Syracuse, N.Y. — University of Tulsa deputy athletic director Joe Fields, a behind-the-scenes figure in the current football rebuilding job, is headed to New Mexico State to become the school’s athletic director.
ESPN was first to report the news Monday afternoon and NMSU made it official Monday evening.
Fields, who played football at Syracuse and later worked in its athletic department, was hired by Tulsa athletic director Justin Moore in August of last year to serve as deputy AD and chief operating officer. Fields, a native of Houston, had worked with Moore at Texas A&M.
“He deserves a lot of credit for getting this football program back competitive,” Tulsa football coach Tre Lamb said Monday of Fields. “If there is one thing Justin Moore can do, I think he can identify talent.
“To have a guy plucked to be an AD at an FBS school is a pretty big deal.”
Fields served as Tulsa’s football administrator. He helped develop and implement the Hurricane’s revenue sharing plans.
“He’s the reason we’re competitive right now,” Lamb said. “I wish him nothing but the best.”
Fields’ first official day at New Mexico State is Oct. 8.
Fields enrolled at Syracuse in 2004 and played quarterback and free safety for the Orange. He returned to his alma mater after playing professional football with the Carolina Panthers in 2008.
Hired in 2010 as an academic graduate assistant, Fields was promoted to academic coordinator in July 2011 and was elevated to associate director of student-athlete academic development and later director of academics for student-athlete development before departing Syracuse in October 2017.
He also served as the director of the Syracuse Youth Impact Program in July 2011, developing a curriculum for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys from the Syracuse City School District.
At New Mexico State, Field replaces Mario Moccia, who was fired in January following an investigation into the handling of a sexual abuse scandal within the men’s basketball program.
Fields was part of Tulsa’s travel party to Las Cruces, New Mexico, earlier this season when the Hurricane fell to the Aggies 21-14.
“Joe Fields is first and foremost devoted to the overall excellence of our student-athletes,” NMSU president Valerio Ferme said in a statement. ”He brings integrity and humility to the role, and his qualifications as a former athlete, leader of athletes and competitor will help shape and lead our Athletics programs into their next chapter.
“In my conversations with him, he has stressed the need to support our athletes holistically. I know that his focus will be the overall success of our student-athletes, so they are achieving in the classroom as much if not more than they are in the athletics arena.”