Maryland has announced the hiring of Damon Evans as its senior associate athletics director/chief financial officer. Normally we wouldn’t write about a hiring such as this but, well, this isn’t a normal situation.
Evans was Georgia’s athletics director from 2004-10, but resigned in the summer of 2010, and in January 2011 he pled guilty to a DUI charge from the previous summer. He was sentenced to 12 months of probation, 40 hours of community service and charged a $750 fine.
Aside from that ugly turn of events, Evans was a pretty darn good fundraiser, increasing Georgia’s reserve fund by $56 million in his half-dozen years in Athens. Georgia was also recognized as the most profitable athletics department according to an Equity in Athletics Data Analysis report in 2005. He’ll now be tasked with doing the same for an athletics department in stark need of cash (hence: the entire reason they’re in the Big Ten in the first place.)
“Damon has an extensive background in college athletics as a top administrator at one of the premier programs in the country,” AD Kevin Anderson said in a statement. “His overall scope of work and experience in financial management, product development, fundraising, and managing athletic programs make him an outstanding addition at the University of Maryland.”
“I am extremely excited and privileged to be joining the Terrapin Family,” Evans said. “I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Kevin. I look forward to assisting him and his team with continuing to grow Maryland Athletics. Words cannot express my gratitude and deep appreciation for this opportunity.”
Since leaving Georgia, Evans worked as the vice president of business development at the Markley Group in Boston, the vice president of fundraising at IMG College, and most recently as a managing partner at Evolution Sports Partners in New Jersey.
