McFarlane Joins UCF Athletics Exec Staff

Chris McFarlane--an Orlando native, a graduate of the UCF DeVos Sport Business Management program and an Executive Associate Athletics Director at the University of Pittsburgh the last two and a half years—has been named Deputy Athletics Director for Competitive Excellence at UCF.
 
In that role, McFarlane will have oversight of the health and wellness ecosystem within UCF Athletics that includes sports medicine, sports performance, sports nutrition, sports science and mental health. Additionally, he will be a sport administrator for the Knights' Football and Men's Basketball programs and oversee the Convocation Corporation.
 
"Chris will play a crucial role for us in overseeing the administrative areas we group under the headline competitive excellence--and those are all the support services that can provide our student-athletes that extra one percent that makes the difference between winning and losing," says Danny White, UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics. "As we continue our quest to make all of our sports into top-25 programs, Chris' breadth of experience should pay great dividends."
 
"I am absolutely thrilled for the opportunity to join an already incredible team at UCF," said McFarlane. "To return in such an integral role to the success of our student-athletes and entire department is an exciting challenge, and I cannot wait to get started. I look forward to continuing to elevate the success of the student-athletes, staff and programs that I get to serve."
 
McFarlane has served as Pitt's Executive Associate Athletics Director for Philanthropy and Engagement since August 2018. In that role, McFarlane directed all fundraising initiatives, including comprehensive annual and major gifts programs, a $300 million capital campaign and a team of 13 professionals.
 
A member of the executive leadership team, McFarlane also played a key role in high-level strategic decision making for the department of athletics and its 750 student-athletes, band and spirit squads. Having dual reporting roles to Director of Athletics Heather Lyke and University Senior Vice Chancellor for Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement and President of the Medical and Health Sciences Foundation Kris Davitt, McFarlane oversaw all aspects of planning, implementation and execution of a comprehensive, coordinated fundraising program at Pitt.
 
Before heading to Pittsburgh, McFarlane spent five previous years at Northwestern, where he served as Associate Athletics Director for Major Gifts and had oversight and strategic direction of all major gifts activity and staff during a $450-plus million athletics campaign. Carrying a full portfolio of major and principal gift donors and prospects, he also served in a leadership role for all campaign and department-wide priorities as a member of the department's senior administrative staff. Promoted three separate times during his tenure in Evanston, McFarlane also led stewardship and parent partners programming for the Wildcats. He served as a sport administrator for the Men's Soccer and Women's Tennis programs.
 
Prior to Northwestern, McFarlane led the athletics development offices at both Mount St. Mary's University (Emmitsburg, Maryland) and Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, Maryland), bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience into his role in Evanston. He previously held the position of Senior Director of Athletics Development at Mount St. Mary's. During his tenure at The Mount, McFarlane managed all major gift, annual fund, corporate partnership and capital project initiatives to extraordinary levels of success.
 
A 2003 graduate of Florida State University, he also earned a master's degree in sport business management and his MBA from UCF in 2005 and completed a certificate program in leadership from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management in 2016.
 
McFarlane is a member of the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD). He completed the NCAA Leadership Institute in 2011 and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium (CALS) in 2015.