University of Massachusetts athletic director John McCutcheon has been chosen to fill the same post at UC Santa Barbara, Chancellor Henry Yang announced Thursday. McCutcheon will begin March 2 and takes over after Mark Massari left the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics position in July after six years at the helm.
McCutcheon has headed UMass athletics for 11 years, and under his watch, the school’s football program graduated from Division I-AA standing to I-A (the Football Bowl Subdivision). The college also won 38 conference titles and reached 29 NCAA Tournaments. Nearly every athletic program received major facility upgrades during his time, as well. Before UMass, McCutcheon—a Pittsburgh native—was the athletic director for Cal Poly for 12 years. Read more about him here.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” McCutcheon said in a prepared statement. “When this opportunity presented itself a few months back, my wife and I knew it was something we had to look into. Because of family situations, we left the Central Coast 11 years ago, and we very much look forward to getting back. I am extremely thankful to Chancellor Yang and all the members of the committee, and I can’t wait to get to Santa Barbara and get to work.”
The details of McCutcheon’s contract have not been announced. At UMass, he was making $259,338 a year. When Massari left UCSB, he earned around $200,000 annually.