In his six years at the helm of Furman University’s athletics program, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Donnelly has delivered bold new energy, innovation, and vision to Paladin Athletics, with an emphasis on a first-class student-athlete experience, academic achievement, record breaking donor fundraising, significant capital projects, and enhanced alumni and external engagement strategies.
In recent years, Furman Athletics has emerged as one of the most successful NCAA Division I mid-major athletic departments in the nation by prioritizing academics and athletics excellence while positioning the department for sustainable success. The competitive results of the past six years speak for themselves: the Paladins have won 32 conference championships, earned 44 NCAA postseason appearances, and produced 37 NCAA All-Americans, 20 Players of the Year, and 19 Coaches of the Year. Furman Athletics has consistently performed at an elite level by finishing as the No. 1 ranked Southern Conference institution in the national Learfield Directors Cup in seven of the past nine years and most recently as a Top 100 department in 2025.
The path to sustainability has been fueled by Furman Athletics commitment to fundraising and revenue generation. The Paladins achieved three consecutive record-breaking fundraising years highlighted by the launch of the Furman Athletics Fund in 2021. The donor-centric Furman Athletics Fund led to 185% increase in fundraising compared to the previous four years and empowers coaches, alumni, and donors to support annual operations, endowment and capital projects that elevate student-athlete experience and contribute to program success. This support led to the $40 million donor funded renovation of Timmons Arena, a state-of-the-art basketball facility, and the signature capital project of the Clearly Furman Capital Campaign, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025 for the start of basketball season.
Furman’s success is built upon a long-standing tradition of academic achievement. In the 2024-25 school year, 305 student-athletes were named to the Southern Conference and Big South Academic Honor Roll, with Furman student-athletes posting a combined grade point average of 3.33, cumulative student-athlete GPA above a 3.0 for 12 straight semesters, and 36 student-athletes registering a perfect 4.0 GPA for the year. The department’s 96 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), saw 9 of 14 sports post perfect marks of 100 — figures paralleled by Furman’s 993 Academic Progress Rate (APR), where 14 sports topped the national average and seven 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.
For leading these accomplishments on behalf of the athletics department and the institution, Donnelly was named the 2023 – 2024 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Athletics Director of the Year. This recognition is awarded annually to an intercollegiate director of athletics for their commitment and administrative excellence within a campus or college community environment.
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 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.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Furman won seven conference championships, led by men’s and women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse, and women’s golf. With seven teams qualifying for post-season tournament play, including men’s basketball and men’s golf, the Paladins topped the SoCon in the 2024-25 Learfield Director’s Cup competition, finishing 96th out of 303 Division I institutions. Furman’s 197.5 points were earned on the merit of men’s soccer, men’s cross country, women’s tennis, women’s golf, and men’s golf qualifying for NCAA Tournament play, and two men’s track & field runners, Dylan Schubert and Carson Williams advancing to the finals of the NCAA Championships, where they finished seventh and third, respectively to collect All-American honors. Men’s soccer made it to the Round of 32 after advancing past North Carolina in first round action.
In 2022-23, Furman was the only institution in the nation to record both football and men’s basketball NCAA Tournament wins during the academic 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. This historic basketball win was Furman’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1974 and first appearance since 1980.
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 over those 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.
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 in 2023 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 that 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.
Led by the competitive success of its teams, Furman Athletics 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.
In the area of ticket revenue and attendance for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, from 2021 – 2024 Furman logged a 40 percent increase highlighted by seven sellouts for men’s basketball games, including a record attendance of 6,199 for the Furman versus Wofford men’s basketball game at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Greenville during the 2022 – 2023 season and a steady increase in season tickets sold and student attendance for Paladin Football.
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 donor-funded Davis & Faxon Training Facility for men’s and women’s golf 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 donor funded 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 and continued growth in football support.
Under Donnelly’s leadership and initiative, Furman Athletics 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. An expanded partnership with the 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 the chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Competition Committee. He previously served as chair of the SoCon AD’s 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 Vice President of the Student Body, orientation committee leader, and was the Class of 1999 student commencement speaker. He also earned a Master 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.
