Tom Kleinlein Promoted To Deputy Athletic Director

KENT, Ohio -- Kent State Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen announced Thursday (Sept. 22) that Tom Kleinlein has been promoted to Deputy Athletic Director.

Kleinlein, 41, joined the athletic department staff in the spring of 2010 as Executive Associate Athletic Director. Kleinlein will continue as the sport supervisor for football and men’s and women’s basketball while directing many of the day-to-day operations of the department. Included in his duties are oversight responsibilities for the marketing department, ticket office, facilities and strength & conditioning, while heading up the gameday operations efforts.

“Tom was instrumental in our ability to achieve our attendance goal for football last season and his hard work enhancing our marketing and strength & conditioning efforts has benefitted the entire department,” says Nielsen. “He’s proven to be a very effective member of our senior management team.”

Prior to his arrival in Kent, Kleinlein was the Associate Athletic Director for Football at Arizona State University from 2005-10. In that role, he oversaw the strategic planning, budget, personnel, scheduling, team travel, facilities, student-athlete welfare and campus and alumni relations for the Sun Devils under head coach Dennis Erickson. In addition to creating and managing the team’s budget, Kleinlein instituted the “ASU Football Cares” program to assist in the student-athlete experience, while shepherding various projects from their inception through to completion, including a $150,000 renovation to the football offices and a $600,000 locker room renovation.

Before his stint in Tempe, Kleinlein served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Football Operations at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J. from 2003-05, overseeing all aspects of a $6.1 million budget. Prior to that, he spent nearly four-and-a-half years at his alma mater, joining the Wake Forest University staff in 1998 as an academic counselor, before being named Assistant Director of Football Operations in 2002.

A four-year letterwinner on the Demon Deacons’ offensive line from 1989-92, Kleinlein earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Wake Forest (1998), and a master’s in education curriculum and instruction from Arizona State (2008).

Originally from Inwood, N.Y., Kleinlein and his wife, Tara, have two sons – Austin (12) and Mason (9).