RMU Names Chris King Director of Athletics
Chris King - Introductory Press Conference (video)
King Named NACDA FCS Athletics Director of the Year
RMU Announces Enhancements To Joe Walton Stadium
RMU Athletics Announces Partnership with P3R (video)
RMU Unveils New Athletics Training Room
RMU Announces Monumental Seven-Figure Gift from Alumnus Russ Olsen to Elevate RMU Basketball
RMU Athletics Announces Six-Figure Gift from Alumnus Welling W. Fruehauf, CPA
RMU Athletics Extends Naming Rights Partnership with P3R
RMU Student-Athletes Complete Another Successful Academic Semester
Robert Morris University (RMU) named Chris King (’94) Vice President and Director of Athletics on May 6, 2019. The 2025-26 academic year marks his seventh year leading the Colonials. King has served as a Division I Director of Athletics for 17 years and was recently honored as a 2023 Cushman & Wakefield NACDA FCS AD of the Year recipient.
King's tenure is defined by a commitment to both academic and athletic excellence. Under his guidance, RMU Athletics has achieved unprecedented academic milestones, boasting a record-high 990 Academic Progress Rate and a 92% Graduation Success Rated. His emphasis on academic excellence is reflected in the department's 3.37 GPA, with 80% of student-athletes achieving a 3.0 GPA or better.
This dedication to student-athlete development is mirrored by outstanding competitive achievements during the 2024-25 academic year, including a total of 39 sport program/department records were broken. The department won five Conference Tournaments, including Horizon League Conference Championships in Women's Cross Country, Men's Soccer, Men's Basketball, Softball and a NEC Conference Championship in Men’s Lacrosse. RMU Athletics tied for the 2024-2025 Horizon League Women’s All Sport Award. Three sport programs also won the regular season championship, which included Men’s Basketball, Men’s Lacrosse and Women’s Lacrosse, and the Women’s Track & Field program’s won four gold medals at the conference championships. King has fostered a championship culture, evidenced by a total of eight regular season championships and twelve NCAA postseason appearances since 2019.
Beyond the playing field, King has demonstrated success in fundraising and revenue generation during the 2024-25 fiscal year. He secured a transformative seven-figure gift from alumnus Russ Olsen ('82), establishing the Olsen Basketball Excellence Fund, and launched a $1M matching gift challenge to amplify donations across all athletic programs. King’s strategic vision extends to the evolving landscape of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and Horizon League initiatives, focusing on both basketball excellence strategies and sustainable opportunities for all sports within the new Division I model. This comprehensive approach is further evidenced by securing a new licensing partner, Affinity, to maximize brand leverage and external revenue. King also oversaw the largest attendance in RMU history at the UPMC Events Center for the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship quarterfinal game, demonstrating the department’s ability to drive fan engagement.
Looking forward, King is poised to build upon this foundation of success, with a focus on maximizing revenue generation through annual donations, major gifts, and special events to meet or exceed established development goals for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The department’s innovative approach to social media has already yielded record-breaking views and impressions during major events and key moments, enhancing the program's visibility and reach. With a strategic blend of academic focus, athletic achievement, and financial expertise, King is positioned to lead RMU Athletics into a new era of growth and prosperity.
During the 2023-24 academic year, King led the effort for RMU to re-join the Northeast Conference (NEC) as an affiliate member in football and men's lacrosse, effective for the 2024-25 academic year. The women’s lacrosse program won the Mid-American Conference championship and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament under first-year head coach Courtney Grove. Grove was the second head coach in Robert Morris program history to win the conference title in her first year with the program. The women’s track & field program also won three gold medals at the Horizon League Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 10,000 meters, 400 meters and the 4X400 meter relay, with numerous school records broken throughout the spring semester.
On the fundraising side, the fiscal year was the most successful year in total Athletics cash related gifts and pledges and the number of overall donors, behind only the 2022-23 fiscal year. Additionally, King extended the naming rights partnership with P3R for the P3R Track & Field Complex at the RMU Island Sports Center. For the third fiscal year in a row, RMU’s 2023 Day of Giving netted a record number of athletic donors and cash. The fiscal year also set additional record revenue numbers for annual corporate sales, including two six-figure naming rights sponsorships.
During 2023-24, RMU's social media numbers continued to grow, with Instagram increasing by 21% and the X platform by 14.6% across all team accounts. Additionally, Student-Athlete Development hosted 16 events, drawing an attendance of 838 across all held.
In Fall 2023, the athletics department underwent numerous facility renovations and enhancements. The Island Sports Center Clearview Arena received a face-lift with new painting, graphics and branding throughout the arena, while additional marketing and branding updates were completed within the UPMC Events Center.
The 2022-23 academic year saw the relaunch of the RMU Athletics UNITE brand campaign, under which the Colonials subscribe to the mantras – UNITE as a Campus, UNITE as a Community and UNITE on Gameday. During the second half of the fiscal year, King renegotiated and finalized deals with Taymar Sales U. for ticket operations, sales and service, and renegotiated the Under Armour apparel/footwear and third-party supplier deal, in addition to negotiating equipment partnership deals with Bauer (hockey), Warrior (lacrosse), and Rawlings (softball).
King has placed a premium on securing funding for facility enhancements. In the summer of 2023, Joe Walton Stadium received a new videoboard, scoreboard and sound system along with an updated athletics training room. Additionally, there was the installation of new flooring, paint, lighting, graphics and branding to the entrance, football locker room hallway/corridor, segment rooms, second floor lobby office/suite and men’s lacrosse locker room/suite.
