Jon Gilbert
Jon Gilbert was named director of athletics at East Carolina University in December of 2018, and in just one year in Greenville, led the renovation and completion of numerous facilities and added several new head coaches.
TowneBank Tower at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was completed prior to the 2019 football season. The structure was part of a $60 million Southside Renovation Project, which includes a working area for media, five founder’s suites, 19 standard suites, 22 loge boxes and 550 seats in the Trade Club.
Prior to serving as athletics director at the University of Southern Mississippi since January 2017, Gilbert worked in senior athletics administrative positions at two Southeastern Conference institutions – the University of Alabama and the University of Tennessee. USM increased resources in the areas of academic success and student-athlete well-being under his leadership.
Gilbert came to Southern Miss from Tennessee, where he served as executive senior associate athletics director since 2011 under former longtime ECU athletics administrator Dave Hart. At UT, Gilbert was responsible for different facets of day-to-day department of athletics operations.
Before his experience at Tennessee, Gilbert worked for nearly 17 years at Alabama where he served in multiple roles, including associate athletics director from 2009 to 2011. There, the development office generated $82 million in gifts and pledges for the Crimson Tide Foundation and Gilbert had oversight of the marketing and promotions department, as well as all facets of the ticket office and seat licensing program.
Gilbert is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C., where he was a three-year letterman on the football team. He earned a master’s degree in sport administration at Eastern Kentucky University, while working as a graduate assistant football coach. The Colonels captured one Ohio Valley Conference championship and earned two berths in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
He and his wife, Katie, have two teenage children – daughter Larsen and son Kent.
