Nov. 29, 2010 â€" After a four-month national search that generated numerous qualified candidates, CSU Bakersfield today announced that Jeffrey Konya has been named CSUB's new athletics director, effective Jan. 8, 2011. Konya will replace longtime athletic director, Rudy Carvajal, who will retire at the end of the year.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Nov. 29, 2010 — After a four-month national search that generated numerous qualified candidates, CSU Bakersfield today announced that Jeffrey Konya has been named CSUB's new athletics director, effective Jan. 8, 2011. Konya will replace longtime athletic director, Rudy Carvajal, who will retire at the end of the year.
"This is a tremendous opportunity and I am excited to be coming to CSU Bakersfield. I was very impressed by the vision that Dr. Mitchell and the athletics coaches and staff have established for the CSUB Roadrunners program. This is definitely a place where you can be successful both academically and athletically," said Konya. "We have great alumni, strong community support, and a solid recruiting base to work from."
Konya comes to CSUB from Northeastern State University ( NSU ) in Oklahoma where he has served as athletics director since late 2008. During his tenure at NSU, Konya oversaw all operational aspects of a ten-sport NCAA Division II athletic department with an estimated $4 million annual budget, more than 40 coaches and staff, and approximately 270 student-athletes.
His notable accomplishments at NSU include: a successful all-sport conference change from the Lone Star Conference to the more prestigious Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association for the 2012-13 academic year; increased fundraising by more than 50 percent from previous levels including tripling the number of corporate partners; quadrupled season football ticket sales in 2009 over 2008 figures; and oversaw nearly $1 million in athletic facility improvements during his tenure.
Konya has NCAA Division I experience as a senior associate athletics director at Southern Methodist University ( SMU ) in Texas where his duties included the sport administration of the men's and women's basketball programs. In addition, he has held many senior athletics positions at various universities including University of Memphis, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Bucknell University, among others. He has also served as an adjunct professor, helped facilitate Conference and NCAA tournaments, is a nationally-recognized speaker on student-athlete life skills issues, and has served on several NCAA committees. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Princeton University and a Law Degree with academic distinction from the University of Iowa.
Konya added: "I am anxious to foster new relationships with our student-athletes, coaches and staff who have made this such a well-thought-of athletics program nationally. Rudy Carvajal left a foundation for the department that is well positioned to embrace and thrive within the NCAA Division I classification."
Carvajal's retirement ends a distinguished 38-year career as CSUB's founding athletics director. His achievements are many. The most notable have come on the fields of competition, where he built the nation's premier NCAA Division II athletics program. Under his watch, CSUB has produced 30 national championships in seven different sports, 241 individual national champions and more than 1,100 All-Americans.
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