Florida State has hired Jeff Purinton as its next athletics director, the school announced Monday.
Purinton is a college athletics lifer who was currently working in the "civilian" world as an executive vice president at the multimedia giant Learfield. There, Purinton was responsible for raising sponsorship dollars for athletics departments through multimedia ventures, primarily in the SEC.
Purinton took that job after serving as the AD at Arkansas State from 2022-25.
He landed that job after rising the ranks behind the scenes in Nick Saban's Alabama football dynasty. He joined the Crimson Tide in 2007 as Saban's first sports information director but gradually expanded his role, eventually leaving Tuscaloosa as the No. 2 person in the athletics department, serving as the executive deputy AD.
Purinton started in college athletics at Florida State, serving as a GA in the sports information office and was in charge of publicity during Florida State's 1999 national title run, which also saw Chris Weinke win the Heisman Trophy. He left FSU in 2006 to become the director of media relations and communications for the Orange Bowl, then returned to college athletics to take the Alabama job.
As previously detailed, Florida State paid $100,000 to Parker Executive Search to manage its AD search, with a target hire date of 30 days from the beginning of the search. The AD chair wound up being vacant for just shy of two months.
“Florida State is home to me in so many ways. It’s where I went to school, where I got my start in this profession and where I learned from people who helped shape the way I’ve approached my career. I was fortunate to work with Coach Bowden, Coach Martin and Coach Saban. The lessons I learned from them about leadership, relationships and representing an institution have stayed with me," Purinton said.
Purinton will now jump head first into probably the second most-important task he'll have of his professional life -- the ongoing search for Mike Norvell's replacement. Purinton won't be solely responsible for hiring the next head coach, but he will be tasked with managing the onboarding of the new coach and his staff, setting them up for success in what will inform Purinton's most important task at Florida State: positioning the university to have a seat at the table in whatever form major college athletics takes in the 2030s.
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