In a little less than five years at the helm of Furman University’s athletics program, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Donnelly has delivered bold new energy, excitement, and vision to Paladin Athletics, with emphasis on a first-class student-athlete experience, facility improvements, and enhanced alumni and external engagement.
Recently named National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) 2023-24 Athletics Director of the Year, Donnelly, who was hired as Director of Athletics in August 2019 and promoted to Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics in 2022, has succeeded in impressive fashion in helping Furman Athletics achieve its mission of inspiring, educating, and developing outstanding student-athletes through a culture of excellence, while in pursuit of a prestigious liberal arts and sciences education and national competitiveness.
A major tenet of Donnelly’s directorship has been a commitment to academic excellence in support of the Furman Advantage, and the results over the last four years have been notable. For the 2022-23 school year, 233 student-athletes were named to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll, and in the spring of 2023 Furman student-athletes posted a combined grade point average of 3.37, with half earning Dean’s List honors and 36 registering perfect 4.0 GPAs. The department’s 97 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), announced in June of 2023, saw 11 of 14 sports post perfect marks of 100 — figures paralleled by Furman’s 996 Academic Progress Rate (APR), where 14 sports topped the national average and five programs scored perfect multi-year APRs of 1,000. Another highlight came when Inside Higher Education declared Furman as the Academic Achievement Champion among 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament participants.
Mirroring the impressive academic results has been Furman’s remarkable athletic accomplishments, evidenced in the six SoCon championships earned by Paladin football, men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s tennis, and women’s golf in 2023. With six teams qualifying for NCAA Tournament play, including men’s golf, Furman Athletics topped the SoCon in the 2022-23 Learfield Director’s Cup competition, finishing 113th out of 294 Division I institutions.
Furman was the only institution in the nation to record both football and men’s basketball NCAA Tournament wins during the 2022-23 school year, with football defeating Elon, 31-6, in FCS first round playoff action and men’s basketball knocking off No. 4 seed Virginia, 68-67, in the first round.
Furman football, which followed up its 10-win 2022 campaign with a 10-3, SoCon season title run in 2023 to advance to the playoff quarterfinals and top five national ranking, is among only three FCS programs to record double digit wins the last two years, and men’s basketball’s 28 victories during the 2022-23 campaign marked a program high and included SoCon regular season and tournament championships — its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1980.
Furman’s stellar team successes during the 2022-23 school year produced over 700 individual honors for Paladin student-athletes, including seven All-Americans, six SoCon Players of the Year, and four SoCon Coaches of the Year. In addition, Furman maintained its lock on league athlete of the year laurels when basketball’s Jalen Slawson and golf’s Anna Morgan were accorded male and female honors, accordingly.
Donnelly’s strong commitment to the academic and competitive success of Furman Athletics has been supported by his highly impactful leadership and work in the area of fundraising and engagement, evidenced in the fact that Paladin Athletics recorded its third consecutive record breaking fundraising year with over $19 million in commitments from nearly 3,000 donors, representing a 426 percent increase in annual fundraising since his arrival in 2019.
Thirty-three gifts of six or seven-figures were made last year in support of athletics, including the largest gift in Furman Athletics history — a $10 million commitment from Ravenel Curry ‘63 to headline a $40 million renovation of Timmons Arena, announced in February of 2024, that will transform the current arena into a first class, state of the art facility while dramatically enhancing the game day experience and placing it among the best arenas in college basketball at its size and scale.
As the signature capital project of the Clearly Furman Campaign, the Timmons Arena renovation represents the largest donor-funded project in Furman history and is supported by more than 200-plus donors. Its investment ment represents a significant step in advancing the strategic priorities outlined in “Inspiring Greatness, Furman Athletics’ Strategic Plan,” which emphasizes philanthropic support for athletics facilities, endowment, and operational support for all 19 varsity teams.
Fueled by the competitive success of its teams, over the last two years Furman has established new engagement and attendance records, logging a 930 percent increase in X (formerly Twitter), 800 percent increase in Facebook, and 275 percent increase in Instagram, along with three million impressions based on men’s basketball’s SoCon Tournament championship run and NCAA Tournament first round victory. That success led to $41 million in earned media value for the university based on Neilsen Media research.
The Paladins also hosted 6,199 fans at the men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader versus Wofford at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, highlighting a strong upward trend in basketball attendance, on top of similar gains for home football games at Paladin Stadium.
Less than six months into his tenure, Donnelly faced the challenge of leading a department heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic, which included the cancellation of the 2020 spring and fall competition seasons, significant financial challenges, and a realignment of sports sponsorships. Through it all, he demonstrated effective leadership skills, working closely with campus leaders, the SoCon, and the NCAA regarding changes in scheduling and legislation that impacted the welfare of student-athletes, coaches, and staff. That effective guidance helped pave the way for Furman’s impressive return to full competition.
