ticket Committee and was a leader of the annual SEC Chief Financial Officer's Forum.

A 1987 graduate of The Citadel, Hartwell spent four plus years as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young before returning to his alma mater to serve as the director of internal audit in 1991. In his three years working at The Citadel, Hartwell also was the basketball color commentator for the Citadel Network. From 1994 to 1997 he was in private business as the chief financial officer for a $36 million beverage distributor on the South Carolina coast.

Hartwell's direct experience in athletics administration began as the assistant athletic director for business at Georgia State in 1997. He was promoted to associate athletic director for internal affairs in 1999, and his responsibilities expanded to include sport supervision for baseball, men's & women's golf and men's & women's track & field and cross country. He also had oversight over the Panthers' athletic facilities and game management in addition to his previous responsibilities of all financial aspects of the department.

He also was the color analyst for men's basketball on the Georgia State Radio Network for the first three years he was at GSU. While at Georgia State, Hartwell earned a master's degree in sports administration.

Athletics has always been a big part of Hartwell's life, starting in high school where he was an all-state basketball selection at UMS-Wright in Mobile, Ala. The 6-foot-7 forward played alongside current North Carolina State head coach Mark Gottfried in high school. Hartwell went on to play collegiately at The Citadel, where he was a three-year starter, a four-year letterman and captain of the team as a senior in 1987. Current Tulane head coach Ed Conroy was a collegiate teammate of Hartwell's.

Hartwell is married to Dr. Heather Seale Hartwell, and they have two daughters Lauren, who is 3 years old, and Madison who was born on May 28. Hartwell also has a 20-year old son, Hunter, who is a junior at Vanderbilt.

Troy University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.
As all of you know, this is our 125th year of service to the people of this state, this nation and this world. It was 103 years ago that we saw the establishment of the athletics program and so we stand on a firm tradition of excellence that goes back to the days of Mr. Vergil Parks McKinley, our first athletic director and the first coach of our football team. We only had eight directors of this program over that century of service. Today we'll add to that distinction of great service. As we do so, I want to certainly thank Mr. Steve Dennis who has done a great job here for more than seven years.

Today's announcement culminates a process that was an exciting process that saw an applicant pool the depth of which we've not seen. We had more than 65 applicants or nominees for this position. We had 25 sitting AD's at the Division I level or senior associate AD's. I think that reflects how far this athletics program has come; to have that much interest across this nation is encouraging. Today's appointment truly is about the future of Trojan Athletics.

Troy University Director of Athletics John Hartwell
It is a great day to be a Troy Trojan and I am proud to be among you all now as is my family. That fight song is music to my ears, I'm still learning it but I hope to hear it many times over and over after touchdowns are scored tomorrow night as we beat (Mississippi) State.

I can't tell you how proud and excited that both myself and my family are to be members of the Trojan Family. That's one of the things that I have noticed in a very short time, that it truly is a family, and we are so excited and so glad to be a part of that and we look forward to big things to come in the future for Troy Athletics. I want to start by thanking several people, first of all Chancellor Hawkins. As I started going through this process, I had several folks that I called on and to a person they talked about the vision, integrity and leadership of Dr. Hawkins, and that is one of the very first things that made this a very attractive position for me.

We talked a little bit about the (Sun Belt Conference) commissioner being involved, Karl Benson, and getting to know him a little bit, seeing his vision and obviously seeing that Troy University is not just a member institution of the Sun Belt, Troy University is a key member of the Sun Belt, and I believe under his vision, knowing his track history and his stature, I have no doubt that he is going to help the Sun Belt arise to great levels which is very important in today's world of evolving conference realignment and everything else within collegiate athletics.

To the entire Troy Family, when I speak of the Troy Family I think not only of the University administration, but I think of the coaches, the student-athletes, and never forget, they are the core existence of why we're all here in athletics just as the students are the core reason why Troy University exists. To the donors and fans, we are all in this family and as we strive to move forward and when we do get to those higher levels it is going to take all of us on the same sheet of music moving in the same direction.

As I sat over the past couple weeks looking at Troy finding out about it and studying the tradition more, one thing stands out, tradition is very strong. There is a lot of tradition here through the NAIA days going right on up through I-AA and finally getting up to FBS status. A lot of good things have been accomplished here; much of that attribute to Chancellor Hawkins and his leadership, and as he recognized earlier Steve Dennis for what he's done and also Johnny Williams. A lot of the success is attributed to those three gentlemen.

Going forward as I kind of crafted through this I went through what is the vision in terms of what we want to accomplish athletic wise. At the end of the day the vision is: a constant commitment to a maximum effort for three things: academic excellence, positive social development and winning championships.

You'll hear me say winning the right way. We are not about being competitive, we are about winning. All of that is lost if you don't go about it the right way. We are going to do things in a first-class manner; we're going to do it the right way as it relates to compliance from an NCAA perspective, Sun Belt perspective and from University policies and procedures. There will be no sacrifice of doing things that way; at the end of the day we're going to win and be successful.

When you walk in that new Trojan Arena one thing really sticks out there, and I like to call that the wow factor. When you are dealing with 17, 18, 19-year old recruits in today's world, it is all about the wow factor. Whether you say its Troy, Florida State, Alabama or LSU you're going to be able get a very good education, you're going to have academic support to help you out. But it's the people and the wow factor that make the difference. It is obvious that we have the people here at Troy. What we want to do is continue to move forward and take that wow factor that you have in (Trojan) Arena and spread it to the rest of our athletic facilities. That is a goal of mine and I promise you we will get that done.

The other key to that wow factor is also the fan experience. What we want to do is make Troy a destination, not only because of the product we put on the field, but also the enjoyment that folks get from coming to it. We may have folks in Dothan, Montgomery or Mobile who may not have a current true affiliation with Troy, but you know word is going to spread on how we do things and they're going to want to go to football games and such.

I am very much a people person. I am very competitive but I think you will find that I always have an open-door policy and I want us to be an open book in athletics. I want both our internal constituents, the University folks, and our external constituents to be able to see what we're doing in athletics and see our plan and see how we're winning.

I want to wrap up and say thank you all again so much for the opportunity. I look forward to getting to know you all and to working with you. Our family is extremely excited and it is great to be a Trojan.

How much did being a native of Alabama play in your decision to move to Troy
It played a significant part. Having left the state of Alabama in 1983 after graduating from high school in Mobile and going on to Charleston, S.C., to The Citadel, it literally has taken me 29 years and tours throughout the South to get back to the state of Alabama which is home turf to me. I am very excited about it and I think we're going to do great things here at Troy.

You're coming to Troy from Ole Miss, how important is tomorrow's game against Mississippi State
When I had the opportunity to sit in with Larry (Blakeney's) staff a little while ago, one of the last things I told them is when I walk out on the field tomorrow and hear those darn cowbells, there's going to be a little bit of irony but there's a lot of excitement. Us playing the SEC, don't back down at all. We'll bring it tomorrow and I'm sure Coach Blakeney will have our guys ready to go and I have no question our guys will be successful tomorrow evening.

Troy University Athletics

John Hartwell Named Troy University Director of Athletics; Press Conference Transcript

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