As part of RMU athletics new brand, new graphics were installed in Joe Walton Stadium and in the UPMC Events Center administrative, basketball, volleyball and strength & conditioning hallways and corridors, as well as the basketball practice gym and locker room areas.
The athletics department continued to place a premium on the student-athlete experience and enhance student-athlete welfare for mental health and wellness initiatives by partnering on a department-wide mental health training platform and virtual counseling services. King has also invested in student-athlete leadership development by creating additional opportunities within the department FORMULA NIL program by expanding the department relationship with the INFLCR local business exchange platform, Bobby Mo Exchange.
The women's basketball program was honored as the academic “national champions” for its work in the classroom, earning the top spot in the 2022-23 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I.
The 2021-22 academic year also was an overwhelming success for RMU under King’s guidance. The RMU football team was honored for the second time in three years for its sportsmanship, as the Colonials were honored with the 2021 Big South Team Sportsmanship Award. The men’s lacrosse program won the ASUN Conference title and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament under first-year head coach Craig McDonald. McDonald was the first head coach in Robert Morris program history to win the conference title in his first year with the program. The fiscal year was the most successful year in total Athletics cash related gifts and pledges in the history of RMU, the previous most successful fiscal year was 2014-2015.
During the 2020-2021 academic year that was affected by the global pandemic, King continued to recharge an athletics department on the rise. A pair of teams claimed NCAA tournament bids, including women's lacrosse, which won the first regular-season championship in the history of Mid-American Conference (MAC). RMU earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which marked the first postseason appearance for the program. The men’s and women’s hockey programs both won conference championships as the women’s hockey program was the 2021 College Hockey America Tournament Champion and reached the NCAA Elite 8, while the men’s hockey program was the 2021 Atlantic Hockey Conference West Division Regular Season Champion. RMU athletics served as the tournament host and co-sponsor with SportsPITTSBURGH for the 2021 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four at PPG Paints Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The athletics department launched a new revenue generating development fund called the Colonial Champions Fund, which supports all aspects of the student-athlete experience, student success and student-athlete welfare. The main areas of the Fund include counseling, mental health and wellness resources, nutrition, sports performance, academic support services, leadership development and career preparation. Additional fundraising and revenue generation initiatives implemented during the fiscal year included the creation of an Athletics Advisory Council of RMU major donors, alumni and Chief Executive Officers in the Pittsburgh region.
King negotiated and secured several significant corporate naming and sponsorship deals, including a partnership with P3R (Pittsburgh Marathon) for the naming of the RMU Island Sports Center track & field complex and also secured a ten-year corporate sponsorship with Chick Fil A to become the exclusive fast food restaurant of RMU Athletics. The department finalized the fiscal year by forming a new partnership with Taymar Sales U., a corporate sponsorship, ticketing, marketing, sales and service company.
King collaborated with Old Hat Creative to provide a brand assessment and study for the athletics department, including a brand strategy to engage fans, drive attendance and increase department revenues. Other new initiatives during the 2020-21 academic year included launching a new RMU athletics app to integrate game broadcasts, fan engagement and corporate sponsorship opportunities. The athletics department also unveiled a redesigned website (RMUColonials.com) with inclusion of a development and sales site, and improved social media presence.
In his first season at RMU, King oversaw the successful opening of the UPMC Events Center, with men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball claiming tournament championships and titles. In July, 2020, King led the efforts to secure primary conference affiliation with the Horizon League, as part of the overall strategic vision for basketball excellence and conference affiliation for football with the Big South Conference.
At the conference level, King serves the Horizon League as the men’s basketball head coaches’ administrative liaison and is a member of both the basketball championships and the basketball scheduling committees. King represented RMU within the Big South Conference as a member of the NACDA FCS ADA Executive Committee and recently served on the NCAA Football Championship Committee.
King serves the collegiate athletics industry as a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coaching Consortium Board (formerly Villa 7) and a Top Connect executive committee member for aspiring basketball head coaches. He is a regular panel member at the annual NABC Coaching Consortium conference held at the NCAA Final Four and is a regular speaker and mentor for Top Connect.
Prior to being named Vice President and Director of Athletics at RMU, King served as the Director of Athletics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), formerly the University of Texas-Pan American, from 2009 to 2019. In 2018, King was honored as a NACDA Under Armour Division I-AAA Athletic Director of the Year Award. Previously an independent NCAA Division I institution, UTRGV joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2013 under King's leadership. The men's basketball team made two straight postseason appearances, while the women's basketball team reached the postseason in four of his last five years as the Director of Athletics.
King represented UTRGV at the conference level with the WAC as Chair, Athletics Council; Chair, Men’s Basketball Committee; and Chair, Strategic Planning Committee from 2017-2019. He also served UTRGV on the NACDA I-AAA Executive Committee and served as Vice President in 2017, including serving as the Chair, NACDA I-AAA Mentoring Committee. He also represented the University on the NCAA Division I Nominating Committee from 2016-2018.
King previously worked with two of the nation's premier NCAA Division I programs: the University of Central Florida, where he served as an assistant athletic director, and the University of Alabama, where he served as an associate athletic director.
A native of Apollo, Pa., King is a Class of 2019 inductee into the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame.
King is a 1994 graduate of the Robert Morris University sport management program and is a member of the RMU Sport Management Advisory Board and the RMU Sport Management Hall of Fame. In addition to his bachelor's degree from the RMU School of Business, King earned a master's in education from Campbell University.
He and his wife, Alicia, have two daughters, Kylie and Mackenzie. The family resides in Moon Township, Pa.
