San Diego State (SDSU) Athletics Director Jim Sterk had a difficult decision to make. But the opportunity to join a SEC school was enough to lure him away from Montezuma Mesa.
In a statement released Monday, SDSU President Elliot Hirshman announced that Sterk had resigned from his position and will begin serving as the Director of Athletics for the University of Missouri on September 1.
“Jim has made extraordinary contributions to the success of SDSU’s athletics teams,” Hirshman said of Sterk’s leadership in a statement. He leaves during the most successful period in Aztec Athletics history. “I am grateful to Jim and his family for their service to the university community and wish them great success in their new endeavor.”
Published reports in Columbia, MO said the University of Missouri had offered Sterk their open A.D. position. A source close to the Aztecs Athletics Department confirmed those reports to NBC 7 SportsWrap.
Jenny Bramer will assume the role of Interim Athletics Director in Sterk's absence.
Missouri was looking for a new A.D. after Mack Rhoades left last month to take the same position with Baylor University.
Sterk took over on Montezuma Mesa in 2010 and under his guidance the Aztecs have enjoyed the best athletics run in school history. The basketball team is one of the most highly-regarded programs in the nation, the football program has been to six straight bowl games and the baseball program made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.
Across all sports the Aztecs have advanced to NCAA Tournaments 52 times in six years with Sterk at the helm. He was recently added to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, the body that selects the NCAA Tournament field.
By choosing to head to Missouri, Sterk takes over a Southeastern Conference department and nearly doubles his current salary of $315,000. When you take in to account the difference in cost of living between Columbia and San Diego, however, it would be like tripling his income.
Sterk also hired current head football coach Rocky Long, who has turned San Diego State in to a program that is showing up on multiple Top-25 lists this year.
