UMaine selects Miami of Ohio’s Jude Killy as its new athletic director

The University of Maine has selected Jude Killy, the deputy director of athletics at Miami University in Ohio, as its new athletic director, the school announced Wednesday.

Killy replaces Ken Ralph, who left Maine when his contract expired at the end of August to take the same job at Southern University in Georgetown, Texas. Ralph was hired in 2018 with a four-year contact with an annual salary of $214,000.

Killy has a five-year contract at UMaine with an annual salary of $250,000. He will assume the new job on Jan. 30.

Samantha Hegmann-Wary, Maine’s associate athletic director for compliance and senior woman administrator, has served as interim athletic director since September.

Killy is the Black Bears ninth athletic director, including three interim ADs, since 2003.

A graduate of John Carroll University, where he played soccer for two seasons, Killy has held various jobs in Miami’s athletic administration since joining the department in 2008. Killy has held his current job as deputy director of athletics since 2018. His duties include overseeing a budget of $32 million, negotiating contracts, and conducting searches for new head coaches. By comparison, the UMaine athletic budget is approximately $19 million.

Killy’s experience and track record in fund raising was obviously a selling point to UMaine’s selection committee. As Miami’s Director of Development, Killy helped secure three of the largest cash gifts to the athletic department, including gifts of $6, $5, and $4 million. As UMaine looks to raise addition funds to supplement the $90 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation to be used towards athletics facilities upgrades, fund raising was going to be a key piece of the hiring puzzle.

This story will be updated.

« Previous