A move that has been in the works for months is now official. In a Thursday press conference, Arizona State President Dr. Michael Crow introduced Graham Rossini as Arizona State’s new athletic director. Rossini, who has been with the athletic department for three years, was serving as the school’s executive senior associate athletic director and Chief Business Officer.
Rossini, 44, graduated cum laude from ASU’s School of Business with an undergraduate degree and later earned his MBA from the school. The Mobile, Ala., native began his sports administration career working for five years as ASU's Director of Baseball Operations, where he was involved in two College World Series teams, two Pac-10 championships, and recruiting five top-five signing classes.
He went on to spend 13 years with the Arizona Diamondbacks as Vice President of Special Projects and Fan Experience. He was responsible for several departments and revenue from ticketing, corporate partnerships, special events, food and beverage, and merchandise. In addition, Rossini oversaw the club's fan experience, special events, alumni outreach, branding, and sustainability efforts.
Rossini also led over $300 million in capital projects during his time in MLB. He oversaw the design, construction, ticket sales, and marketing of Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The complex was a finalist for Sports Facility of the Year from Sports Business Journal and has received over 40 "best of" awards, and has led baseball in total and average attendance each season since opening in 2011. He was also responsible for the planning and design of the D-backs' nearly completed Player Development and Education Academy in the Dominican Republic.
He joined Sun Devil Athletics in March 2021 as Senior Associate Athletics Director and was promoted in Fall 2023 to Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief Business Officer. As a member of President Michael Crow's University Council, University Management Team, and the Athletic Department’s Senior Leadership Team, Rossini is charged with the growth of Sun Devil Athletics' external departments, such as driving new ticket sales, corporate partnerships, philanthropic contributions, and an increased focus on NIL, fan experience, and letter winner outreach. He led the athletic department's efforts to secure a 15-year naming rights partnership of Mountain America Stadium and a 10-year extension to the naming rights of Desert Financial Arena.
“The ability to lead the athletics department at my alma mater is a responsibility that I am enormously proud to take on,” said Rossini. “I am so thankful for the many opportunities in my life that were created through ASU, and I have much to repay as a result.
“Our entire athletics department will work relentlessly to support our student-athletes and coaches as we compete at the highest level. We will build and maintain strong relationships with the entire ASU community, including our fans, letterwinners, alumni, partners and donors, while celebrating the spirit, pride and tradition that is unique to ASU.”
Rossini also served as a sports administrator for baseball, wrestling, hockey, and volleyball. ASU wrestling won the 2022 and 2024 Pac-12 championships and finished fourth at the 2022 NCAA Championships. It placed seventh in the NCAA in 2023 and sixth in 2024.
He also served on the search committee that hired head baseball coach Willie Bloomquist in 2021 and head volleyball coach JJ Van Niel in 2022, who was named last season’s Pac-12 Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm of the program. Sun Devil volleyball made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 and finished the regular season 26-6, which is the best record this century in Tempe and the third-highest win total in program history.
In recent months, Rossini was part of the Big 12 transition team at ASU as the school prepares to join the new conference in August 2024.
On April 24th, Action Network HQ’s Brett McMurphy reported that the ASU boosters were pushing back on Crow’s decision to hire from within due to the fact that Rossini was part of an athletic administration that was in place during an NCAA investigation into ASU Football’s recruiting violations, that did hand down several show causes, for now, former coaches and staff members, as well as levied recruiting and scholarship sanctions. While outgoing Athletic Director Ray Anderson, who hired former head coach Herm Edwards who was an integral part of these violations, resigned last November, the overwhelming majority of the athletic department supporters and fan base at large did want to see an outside hire take place, as a true turning of the page cannot isn’t believed to be able to take place with an internal hire.
ASU's senior vice president for educational outreach and student services, Jim Rund, has been serving as interim athletic director ever since Anderson's resignation. Crow indicated that he was in the process of overhauling the department's operations, which delayed the upcoming hire. Devils Digest has also learned that Crow never intended to make the hire before the NCAA investigation concluded and the sanctions on the school were announced, an event that took place on April 19.
The backlash Crow has been receiving concerning his handling of ASU athletics is well-documented, in large part due to the football program's fiasco under Edwards and Anderson. The fact that Edwards was paid $4.4 as severance and that Anderson left the athletic department on his own terms and remains on the ASU faculty in the College of Law while retaining a near seven-figure salary have drawn and continue to draw the ire of Sun Devil fans. The hire of Rossini will serve as just one more point of contention.
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