San Jose State names new athletic director to replace Marie Tuite
SAN JOSE — San Jose State named Jeffrey Konya as athletic director on Saturday to replace Marie Tuite and guide the Spartans through a tumultuous period with the shadow of a sexual abuse scandal continuing to haunt the unversity.
Konya was selected to lead the athletics department less than a month after Tuite was demoted to a fundraising role after complaints and lawsuits about her management style and the handling of allegations that an athletic trainer had improperly touched women athletes.
“Jeff brings over two decades of leadership and award-winning collegiate athletics administrator experience,” President Mary Papazian said in a statement. “We are confident that Jeff’s commitment to student success, integrity, and innovation will continue to increase our students’ academic accomplishments, cement an inclusive and equitable culture, and position Spartan Athletics as a leading department known for creativity and excellence.”
Konya, 48, is well-traveled, having served as athletic director at Cal State Bakersfield (2010-2014) and Oakland University (2014-2018) before moving to Northeastern University in Boston. Konya, a former Princeton football player, was a two-time NACDA Athletics Director of the Year.
He also served as a senior associate athletic director at Southern Methodist University and worked in athletic departments at Iowa, South Dakota, Bucknell, Memphis and Texas-San Antonio.
“I am incredibly honored to be selected to lead the Spartans,” he said in a statement. “I am truly inspired by President Papazian’s vision for San Jose State University. I am excited by the role athletics can play in furthering that vision.”
Konya, who has a degree from the University of Iowa College of Law, could not be reached Saturday by phone or email.
Konya inherits an athletic department that had a historic football season in 2020 under coach Brent Brennan but also faces a backlash over the handling of a 2009-10 case in which 17 women swimmers said former athletic trainer Scott Shaw had sexually abused them in the guise of medical treatment.
A university investigation cleared Shaw of wrongdoing in 2010 and concluded that his pressure-point therapy was a legitimate form of treatment although the women said he massaged them under their clothing, sometimes touching their breasts or pubic area.
In 2019, Papazian ordered a second investigation by an outside law firm after swim coach Sage Hopkins sent 300 pages of material about the case to an NCAA official, who in turn, handed it over to the university. Shaw resigned in August 2020, a half year before the independent review found no medical reasoning for touching the women in their private parts. Shaw has never been arrested or charged in connection with the case.
After the Bay Area News Group reported the FBI’s acknowledgment of an investigation, the university said on its website it is cooperating with a criminal probe into sexual misconduct and a civil review by the Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights that is examining San Jose State’s Title IX compliance.
Papazian reassigned Tuite on May 21 to a fundraising role that supports sports facilities. She has been a central figure in claims of harassment and bullying against Hopkins, who for years raised concerns about Shaw’s behavior, and sued the school in April.
When announcing the results of the second investigation, Papazian said in April that the university would initiate a campaign to encourage student-athletes, coaches and athletics department staff to use an anonymous reporting tool called Spartan Speaks to report allegations of mistreatment.