Staff Directory
Mark Alnutt
- Title:
- Vice President and Director of Athletics
- Email:
- Phone:
- 716-645-3142
Mark Alnutt was appointed Director of Athletics at the University at Buffalo on March 21, 2018. He was elevated to Vice President and Director of Athletics on May 27, 2021.
Since his arrival, the Bulls have reached unprecedented heights in competition as well as in the classroom and, through successful fundraising efforts, many of UB’s athletics facilities have been transformed.
Under Alnutt’s watch, UB teams have won nine Mid-American Conference Championships. In addition, between 2019 and 2020, the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams were all nationally ranked for the first time in program history.
The football program won its first bowl game in 2019 – a victory over Charlotte in the Bahamas Bowl. It was the first of four bowl wins, all coming under Alnutt’s watch. The Bulls also won the 2020 and 2022 Camellia Bowls and the 2024 Bahamas Bowl.
The 2020 football team finished the pandemic-shortened season 6-1 and ranked 23rd in the Associated Press poll – the highest ranking in school history.
The women’s basketball team won the Mid-American Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2022.
In 2025, the Bulls capped off a program-record 30-victory campaign by winning the WNIT Championship in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,650 at Broadview Arena – at the time, the largest-attended women’s basketball game in Western New York history. UB was able to eclipse that total with a record 5,778 fans at an Education Day game in 2026. Â
In 2018-19, the men’s basketball team had a historic run - finishing the year with a record of 32-4, a MAC title, a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament and a national ranking of 14. The 32 total wins were the most ever in a season by a team from the Mid-American Conference.
Other teams to earn MAC titles during Alnutt’s tenure include men’s tennis (2025, 2026), women’s tennis (2018, 2025), women’s soccer (2022) and the first for women’s swimming and diving in 2021.
Alnutt has always placed an emphasis on academics and UB student-athletes have responded by posting remarkable grade point averages. Every semester, since the Spring of 2019, UB teams have exceeded a 3.0 grade point average, by far the longest streak in department history.
UB student-athletes posted the highest GPA in program history with a 3.38 for the Fall 2024 semester. In fact, all 10 of the highest Division of Athletics semester GPAs have be recorded under Alnutt, beginning in the Spring of 2018.
The Division of Athletics set a record one-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) with a .992 for the 2024-25 academic year and posted the highest Graduate Success Rate with a 91 percent for the complete 2023 cohort – the third-straight record year.
Alnutt has implemented several programs in an effort to improve the overall experience for UB student-athletes.
Bulls Thrive is a program that aids the overall development of the student-athlete as it pertains to mental wellness, life skills, community service and career development.
To address the social injustices and promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the department, he formed the Strong Together taskforce in 2020.
UB has been regarded as a leader in the Mid-American Conference with these initiatives. The league has rewarded the Bulls with the 1-MAC Institutional Award in five of the six years of its existence.
Thanks to transformational gifts he helped secure, new facilities have been constructed across the Amherst campus that have enhanced the student-athlete an fan experience.
Alnutt worked collaboratively with campus to approve a funding plan for the $7.5 million Brittany Murchie Mulla Sports Performance Center – a state-of-the-art 12,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2024.
A $5 million videoboard and audio upgrade to Broadview Stadium was completed in 2025 thanks to another campus collaborative funding plan.
Other facility upgrades completed under Alnutt’s watch include:
Most recently, UB partnered with Van Wagner to procure a $31 million partnership with Broadview Federal Credit Union for stadium and arena naming rights, student scholarships and student support – a first for the University. It was the third-largest gift in university history.
Through the Boldy Buffalo capital campaign, the department raised over $21 million in a 72-month period between 2018-2024.
He helped raise over $3 million in cash collections for the first time in the department’s history in 2018 and 2019.
In addition, he helped secure the third largest gift in department history with a $1.5 million commitment in 2022 and the fourth largest gift in department history with a $1.4 million commitment in 2025.
