On April 13th, Sanford Athletics is on a mission to bounce back, hiring Tyler Jones as their new Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer. The move came on Monday, April 13th, and it's aimed at boosting revenue and operations in this wild NIL and transfer portal world. Jones steps in right after the school tapped former Nike CEO John Donahoe as the new Athletic Director last year. Earlier this year, long-time AD Bernard Muir stepped down, leaving Sanford needing fresh ideas to compete with top programs.
Football, basketball, and baseball have struggled to keep pace without big funding upgrades, and Donahoe wants to modernize everything from the ground. It's up. Fans and insiders see this as a big step, especially since Sanford's football team win three wins and nine losses for four straight seasons before, scraping to four and eight last year. Basketball men haven't hit March Madness since 2014, and even baseball's hot streak with three straight College World Series from 2021 to 2023 has cooled off with no postseason since.
At Virginia, Jones was Deputy AD and Chief Strategy Officer, plus Football General Manager, helping them crush it with a program record 11 wins and three losses in 2025. Now at Sanford, he'll oversee revenue and ops, bringing that same playbook to end their seven-year bowl drought and revive the Cardinal. If Jones delivers like he did before, Sanford could flip the script quick, getting those powerhouse sports back on top where they belong.