Zac Selmon explains why he decided to leave Oklahoma for Mississippi State AD job

Zac Selmon is ready for a new challenge at Mississippi State. After spending the past eight years at Oklahoma, including the past year as deputy athletic director, Selmon accepted the head athletics director job for the Bulldogs this past week.

Selmon graduated from OU in 2010 with a master’s degree in education and has family ties to the university as his father, Dewey, was a former Sooners defensive lineman in the 1970s and his sister Shannon Selmon-Carter played for the 2002 women’s basketball Final Four team. With that being the case, it wasn’t easy for him to leave Norman behind.

However, he explained his excitement over the opportunity that awaits him at Mississippi State, saying he accepted the job because of the people in the program.

“We always look at college sports as, ‘How can you make an impact?'” Selmon said in his introductory press conference. “Going back to what happens at the intersection of higher education and sport, it doesn’t matter where you’re at. It matters the people and the environment that you’re at. I mentioned my three older sisters. One of the played basketball at Oklahoma. One of them played at Baylor and then transferred to Fresno State. Then one of them played at Trinity University in San Antonio. I want to Wake Forest. So all spread out, but the results were the same. The life-changing principles.

“When you look at Mississippi State, it’s got all the ingredient here so we can have an unbelievable experience for our student-athletes. After talking to (president) Dr. (Mark) Keenum and some of the members of the search committee, it’s a no-brainer. It’s about the people. Just fired up about the impact that we can make here within our conference, but also on the national scale as well.”

Zac Selmon will be the first African-American AD in Mississippi State history. He replaces former AD John Cohen, who left Mississippi State for Auburn in November after 14 years with the program.

Selmon was a four-year starter as a tight end for Wake Forest before moving on to Oklahoma as a graduate assistant for OU Athletics. He earned his master’s degree from OU in 2010 while on the staff before going on to hold positions such as Assistant Director of Development, Associate Director of Development and Director of Capital Gifts.

He would move on to North Carolina, where he spent the 2014-2015 academic year as Associate Athletics Director and Special Assistant to the Athletics Director.

As deputy AD for the Sooners, Selmon provided oversight of various stakeholder clubs, strategic communications, media relations, marketing, multi-media rights, licensing, brand management, ticket sales and had sport oversight of the football team.