Since arriving at UB, Alnutt has been highly accessible and actively engaged with the UB and Western New York Community. He’s been a member of the Greek Life Review Committee, Povost Search Committee, University at Buffalo 175th Anniversary Celebration Committee, COVID-19 Campus Planning Committee and the Presidential Council on Race.
Along with the Provost and Vice President of Administration, he co-sponsored a feasibility study for a new wellness center with recreation programing on campus. He also co-chaired the University at Buffalo Faculty/Staff Campaign, exceeding the target goal by over 100 percent.
Away from UB, Alnutt is an active participant in the NCAA. He has been a member of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee and was appointed chair in 2024.
In 2026, he was appointed chair of the MAC Council of Director of Athletics.
Previously, Alnutt has served on a number of national committees, including the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee while also serving on and chairing both the NCAA Women’s Gymnastic committee and the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.
He has participated in the Division I-A Athletic Director’s Institute, the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males, and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium, as well as contributing to panels at numerous national conferences and conventions.
A former Division I football player at the University of Missouri, Alnutt arrived at UB after serving as deputy director of athletics at the University of Memphis. He helped develop Memphis’ $45 million NCAA Division I athletics program, assisted with leading its 380 student-athletes and oversaw all external operations for the athletics program, among other responsibilities.
Alnutt has nearly 20 years of professional experience in NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Athletics. Before joining the University of Memphis, he served as director of athletics at Southeast Missouri State University for three-plus years. Prior to that, he served at the University of Missouri as senior associate athletics director from 2006 to 2012 and director of football operations from 2000 to 2005, adding an assistant athletic director title prior to the 2005-2006 season.
During Alnutt’s tenure at Memphis, he was elected chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee; assisted in reaching the goal of $40 million for the university’s Time to Shine capital campaign; diversified annual giving; increased outreach efforts to the community and schools; coordinated all aspects of football bowl trips; and shared oversight of football and men’s basketball while directing administrative oversight of baseball and women’s basketball, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and facilities. He successfully campaigned and lobbied the city of Memphis to approve nearly $5 million in improvements to Liberty Bowl Stadium.
The athletics program experienced numerous milestones during Alnutt’s career at Memphis, including the football team setting an attendance record and student-athletes achieving the highest grade point average (GPA) in school history.
Prior to his tenure at Memphis, Alnutt oversaw Southeast Missouri’s 15 sports programs and 320 student-athletes as director of athletics. Alnutt made many key head coaching hires, negotiated and executed the first-ever NCAA collegiate football game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium — the largest off-campus alumni gathering in the university’s history — and was instrumental in helping football ticket revenue increase 58 percent and total giving to athletics increase by more than 26 percent.
Under his leadership, Southeast Missouri’s student-athletes excelled in the classroom, recording a cumulative 3.15 GPA during the 2014-15 academic year while logging a record number of community service hours with coaches and staff.
At the University of Missouri, Alnutt was the administrative liaison for football; supervised track and field, cross country, gymnastics and golf; spearheaded the department’s project management team; oversaw all aspects of facility project master planning, development management and implementation; and was involved with external department operations. As director of football operations, he coordinated the team’s travel plans, oversaw the football budget and handled compliance issues, among other responsibilities.
A three-year letterman for Missouri, Alnutt played linebacker and tight end. As a senior, he was voted the team’s champion of the year, awarded to the student-athlete who represented the commitment, dedication and hard work needed to be a leader both on and off the field.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis on sports psychology.
Alnutt and his wife, Kate, have four children, Jaren, Kinleigh, Mason and Aidan.
Since his arrival, the Bulls have reached unprecedented heights in competition as well as in the classroom and, through successful fundraising efforts, many of UB’s athletics facilities have been transformed.
Under Alnutt’s watch, UB teams have won nine Mid-American Conference Championships. In addition, between 2019 and 2020, the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams were all nationally ranked for the first time in program history.
