Florida State University President Richard McCullough introduced Jeff Purinton as FSU's new Vice President and Director of Athletics on Tuesday. McCullough acknowledged that FSU talked to several talented candidates, but that Purinton was a "perfect choice" for the Seminoles.
While it does not hurt that Purinton is an FSU graduate, McCullough pointed to his experience with Learfield and his ability to modernize FSU's NIL approach, an area that needs work if the Seminoles are going to compete for championships.
“Jeff is a perfect choice, he really is," McCullough said. "I mean, the guy has done stuff with Learfield, the revenue side, he knows everything that is going on at all these universities around the globe and how they do revenue, how they do NIL.
NIL is something we got to continue to keep working on, so we are thrilled that he is bringing his expertise and background on that part."
Purinton spent the past 18 months as an executive vice president for Learfield. He was in charge of their SEC schools and used his team to improve schools' NIL, multimedia rights, and revenue generation.
While that experience will be invaluable, he spent the vast majority of his career working for colleges, primarily around football. He was able to see how two legendary coaches worked, spending time at FSU under Bobby Bowden and at Alabama under Nick Saban. His time working with two coaches who had different styles has McCullough confident he can get FSU football back on track.
"He has tremendous experience in football, he was director of football operations at Alabama under coach Nick Saban," McCullough said. "Grew up under coach Bobby Bowden here, the guys got both ends of the spectrum in terms of coaches and I just can’t be more excited to see that he started here, grew up, went off to the Orange Bowl, went to Alabama, worked his way up the system to be director of football operations, went off to be the AD at Arkansas State, and then now with Learfield. So he’s got the perfect background for exactly what we need here.”
While his resume is excellent, his first test will be hiring FSU's next football coach, something McCullough said they are already working on.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: Jeff Purinton was a 'perfect choice' to be FSU's athletic director