While managing a department through a unique period in its history, Donnelly kept a keen eye on ensuring the future viability of Paladin Athletics through the development and launch of “Inspiring Greatness: Furman Athletics Strategic Plan 2022-26” — a roadmap of priorities for student-athlete well-being and performance; academic success and leadership development; financial sustainability and accountability with an emphasis on philanthropy and revenue generation; competitive excellence; and goals for best-in-class facilities. In addition, it outlined an expansion of the department’s marketing, fan engagement, and branding efforts — all underscored by a culture of excellence and collaboration with Furman’s administration and Board of Trustees.
A vital element in Donnelly’s overall vision for Furman Athletics, as outlined in the strategic plan, was the introduction of the Furman Athletics Fund. In the fall of 2021 Furman Athletics announced the then-largest gift in its history with a $5 million gift from Chris ‘78 and Andrea Borch to fully endow athletics scholarships for the Paladins’ nationally acclaimed men’s and women’s cross country programs. The Borch Family was part of a larger university wide initiative to raise $100 million in funds to fully endow scholarships to provide perpetuity for both programs.
Donnelly’s commitment to executing an ongoing facilities master plan in alignment with the university’s strategic priorities gained significant momentum with the construction of the 100 percent, golf donor-funded Davis & Faxon Training Facility and complete refurbishment of the adjoining REK Center for Intercollegiate Golf, dedicated in February of 2022.
In the fall of 2021, Furman, as part of its initial phase in the Timmons Arena renovation, completed a significant $3 million renovation and expansion of men’s and women’s basketball office suites, film rooms, and locker rooms.
Other notable facility improvements that have been accomplished under Donnelly’s guidance include a $500,000 refurbishment of the department’s weight room and installation of new Field Turf in Paladin Stadium, a move that followed projects targeted to improve the game day experience — chief among them a new, more spacious seating arrangement in the west stands. The seating configuration, along with the introduction of the “Furman Fan Zone” featuring pre-game concerts and a new student tailgating section in Paladin Stadium, combined to help Furman notch a 60 percent increase in attendance in 2021.
Under Donnelly’s leadership and initiative, Furman Athletics has also worked to develop and add a number of strategic partnerships, including one with Van Wagner Collegiate Services, the department’s multimedia rights partner, as well as with The Fan, the top-rated sports talk station in the Upstate and flagship station for Paladin football and men’s basketball, NOCAP SPORTS to provide Furman student-athletes the opportunity to maximize name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities, and Greenville Triumph (USL League One) & Liberty (USL W League) soccer clubs. The partnership with Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the home of Furman’s “Weekends At The Well” basketball game series, allowed Furman to co-host 2022 NCAA Basketball Tournament first and second round games with a net $11 million economic impact to Greenville, as well as the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Regionals. In 2026 Furman will again co-host the 2026 men’s tournament first and second rounds in downtown Greenville.
Donnelly, a graduate of Furman’s prestigious Riley Institute DLI, currently serves as chair of the SoCon’s Athletic Directors Committee and on the FCS Regional Advisory Committee.
Prior to arriving at Furman, Donnelly spent 15 years at Villanova University, most recently as senior associate athletics director and executive director of athletics development. Prior to that role, he served as director of athletics development and oversaw the Villanova Athletics Fund, managing fundraising and external support for all 24 varsity sports. Over his final four years at Villanova, he helped raise more than $120 million for Wildcat Athletics, including three consecutive record-breaking fundraising years representing a 330 percent increase in dollars raised, and led the fundraising effort for the $65 million Finneran Pavilion renovation, the university’s largest 100 percent donor funded capital program, and the creation of the “Nova Points” donor support system.
Before moving to administration, Donnelly served the Villanova Men’s Basketball program in a number of capacities, including as an assistant men’s basketball coach, director of basketball operations, and special assistant to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Jay Wright, the AP men’s college basketball coach of the decade, contributing to Villanova’s basketball success, including the Wildcats’ NCAA Division I national championship wins in 2016 and 2018. During his decade on the Wildcats’ bench, Villanova Basketball made nine NCAA Tournament appearances, including runs to the 2006 Elite Eight and 2009 Final Four.
Before going to Villanova, Donnelly was a teacher and basketball coach at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, as well as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Muhlenberg College, his alma mater. He also served as a long-time camp commissioner and coach for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Morgan Wootten from DeMatha High School and was the director of basketball operations for USA Basketball at the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil.
A native of Colonia, New Jersey, Donnelly graduated from Muhlenberg in 1999, where he played varsity basketball, was a student leader, and was the Class of 1999 student commencement speaker. He also earned a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Villanova in 2019.
Donnelly and his wife, Rachel, a native of Bakersville, N.C., and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Villanova, have three children—Aidan, Raeyln, and Allister.