The football program won its first bowl game in 2019 – a victory over Charlotte in the Bahamas Bowl. It was the first of four bowl wins, all coming under Alnutt’s watch. The Bulls also won the 2020 and 2022 Camellia Bowls and the 2024 Bahamas Bowl.
The 2020 football team finished the pandemic-shortened season 6-1 and ranked 23rd in the Associated Press poll – the highest ranking in school history.
The women’s basketball team won the Mid-American Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2022.
In 2025, the Bulls capped off a program-record 30-victory campaign by winning the WNIT Championship in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,650 at Broadview Arena – at the time, the largest-attended women’s basketball game in Western New York history. UB was able to eclipse that total with a record 5,778 fans at an Education Day game in 2026. Â
In 2018-19, the men’s basketball team had a historic run - finishing the year with a record of 32-4, a MAC title, a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament and a national ranking of 14. The 32 total wins were the most ever in a season by a team from the Mid-American Conference.
Other teams to earn MAC titles during Alnutt’s tenure include men’s tennis (2025, 2026), women’s tennis (2018, 2025), women’s soccer (2022) and the first for women’s swimming and diving in 2021.
Alnutt has always placed an emphasis on academics and UB student-athletes have responded by posting remarkable grade point averages. Every semester, since the Spring of 2019, UB teams have exceeded a 3.0 grade point average, by far the longest streak in department history.
UB student-athletes posted the highest GPA in program history with a 3.38 for the Fall 2024 semester. In fact, all 10 of the highest Division of Athletics semester GPAs have be recorded under Alnutt, beginning in the Spring of 2018.
The Division of Athletics set a record one-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) with a .992 for the 2024-25 academic year and posted the highest Graduate Success Rate with a 91 percent for the complete 2023 cohort – the third-straight record year.
Alnutt has implemented several programs in an effort to improve the overall experience for UB student-athletes.
Bulls Thrive is a program that aids the overall development of the student-athlete as it pertains to mental wellness, life skills, community service and career development.
To address the social injustices and promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the department, he formed the Strong Together taskforce in 2020.
UB has been regarded as a leader in the Mid-American Conference with these initiatives. The league has rewarded the Bulls with the 1-MAC Institutional Award in five of the six years of its existence.
Thanks to transformational gifts he helped secure, new facilities have been constructed across the Amherst campus that have enhanced the student-athlete an fan experience.
Alnutt worked collaboratively with campus to approve a funding plan for the $7.5 million Brittany Murchie Mulla Sports Performance Center – a state-of-the-art 12,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2024.
A $5 million videoboard and audio upgrade to Broadview Stadium was completed in 2025 thanks to another campus collaborative funding plan.
Other facility upgrades completed under Alnutt’s watch include:
- Secured $250,000 in private funding for men’s and women’s basketball locker room renovations, completed in 2024
- Secured $200,000 in private funding for renovations to the Academic Center, completed in 2024
- Secured $675,000 in private funding for a new turf softball field, completed in 2023
- Completed transition to all LED courtside boards in Broadview Arena in 2022
- Constructed a new nutritional fueling station in Broadview Arena in 2022 based on a private $75,000 gift solicitation
- Secured $150,000 in private funding to install a Daktronics videoboard at the Dorsi Raynolds Competition Swimming Pool in 2020
- Privately funded $1.5 million for renovation of the football locker room, completed in 2020
- Opened a new basketball/volleyball weight room in 2019
- Completed a $250,000 renovation of the atrium and lobby of Broadview Stadium in 2019
- Completed a $1.1 million outdoor tennis facility in 2019
- Renovated the Ed Michael Wrestling Complex in 2019
- Completed the $18 million Murchie Family Fieldhouse in 2019 Â Â Â Â Â
- Completed a new football fueling station in 2018
Most recently, UB partnered with Van Wagner to procure a $31 million partnership with Broadview Federal Credit Union for stadium and arena naming rights, student scholarships and student support – a first for the University. It was the third-largest gift in university history.
