HICKORY, N.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne Vice President for Athletics Kim Pate has announced the promotion of Justin Hay to the role of Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations which will head up the Bears Club. Hay had served as the Interim Director of the Bears Club while overseeing the external operations since September and now removes the interim tag from his title.
Hay enters his fourth year at Lenoir-Rhyne and has lent support to many areas during his time. Hay has headed up corporate relations, facilities and game day operations along with now leading the entire external operations including overseeing the Bears Club, which serves as the fundraising arm of Lenoir-Rhyne athletics.
"I appreciate the opportunity to step into a larger role and thank Kim Pate for putting her trust in me," said Hay. "The Bears Club lends unbelievable support to all of our student-athletes and I am honored to be able to lead that great group. I am excited to continue to grow the Bears Club and help LR Athletics advance in any way that I can."
"Justin is more than ready to step into the role of Senior Associate Athletic Director heading up our entire external operations and has garnered complete confidence and support on behalf of our coaches, staff, and the Bears Club Council," Pate said. "Justin has demonstrated tremendous growth during his time at LR and has headed up a number of significant projects and initiatives with a high level of dedication, and excellence in support of making a positive impact on the student-athlete experience. I could not be more pleased to promote him to this new role that I know he will excel at while continuing to elevate our program and experience for both student-athletes and our Bears Club members."
Under Hay's leadership as the Director of Facilities, he oversaw upgrades of Shuford Arena, Moretz Gym, an indoor golf training space, Durham Field, multiple locker rooms, and the completion and opening of the Neill McGeachy Sports Performance Center. Most recently, Hay helped lead the $18M renovation of Moretz Stadium. All of these projects have been completed in his four-year tenure with the Moretz Stadium renovation taking less than one year to complete. These projects have completely transformed each facility and put LR on par with some of the best facilities in all of NCAA Division II.
Shuford Arena has been completely updated and includes a new playing court, new lights, new paint, new videoboards and scoreboards, new seatback and bleacher seating, new scorer's table and new sound system. Durham Field was turfed utilizing the Diamond Series Baseball Turf which made LR one of a small number of DII programs using the top-of-the-line playing surface from Astro Turf. LR was also the only DII program in the state of North Carolina to be fully turfed. The most expansive was the rebuild of Moretz Stadium which started almost exactly a year ago. With Hay's assistance, the project called for a new stadium entrance, new home bleachers, new lights, a brand-new press box and President's suite, a tunnel entrance and new locker room facilities and lounges for LR men's and women's lacrosse among other upgrades. The total project time was a little over eight months.
On top of the facility upgrades, Hay has overseen expanding the Bears corporate sponsorship dollars 40% over the last year and has added numerous new sponsors to support LR Athletics. His success in adding additional corporate partners is primarily tied to his ability to steward relationships and diversifying the Bears marketing assets such as the web stream, in-game promotions, social media and unique community partnerships. Additionally, with the upgrades that have included videoboards at Moretz Stadium and Shuford Arena, Hay has been creative in giving sponsors direct and visible recognition on the new technology.
Justin also provides sport oversight, serves on the senior administrative leadership team, and will oversee the external communications of Lenoir-Rhyne Athletics.
