July 2, 2007

Kingsville – Veteran college administrator, coach and educator Scott Gines has been named the athletics director at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Gines comes to Texas A&M-Kingsville after serving as athletics director at NCAA Division II school Fairmont State University in West Virginia for the past two and a half years.

“Scott Gines has exactly the combination of managerial, teaching and coaching experience we want in a director of athletics,” says Texas A&M-Kingsville President Dr. Rumaldo Juarez. “His commitment to the total education and development of student-athletes is a perfect match to the goals of Texas A&M-Kingsville. He also values community service, and will be actively engaged in our community. During his visit, it was clear that he was our top choice for the position, and I am pleased to welcome him on behalf of the entire campus.”

“We are excited, honored and ecstatic,” says Gines. “We are Javelinas now. I love the mission of the University. Texas A&M-Kingsville is the pivot-point for higher education in South Texas. I love the history of Texas A&I and Texas A&M-Kingsville athletics. There is a great deal of pride, which means there has been a great deal of success. We want to extend that success and be one of the best programs in NCAA Division II. I love the community and there is tremendous community support.”

“The three characteristics that stood out to me were integrity, professionalism and his ability to communicate,” says selection committee member and men’s basketball coach Pete Peterson. “Those are all very important characteristics of a good athletics director and leader.”

“We are really fortunate to hire someone with Scott’s experience,” says Texas A&M-Kingsville Vice President for Institutional Advancement Randy Hughes. “We are looking forward to working with him and he will bring some new ideas and energy to the athletics department. Scott will be a real asset not only to the university community, but to Kingsville and South Texas.”

“We had a very strong applicant pool of which Scott was the cream of the crop,” says Dr. Chris Hearon, Chair of the Department of Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M-Kingsville and a member of the search committee. “He's extremely well-trained from both an academic and professional standpoint. He's done a fine job in his brief
stint at Fairmont State and, from my conversations with members of his current coaching staff, he is highly regarded there and will be missed. I have absolutely no doubt that his managerial skills and style will play a
critical role in continuing to move the program in the right direction.”

Gines is a 1983 distinguished graduate of the Virginia Military Institute where he was also a four-year starter as a baseball player. He holds an M.Ed. in sport psychology from the University of Virginia (1986), completing all doctoral coursework in the same field (1987) and with supporting areas in counseling and educational research. Gines is currently a doctoral candidate (Ed.D.) in educational leadership at the University of St. Thomas (MN).

He recently completed the Higher Education Management Institute (HEMI), Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. HEMI is for individuals in senior management positions and designed to assist participants in the overall decision-making and management of higher education.

He began his career in college athletics as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Virginia.

In 1987, at the age of 25, Gines became one of the youngest head baseball coaches in NCAA Division I when he was named the head coach at Radford University. He served as baseball coach from 1988 through 1994. He left as the program’s all-time winningest coach with 168 victories.

Gines returned to his alma mater, VMI, in 1995 as head baseball coach, a position he held through the 2000 season. He won a school record 104 games, produced the school’s first Major League player, and led an endowment campaign for the baseball program, which surpassed $1.3 million.

In August of 2000 Gines made the jump to athletic administration when he was named Director of Athletics and Sports Management at Dakota Wesleyan University, an NAIA program in Mitchell, S.D.

During his four and a half years at DWU the Tigers enjoyed great success.

The women’s basketball program improved from 9-19 in 1999-2000 to 32-6 in 2001-02. During a three-year span from 2001 through 2004 the Tigers posted a combined 85-26 record and advanced to the NAIA national tournament three times including a trip to the title game in 2003.

The baseball program improved from 8-24 in 1998 to a school record 33 wins in 2004 while winning a pair of conference championships along the way.

The wrestling program finished in the top-20 four consecutive years including a school best 12th in 2000-01.

The program made great overall improvements, going from 130th in the NAIA NACDA Director’s Cup in 1999-00 to 63rd by 2003-04.

The Tigers captured four Great Plains Athletic Conference championships and appeared in NAIA post-season play on nine occasions. For four consecutive years (2001-04) the NAIA recognized the DWU athletic department as a Champion of Character institution.

On December 23, 2004, Gines became the athletics director at Fairmont State.

Gines tenure at FSU included a comprehensive list of strategic initiatives. Chief among those initiatives are nearly a $ 500,000 increase in athletic scholarships, capital improvements to Duvall-Rosier Field, the lower field, Feaster Center/Joe Retton Arena, the re-organization of the Lettermen’s Association to become the Fairmont State Athletic Association, a five-year plan for sport sponsorship expansion, an FSAA annual giving program, Project S.O.A.R, and the groundwork for market and feasibility study for an athletic capital initiative.

Falcon athletics captured three West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and advanced to NCAA II post-season play seven times during Gines’ tenure. Falcon athletics concluded 2007 ranked 144 in the NACDA Director’s Cup, the department’s highest finish in the history of this ranking.

Gines and his wife Ginger have two children, son Patrick an entering freshman at Florida State University and daughter Kelly (14).