Through the Boldy Buffalo capital campaign, the department raised over $21 million in a 72-month period between 2018-2024.
He helped raise over $3 million in cash collections for the first time in the department’s history in 2018 and 2019.
In addition, he helped secure the third largest gift in department history with a $1.5 million commitment in 2022 and the fourth largest gift in department history with a $1.4 million commitment in 2025.
Since arriving at UB, Alnutt has been highly accessible and actively engaged with the UB and Western New York Community. He’s been a member of the Greek Life Review Committee, Povost Search Committee, University at Buffalo 175th Anniversary Celebration Committee, COVID-19 Campus Planning Committee and the Presidential Council on Race.
Along with the Provost and Vice President of Administration, he co-sponsored a feasibility study for a new wellness center with recreation programing on campus. He also co-chaired the University at Buffalo Faculty/Staff Campaign, exceeding the target goal by over 100 percent.
Away from UB, Alnutt is an active participant in the NCAA. He has been a member of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee and was appointed chair in 2024.
In 2026, he was appointed chair of the MAC Council of Director of Athletics.
Previously, Alnutt has served on a number of national committees, including the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee while also serving on and chairing both the NCAA Women’s Gymnastic committee and the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.
He has participated in the Division I-A Athletic Director’s Institute, the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males, and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium, as well as contributing to panels at numerous national conferences and conventions.
A former Division I football player at the University of Missouri, Alnutt arrived at UB after serving as deputy director of athletics at the University of Memphis. He helped develop Memphis’ $45 million NCAA Division I athletics program, assisted with leading its 380 student-athletes and oversaw all external operations for the athletics program, among other responsibilities.
Alnutt has nearly 20 years of professional experience in NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Athletics. Before joining the University of Memphis, he served as director of athletics at Southeast Missouri State University for three-plus years. Prior to that, he served at the University of Missouri as senior associate athletics director from 2006 to 2012 and director of football operations from 2000 to 2005, adding an assistant athletic director title prior to the 2005-2006 season.
During Alnutt’s tenure at Memphis, he was elected chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee; assisted in reaching the goal of $40 million for the university’s Time to Shine capital campaign; diversified annual giving; increased outreach efforts to the community and schools; coordinated all aspects of football bowl trips; and shared oversight of football and men’s basketball while directing administrative oversight of baseball and women’s basketball, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and facilities. He successfully campaigned and lobbied the city of Memphis to approve nearly $5 million in improvements to Liberty Bowl Stadium.
The athletics program experienced numerous milestones during Alnutt’s career at Memphis, including the football team setting an attendance record and student-athletes achieving the highest grade point average (GPA) in school history.
Prior to his tenure at Memphis, Alnutt oversaw Southeast Missouri’s 15 sports programs and 320 student-athletes as director of athletics. Alnutt made many key head coaching hires, negotiated and executed the first-ever NCAA collegiate football game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium — the largest off-campus alumni gathering in the university’s history — and was instrumental in helping football ticket revenue increase 58 percent and total giving to athletics increase by more than 26 percent.
Under his leadership, Southeast Missouri’s student-athletes excelled in the classroom, recording a cumulative 3.15 GPA during the 2014-15 academic year while logging a record number of community service hours with coaches and staff.
At the University of Missouri, Alnutt was the administrative liaison for football; supervised track and field, cross country, gymnastics and golf; spearheaded the department’s project management team; oversaw all aspects of facility project master planning, development management and implementation; and was involved with external department operations. As director of football operations, he coordinated the team’s travel plans, oversaw the football budget and handled compliance issues, among other responsibilities.
A three-year letterman for Missouri, Alnutt played linebacker and tight end. As a senior, he was voted the team’s champion of the year, awarded to the student-athlete who represented the commitment, dedication and hard work needed to be a leader both on and off the field.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis on sports psychology.
Alnutt and his wife, Kate, have four children, Jaren, Kinleigh, Mason and Aidan.
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