Dr. Sam Ferguson is in his first full season as the Director of Athletics at UT Tyler, having been selected for the job last spring and beginning his duties effective April 7, 2025. A veteran of collegiate athletics, Ferguson has almost 25 years of experience in leadership positions, including 15 years as a director of athletics.
He joined UT Tyler after almost two years as the Associate Vice President and Deputy Director of Athletics for Revenue Generation at NCAA Division I affiliate Abilene Christian University.
While at ACU, he planned and managed the department’s revenue sources and all external units, including Athletics Advancement, Marketing, Media Relations, Sponsorships, and Ticket Sales. He managed 25 staff members in those areas. He was the primary sport supervisor for baseball, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s cross country, and was the secondary supervisor for football. In 2024, the football team won the United Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs for the first time in the university’s Division I era (since 2013). And in the spring of 2025, the baseball team captured a regular-season co-championship in the Western Athletic Conference.
While managing a portfolio of more than 100 donors and prospective donors, he secured six six-figure gifts and one gift of more than $1 million. He worked with the ACU Advancement team to secure $16 million in gifts for the renovation of Crutcher Scott Field at Bullock Brothers Ballpark, the home of ACU baseball.
During the 2024-25 athletics year, Ferguson oversaw a team that increased total athletics revenue by 31 percent and raised $6.5 million in gifts compared to $2.7 million in 2023-24. Giving to football grew by 24 percent, Annual Fund and Priority Season Ticket revenue grew by 31 percent, and ACU’s Day of Giving to Athletics increased by 42 percent from $261,000 to more than $370,000.
Before joining the ACU staff, his previous roles include Director of Athletics at McMurry University in Abilene (2014-23) and at Averett University in Danville, Virginia (2006-11).
Under Ferguson's leadership, McMurry saw a 400 percent jump in giving from 2016 to 2019. McMurry's War Hawks Club raised more than $1M in 2019 through annual gifts, endowments, corporate sponsorships, and sport-specific donations. Those contributions helped Ferguson oversee the construction of Edwards Field Softball Complex, videoboard installations at Wilford Moore Stadium and the Phillips Family Swim Center, the redesign of Kimbrell Arena and Ron Holmes Court, and several other significant projects. He also struck an exclusive apparel deal with Adidas, developed the Scholar-Athlete Leadership Academy, organized a new booster club, and created an athletics sponsorship program that generates more than $100,000 annually for the department.
Additionally, Ferguson was instrumental in implementing McMurry's "Developing Champions for Life" mission and RISE (Responsibility, Integrity, Service and Excellence) core values.
Before McMurry, Ferguson served at Averett, supervising a 14-team athletics department that included approximately 300 student-athletes and nearly 40 full and part-time employees.
Ferguson grew the visibility of the Averett Athletics program through the development of Averett's athletics website, social media platforms, and a rebranding of the institution's athletics logo. The increased visibility helped bring a substantial increase in donor and corporate sponsorships. Working as part of the strategic planning committee, Ferguson assisted in the development and promotion of Averett's Big Dreams Bold Futures Campaign, which included $6 million of planned athletics facility upgrades.
Ferguson served as Averett's director of annual giving programs and got his start in athletics in 2000, as Averett's first full-time sports information director. Outside of athletics, Ferguson has experience with the Clement & Wheatley Law Offices in Danville, Virginia.
Ferguson currently serves on the Christian Homes and Family Services board of directors. He has also served on the boards of both the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau and the United Way of Abilene. He has also served on the executive committees of Big Brothers Big Sisters and Habitat for Humanity in Danville, Virginia. Ferguson was a member of the Riverview Rotary Club and was chair of Danville's Riverview Rotary Christmas Parade.
Ferguson graduated from Averett in 1997 and was a two-year member of the institution's golf and basketball teams. He later earned a master’s in sports management from Nova Southeastern University in 2006 and a Doctor of Education degree from East Tennessee State University in 2019.
Ferguson is married to the former Kimberly Parker. The couple has two sons – Angelo and Kaden – and resides in Tyler.
