By Bill Mahoney

UCSB has announced its new Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, naming Mark Massari, of Oregon State University, to succeed Gary Cunningham. Massari’s first day on campus will be September 29. Cunningham has served as the athletics director since 1995, and in January announced his plan to step down from the position.

Massari has been at Oregon State since 2002, where most recently he served as that campus’s senior associate athletic director for external affairs. He directed all revenue-generating, external marketing, and communications activities.

In introducing Massari to the Santa Barbara and campus communities, Chancellor Henry Yang described him as someone who can bring UCSB’s intercollegiate athletics program to new heights.

“This is a special place,” Massari said. “As an athletic director you want to be at a place where you can win, and this place can win. We compete against the best schools in the country academically and win, and we will athletically.”

In his time at Oregon State, Massari helped double the marketing and sponsorship revenue, increasing the hours on regional television and radio while also negotiating satellite radio rights with XM Radio.

Prior to his stint at Oregon State, Massari spent three years working with the San Francisco 49ers, and four years at the University of Miami in Florida as sports marketing and sales director. He began his career as a development intern at his alma mater, Sacramento State University.