Since Mark Alnutt was hired as University at Buffalo's Athletic Director on March 18, 2018, the department has experienced tremendous success in competition as well as in the classroom. In addition, through successful fundraising efforts, many of UB's athletic facilities have been transformed. He was elevated to Vice President and Director of Athletics in May, 2021 and signed an extension keeping him at UB through 2026.
"Under Mark's leadership, UB Athletics has had even more success in the Mid-American Conference with many of our programs ranked nationally," said UB President Satish K. Tripathi "As our student-athletes have competed successfully on the national stage, they have also brought that excellence to their collective academic pursuits. Mark has proven to be a tremendous leader and integral part of our UB community beyond the Division of Athletics, and our university has very much benefited from his service and engagement with numerous campus-wide initiatives. I look forward to working with Mark for many years to come."
In April, 2021, the women's swimming and diving team won its first Mid-American Conference championship. It was the fourth MAC title by a UB team under Alnutt's leadership.
In Alnutt's time at Buffalo, the football and men's and women's basketball teams all entered the national rankings for the first time in school history. The football team won the 2019 Bahamas Bowl and the 2020 Camellia Bowl — the Bulls' first bowl wins in program history. The men's basketball team won the conference title in 2019 and defeated Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The women's basketball team followed up a Sweet 16 appearance in 2018 with a MAC Championship and first-round NCAA Tournament victory in 2019.
Alnutt has always placed an emphasis on academics, and even with the challenges of virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UB student-athletes posted record results in the classroom. In the spring of 2021, the Bulls had a 3.301 collective grade point average, the highest in department history. In fact, over the last three semesters, the Bulls have posted record GPAs. Their 3.261 in the spring of 2020 is second all time and their 3.197 in the fall of 2020 is third all time.
The university has earned the MAC Diversity & Inclusion Institution Award each year Alnutt has been at Buffalo. Also under Alnutt's leadership, UB continues to offer a broad-based program to be inclusive of all the issues that face its student-athletes, athletics staff, campus and the greater Western New York community. In response to the racial injustices that plagued the nation in 2020, Alnutt formed the Stronger Together Task Force. The group is devoted to creating synergies amongst the department in a collaborative effort with UB student-athletes and staff. In addition, he was appointed to the President's Advisory Council on Race this past year and has served a key role in developing faculty and staff recruitment, as well as hiring and retention recommendations.
Alnutt has made four head coaching hires in his time at Buffalo, including men's basketball head coach
Jim Whitesell in 2019. The Bulls won 20 games in Whitesell's first season and followed that up with a trip to the NIT in 2021. Most recently, Alnutt hired
Maurice Linguist as UB's head football coach. Alnutt also hired softball head coach
Mike Ruechel and volleyball head coach
Scott Smith.
In September of 2020, through a successful fundraising campaign, a newly renovated football locker room was unveiled, putting UB on par with some of the top programs in the country.
In the fall of 2020, in response to the financial crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, Alnutt oversaw the successful launch of the “Make if PossiBULL” campaign. With a goal of $1 million, it helped offset the financial shortfalls forecasted and safeguard UB's commitment to each-and-every student-athlete, to provide them with an exceptional academic and athletic experience.
The 2018-19 campaign was arguably the best in department history. The football team won a school-record 10 games, a MAC East Division title and played in the Dollar General Bowl. Both the men's and women's basketball teams won their respective MAC Tournaments and each advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. During 2018-19, Buffalo was one of only seven schools in the nation to play in a bowl game as well as have both its men's and women's basketball teams advance to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.
The men’s basketball team, which was nationally ranked for a MAC-record 17 straight weeks, averaged 5,290 people per game as the Bulls went undefeated at home and finished the 2018-19 season tied for the longest home winning streak in the nation. The nearly 2,000 person increase per game from 2017-18 to 2018-19 was the seventh largest in the country.
In the classroom, UB student-athletes posted an all-time best Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 988 for the 2018-19 academic year, with eight teams registering perfect scores.
The year was capped off by the official opening of the Murchie Family Fieldhouse, the first-class indoor practice facility on UB’s campus, a building that is over 92,000 square feet or more than two acres.
University at Buffalo student-athletes posted a 3.069 GPA during the spring 2019 semester, the best performance since 2016.
Since arriving at UB in March 2018, Alnutt has been highly accessible and actively engaged with the UB and Western New York Community. He’s been a member of the Greek Like Review Committee, Povost Search Committee, University at Buffalo 175
th Anniversary Celebration Committee, COVID-19 Campus Planning Committee and the Presidential Council on Race.
Away from UB, Alnutt is an active participant in the NCAA. He is a member of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee, a position he will hold until the end of the 2022-23 academic year.
Previously, Alnutt has served on a number of national committees, including the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee while also serving on and chairing both the NCAA Women’s Gymnastic committee and the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.
He has participated in the Division I-A Athletic Director’s Institute, the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males, and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium, as well as contributing to panels at numerous national conferences and conventions.
A former Division I football player at the University of Missouri, Alnutt arrived at UB after serving as deputy director of athletics at the University of Memphis. He helped develop Memphis’ $45 million NCAA Division I athletics program, assisted with leading its 380 student-athletes and oversaw all external operations for the athletics program, among other responsibilities.
Alnutt has nearly 20 years of professional experience in NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Athletics. Before joining the University of Memphis, he served as director of athletics at Southeast Missouri State University for three-plus years. Prior to that, he served at the University of Missouri as senior associate athletics director from 2006 to 2012 and director of football operations from 2000 to 2005, adding an assistant athletic director title prior to the 2005-2006 season.
During Alnutt’s tenure at Memphis, he was elected chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee; assisted in reaching the goal of $40 million for the university’s Time to Shine capital campaign; diversified annual giving; increased outreach efforts to the community and schools; coordinated all aspects of football bowl trips; and shared oversight of football and men’s basketball while directing administrative oversight of baseball and women’s basketball, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and facilities. He successfully campaigned and lobbied the city of Memphis to approve nearly $5 million in improvements to Liberty Bowl Stadium.
The athletics program experienced numerous milestones during Alnutt’s career at Memphis, including the football team setting an attendance record and student-athletes achieving the highest grade point average (GPA) in school history.
Prior to his tenure at Memphis, Alnutt oversaw Southeast Missouri’s 15 sports programs and 320 student-athletes as director of athletics. Alnutt made many key head coaching hires, negotiated and executed the first-ever NCAA collegiate football game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium — the largest off-campus alumni gathering in the university’s history — and was instrumental in helping football ticket revenue increase 58 percent and total giving to athletics increase by more than 26 percent.
Under his leadership, Southeast Missouri’s student-athletes excelled in the classroom, recording a cumulative 3.15 GPA during the 2014-15 academic year while logging a record number of community service hours with coaches and staff.
At the University of Missouri, Alnutt was the administrative liaison for football; supervised track and field, cross country, gymnastics and golf; spearheaded the department’s project management team; oversaw all aspects of facility project master planning, development management and implementation; and was involved with external department operations. As director of football operations, he coordinated the team’s travel plans, oversaw the football budget and handled compliance issues, among other responsibilities.
A three-year letterman for Missouri, Alnutt played linebacker and tight end. As a senior, he was voted the team’s champion of the year, awarded to the student-athlete who represented the commitment, dedication and hard work needed to be a leader both on and off the field.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis on sports psychology.
Alnutt and his wife, Kate, have four children, Jaren, Kinleigh, Mason and Aidan. His son, Jaren, plays football at Southeast Missouri State.