Updated June 2025
Entering his 11th year in Boone, Doug Gillin has overseen the rise of App State Athletics as a nationally relevant program at the highest level of college sports.
Hired as the school’s Director of Athletics on Feb. 27, 2015 and officially beginning the role on April 6, 2015, Gillin has overseen progress in all facets of an athletics department that was in the beginning stages of its transition from FCS football and Southern Conference membership to FBS football and the Sun Belt Conference upon his arrival.
One of four national Under Armour Athletics Directors of the Year in 2019-20, Gillin has led the way for App State to be recognized as one of the hottest rising athletics departments thanks to Mountaineer student-athletes outpacing peers academically; major facility and game day experience enhancements; negotiating home football games against top-tier programs; record-setting donations and fan engagement; and raising the school’s national profile with championship-winning programs and elevated media exposure.
Under Gillin, part of App State Athletics’ stated mission is to “support the educational mission of the university,” doing so by adhering to four core values:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: App State student-athletes completed their 26th straight semester with a 3.0 cumulative GPA in the spring of 2025. The Mountaineers regularly lead Sun Belt schools in student-athlete grade point average and academic honor roll members.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: With 14,460 volunteer hours by its student-athletes in 2019-20, App State Athletics finished second overall in the NCAA Division I Team Works Community Service competition organized by Helper Helper. During the 2023-24 year, the Mountaineers once again ranked in the top 20 among all Division I schools in the charitable competition.
COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE: Gillin has helped oversee one of the most successful transitions to the FBS level of football in history.
App State was the first college football program to win bowl games in each of its first six eligible FBS seasons and to earn a bowl berth in each of its first seven eligible seasons. The Mountaineers are 7-1 in bowl games, and the team’s 93 wins from 2015-24 ranked in the top 10 nationally among FBS schools.
The Mountaineers won four straight Sun Belt championships from 2016-19 and added East division titles in 2021 and 2023. In 2022, App State followed a 17-14 win at No. 6 Texas A&M by hosting ESPN's College GameDay for the first time.
The 2019 squad became the first Sun Belt or North Carolina FBS school to win 13 games. It finished 18th and 19th in the national polls, the best by a Sun Belt school at the time.
In the 2023 calendar year alone, App State produced wins over top-25 teams in football (No. 18 James Madison), baseball (No. 8 Coastal Carolina and No. 16 Southern Miss), softball (No. 23 Louisiana), wrestling (No. 21 North Carolina) and field hockey (No. 8 Louisville).
While navigating the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, the men’s basketball team captured its first Sun Belt Tournament Championship and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2000. The Mountaineers won the Sun Belt regular-season title in 2024 and entered the postseason with a 26-5 record.
Other team championships under Gillin’s watch include 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 SoCon wrestling; 2016 Sun Belt women’s indoor track and field; 2016, 2018 and 2024 Sun Belt women’s cross country; 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024 Sun Belt men’s cross country; 2019 Sun Belt women’s tennis; 2023 and 2024 MAC field hockey; and the 2019 WBI tournament.
WORLD-CLASS EXPERIENCE: An emphasis on enhancing the health and well-being for App State student-athletes has seen the institution of the AppFuel nutrition program, the hiring of the department’s first full-time dietitian (and then adding another) and first full-time sports psychologist (and then adding another) and a bolstering of the availability of team physicians, orthopedic care and physical therapists.
Thanks to record-breaking fundraising and innovative community partnerships, major facility projects that have been completed under Gillin’s watch include the Kidd Brewer Stadium north end zone facility, the Randy Marion Track & Field Facility at Appalachian 105, the new Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium for softball at Appalachian 105, the App State Tennis Courts at Appalachian 105, the Mark E. Harrill Basketball Practice Facility, video boards at Kidd Brewer and the Holmes Convocation Center, and new AstroTurf fields at football, baseball and soccer. Ongoing upgrades are in the works for almost every App State sport as part of a current fundraising initiative that will help the Mountaineers continue to compete at a championship level in the improved Sun Belt Conference.
Record-breaking crowds have become the norm on the mountain, including Sun Belt and App State season attendance records that give the Mountaineers the top four marks from 2021-24. Other sports that have seen record-breaking attendance figures since 2022 include men’s basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling and volleyball.
The App State brand has seen explosive growth under Gillin’s leadership. Licensing and sponsorship revenues are at all-time highs. The unpaid advertising value for hosting ESPN’s College GameDay and appearances in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and other nationally televised events is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. App State Football is a leader in social media engagement. Kidd Brewer Stadium concerts headlined by Luke Combs, Darius Rucker and Brad Paisley further increased brand awareness and visitors to the High Country.
The App State logo can be found on items as wide ranging as coffee, beer, NASCAR, BBQ sauce, wine, seltzer, bourbon, beef jerky and more. App State Athletics launched its Mountain Born apparel collection in 2016 in a co-brand collaboration with alum and country music star Eric Church. Fellow alum and country music sensation Luke Combs joined the collection in 2018.
Gillin, who served on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee from 2020-23, was previously the deputy director of athletics at the University of Missouri from 2012-15, playing a prominent role in the Tigers’ transition to the Southeastern Conference. He also spent time early in his career on college campuses at Lehigh, New Mexico, Missouri and Syracuse, while holding senior leadership positions at ISP Sports/IMG College from 2002-12.
The Binghamton, N.Y., native was a four-year letterman in ice hockey at SUNY Cortland from 1987-91. He graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1991 with a B.S. in physical education (sports management concentration). He went on to earn a master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University in 1993.
Gillin and his wife, Leslie, have three children: daughters Shea and Lia and son Chase.
GILLIN AT A GLANCE
Professional Experience
1993-94: Lehigh (assistant ticketing/business office director)
1994-95: New Mexico (assistant marketing director)
1995-97: Missouri (assistant marketing director)
1997-99: Missouri (general manager - Mizzou Sports Properties)
1999-2002: Syracuse (general manager - Syracuse Sports Properties)
2002-07: ISP (senior vice president)
2007-10: ISP (executive vice president/chief sales officer)
2010-12: IMG College (senior vice president for college properties)
2012-15: Missouri (deputy athletics director)
2015-present: App State (director of athletics)
Education
Bachelor’s: SUNY Cortland, 1991 (physical education - sports management concentration)
Master’s: Ohio, 1993 (physical education)
Student-Athlete
Ice Hockey: SUNY Cortland (1987-91)
Hometown: Binghamton, N.Y.
Birthdate: May 28, 1969
Wife: Leslie
Daughters: Shea and Lia
Son: Chase
Twitter: @DougGillin
