On August 22, 2022, Mark Spencer was named Sacramento State’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for Business Operations / Athletics CFO.
Prior to joining the Hornet family, Spencer was the Director of Athletics at the University of Evansville for eight seasons, raising the bar for every program for the Purple Aces with notable facility upgrades including:
- Spearheading the $1.0M renovation of the Tri-State Orthopaedic Field at Cooper Softball Stadium, which included the turfing of the entire field and bullpen area, the addition of padded wall fencing and dugout updates.
- $1.25M renovation of German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Baseball Stadium, which included the turfing of the entire field, addition of padded wall fencing, dugout updates and the replacement of the scoreboard.
- Over $500K in renovations and upgrades to the Fifth Third Bank Basketball Practice Facility and locker rooms, which included a state-of-the-art film room and graphics inside each side of the facility.
- $775,000 Meeks Family project. The project included: a brand new, world-class, volleyball floor, bleachers on the west side of the facility, updated lighting, a new basketball floor, press tables on each side of the floor and floor seats.
- $150,000 Weight Room renovation and update, which included replacement of all weight room equipment with state-of-the-art Sorinex equipment, which allowed for more efficient use of the available space.
An important achievement for the entire university was the addition of men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field. The rebirth of the programs was announced on October 19, 2016 before competition officially began less than 15 months later.
During his tenure, Spencer was engaged in numerous regional and national committees including being a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee, MVC Membership Committee, MVC Sports Management Committee and MVC TV/Finance Committee.
Additionally, Spencer led UE into an all-sports apparel agreement with the industry’s leading provider, NIKE.
Under Spencer’s direction, the Purple Aces represented themselves academically, in 2021-22, placing 198 student-athletes on the MVC academic honor roll which requires a GPA of 3.2 or higher to qualify. 66 of those made the Commissioners list for a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and 7 of those made the President’s Council list which represents a GPA of 3.8 or higher.
Spencer spent eight years at Oregon State as both Associate AD for Business Operations and Senior Associate for Finance & Business Affairs. Additional duties included oversight of the athletic business Office, information technology services and the equipment room, as well as sport oversight of the men’s soccer, women’s volleyball and men’s golf programs.
