Murray State University

Nico Yantko was named the 10^th Director of Athletics in Murray State history on Aug. 15, 2022.
 
Yantko is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative college administrators in the nation and boasts more than a decade’s worth of executive-level experience highlighted by extensive experience in the SEC, Big 12, ACC, Sun Belt, and the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
Named to The Athletic’s inaugural 40 Under 40 class in 2022, Yantko is leading the Racers through one of the most prosperous and exciting stretches in recent history that has included Murray State’s transition into the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Yantko hit the ground running and has implemented new strategic fundraising initiatives that have resulted in a 328 percent increase in fundraising productivity. With his plan in place, Murray State has recorded the largest-ever single investment to MSU Athletics in department history, a $1.5 million commitment from Swift & Staley. Since the start of 2024, Yantko has secured five seven-figure commitments, a record at Murray State.

As a result of the surge in philanthropic support, the Racers have been able to complete several million dollars’ worth of capital projects that have overhauled the athletics footprint, including the:

• Men's Basketball Locker Room
• Draffen Family Performance Center & Weight Room
• Baseball/Softball Performance Center
• Football Team Spaces
• CFSB Center LED Lights
• Weaver Center Academic Center Enhancements

With Yantko's continued emphasis on a world-class student-athlete experience, the department endorsed the Blue & Gold Standard, the official NIL entity of Murray State Athletics. Behind his proactive and transparent approach to NIL, Murray State has continued to position itself as one of the most innovative departments in the NIL landscape nationally.
 
The Racers have seen additional unprecedented resources under Yantko thanks to national partnerships with The Brandr Group and INFLCR, providing student-athletes with the necessary tools that they need to find success utilizing NIL. The Racers have consistently led the nation in total sales since the inception of the Brandr partnership in August 2023, outpacing schools such as Missouri and UConn.

Under Yantko, MSU's student-athletes achieved a departmental 3.0 cumulative GPA for the 39th-straight semester after posting a 3.26 in Fall 2023, the second-highest GPA in department history. The highest GPA in department history was set under Yantko, a 3.27 in Spring 2023.

In addition to the success in the classroom, Yantko oversaw the creation of Dennis Jackson Leadership Program, which provides Murray State's student-athletes resources in the areas of career readiness, leadership & civic engagement, NIL preparedness & brand management, financial literacy and mental health. The Racers also more than doubled their community service hours over the last year, a key component to the program.
 
Fan and community engagement have also been a major focal point for Yantko's administration. The department has re-engaged the student body with the revival of The Winner's Circle, the official student supports group of Murray State Athletics, while creating the Racers Rally Program and Classroom of the Month initiatives.

Yantko continued to put Murray State in the national spotlight with the hiring of Jody Wright as the Racers' 20th football coach in program history on January 10, 2024. Wright, who is regarded as one of the nation's top recruiters and boasts one of the most impressive resumes in college football, was publicly endorsed by Nick Saban, Shane Beamer, Billy Napier, among others, and assembled one of the top staffs in all of FCS football.

During the 2023 football season, Yantko led the program into its first year of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Backed by new and much-needed resources injected directly into the program, the Racers secured their first win in the MVFC after putting together the highest-ranked recruiting class in school history with 31 stars according to 247Sports.com.
 
Men's and women's basketball, who each defeated SEC programs and set attendance marks during over the last year, have also seen significant growth in Yantko's tenure. Each program has seen significant investments in staff infrastructure and other critical areas for each program. Both programs now boast the largest staffs in the league.

Competitively, every Racer program saw success in their first year in the Missouri Valley Conference by making their respective postseason tournament, including soccer competing for the league crown in their inaugural season and baseball making a deep run through their tournament.

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA (2017-2022)
Prior to arriving in Murray, Yantko served as the Deputy Athletic Director for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Department of Athletics. In his more than four years with the Ragin’ Cajuns, Yantko was an integral part of the department’s transformation in competitive success, facilities, resource development and brand recognition.

Yantko’s duties included providing leadership to all external and revenue generating areas, as well as overall planning and implementation of the day-to-day operations and daily oversight of the department. He also served as the sport program administrator for Louisiana's football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball programs.

He spearheaded a massive and unique reimagining of the department’s external relations structure, with an emphasis on implementing strategies to generate engagements within the community and growing revenues and the brand of Louisiana Athletics. Some of the department’s notable accomplishments guided by Yantko included:

• In 2021, Yantko secured the University’s largest gift in history for athletics for $15 million to provide Our Lady of Lourdes the stadium naming rights for Cajun Field
• Football Ticket memberships increased by over 40% from 2019 to 2021 and over 100% in revenue growth in 2019
• The department more than tripled their annual Facebook, Twitter and Instagram impressions and engagements since April 2018
• Louisiana's external team was awarded "Marketing Team of the Year" honors after being selected as a finalist for the 2019-20 season, and “Best of” recognitions in 2020-21
• Learfield/IMG recognized Ragin’ Cajuns Sports Properties as Property of the year in 2020
• Negotiated the first ever linear network deal with Cox Sports Television (CST) – placing the Ragin’ Cajuns in millions of households from coast-to-coast
• Implemented fundraising model that led to record setting donations, surpassing $30 million in FY21

Serving as Louisiana Football’s sport administrator, Yantko headed the search for the program’s previous head coach Billy Napier. Starting in the 2018 season, the program reached unprecedented heights by winning 41 games in only four seasons and finished the 2021 season ranked No. 15 in the nation and as outright Sun Belt Conference Champions, setting the league record for the highest-attended championship game in the process. 
 
An adamant supporter of creating a transformational student-athlete experience, Yantko partnered with Leadership Lafayette and executives and officials from the state of Louisiana to create the Geaux Lead Academy initiative. Funded by private support – this curriculum focused on civic engagement and education, internship education and job placement, NIL preparedness, as well as roundtables with local CEOs for all Ragin’ Cajuns student-athletes in order to best prepare them for life after graduation.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI (2011-17)
Prior to his arrival in Lafayette, Yantko spent nearly seven years on staff at the University of Missouri, rising to Associate Athletic Director for Development in 2016. Yantko’s leadership in record-setting fundraising created a dramatic transformation of Mizzou facilities and programmatic support during his tenure, including:

• Oversaw fundraising for $250 million in facility campaign initiatives
• Managed fundraising efforts that led to the two largest years in productivity for Mizzou Athletics - $45.7 million and $50.3 million
• Set university record of closing 11 seven-figure+ gifts in fiscal year 2017
• Member of leadership team that led Missouri's transition from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC
• As member of capital project management team oversaw $200 million in renovations to Memorial Stadium
• Mizzou achieved two highest years of football ticket sales: 46,500 (FY15) and 44,230 (FY14)

Yantko reported directly to then-Director of Athletics Mike Alden on external outreach and engagement, as well as coordinating the Mizzou Athletics Statewide Outreach program, which visited all 114 Missouri counties and Chicago to strengthen relationships with Mizzou supporters and constituents.  He also served as the liaison to the Kansas City Sports Foundation & St. Louis Sports Foundation, playing a key role in brokering the Mizzou Football game against BYU at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY (2010-11)
Yantko served in a variety of roles at North Carolina State University, including marketing, ticket sales and the Wolfpack Club. During his time at the Wolfpack Club, Yantko was a part of Debbie Yow and Bobby Purcell’s team that surpassed 20,000 donors for NC State. Yantko also oversaw Lifetime Rights Sales for Carter Finley Stadium (FB) and worked with the major gift and capital campaigns team.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Yantko is a dual graduate of Murray State, earning a bachelor's degree in Business and Integrated Studies in 2009 and later earned a master's degree in Human Development and Leadership, Public Administration.

He was a three-year football letter winner and starting quarterback for the Racers from 2007-09 and served as a member of the MSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, while briefly serving as a football staff assistant before embarking on his career in college athletics administration. Yantko served as a team captain and earned all-conference academic honors during his time as the Racers signal caller.
 
Yantko was recently inducted to Fairborn High School (Dayton, Ohio) Athletics Hall of Fame in September of 2021.

Yantko currently lives in Murray with his wife, Marnie, their daughter, Chaney, their son, Gino, and their dog, Cannoli.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Mike Alden – Former University of Missouri Director of Athletics
"Nico Yantko embodies the core values, work ethic and leadership so important as the Director of Athletics. He is a rising star in college athletics. Congratulations to President Jackson and Murray State on a great hire."
 
Dr. Joan Gabel – University of Pittsburgh President
"Nico is the perfect choice to lead Murray State Athletics to even greater success. He has character, vision, experience, and is a proud Racer. This is an ideal homecoming."
  
Billy Napier – University of Florida Head Football Coach
"Congratulations to Nico Yantko for the leadership opportunity at Murray State. It's no surprise that he continues to advance in college athletics. He was a pivotal piece to our success in our four years at Louisiana. We will always be thankful for all that he did to help our team and staff. He and Marnie will represent his Alma Mater with class and integrity. The best is yet to come for the Racers!"
 
Keith Gill – Sun Belt Conference Commissioner
"Murray State could not have made a better choice than Nico Yantko for their next director of athletics.  Nico has been an instrumental part of the success of Louisiana Athletics and the Sun Belt Conference.  As an alum and former football student-athlete, nobody loves Murray State more than Nico.  He is a bright, engaging and innovative athletics administrator and the perfect person to lead Murray State to new heights."
 
Austen Lane – Murray State Football (2006-09) – Murray State Hall of Famer & Teammate
"I was honored to have shared the field with Nico for three years at Murray State. In that time, he was the definition of a leader whose work ethic and passion embodied what it meant to be a Racer. He was a heck of a player on the field but more importantly an even better person off it and I'm proud to call him a friend. There's not a doubt in my mind he's going to shine in his new role at Murray State and I can't wait to watch him take Racer Athletics to new heights."
 
Bobby Purcell – North Carolina State Athletics Special Assistant to the AD
"Nico Yantko is one of the brightest young administrators in college athletics today. He is smart and personable. He is a wonderful father, husband, and person. He will be a tremendous leader for Murray State and everyone will love him. Congrats on a great hire."

Dr. Bryan Maggard – University of Louisiana Director of Athletics
"Nico is both an exceptional person and professional. He has played a major role in our establishment of national relevance at the University of Louisiana the past five years. I am excited to watch Nico lead Murray State Athletics for years to come and wish him, Marnie and their family great success."