Don Scott

Don Scott joined the Clemson University Athletic Department in August 2024 as an Assistant Athletic Director. Scott brings over twenty years of proven external affairs success to Tigertown, following a decorated career with stops as an Athletics Administrator at Notre Dame, Elon, Samford, and UAB.

At Clemson, Scott will oversee fan experience and marketing efforts, focusing on enhancing gameday atmosphere, in-game entertainment, and engagement strategies across various sports. He coordinates major events, including Military Appreciation Day and Hall of Fame inductions, while also managing partnerships, special recognitions, and themed game promotions. Additionally, he works on strategic initiatives such as ticket sales messaging, second-screen activations, and benchmarking best practices from peer institutions to continually elevate the fan experience.

Before arriving at Clemson, Scott was in the midst of a successful tenure at the University of Notre Dame as the Assistant Athletic Director of Fan Experience. While working with the Fighting Irish, Scott reorganized and built out the Fan Experience Team, marking the first time in Notre Dame department history that a group was solely focused on the fan journey including game presentation. Scott also oversaw the creation and execution of all season long plans for promotions, entertainment, sales, groups, and community events. Most notably, Scott served as the Run of Show lead for the largest collegiate football game outside of the United States. Scott also left his mark by orchestrating various external marketing efforts which included Irish Jam ’24, the Shamrock Classic, and 574 Day.

Notre Dame found great success under Scott’s direction, as football revenue records were set both in 2022 and 2023, as well as the department’s approach to game presentations saw a massive overhaul with positive outcomes. Scott’s impact on game presentation was felt throughout Notre Dame’s athletic department.

During a nearly five-year stint at Elon University, Scott oversaw many roles within the Phoenix’s external department. First serving as the Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement, and then transitioning to the Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement, Scott had direct oversight for the operations and strategic direction of the marketing and ticketing department. Additionally, Scott managed the department’s brand and creative marketing collateral, uniform design, and social media.

Scott brought change to Elon by developing the first analytics process, systems, CRM, and data warehousing for Elon Athletics. In turn, this allowed the department to make data-driven decisions to prioritize objectives and define internal and forward-facing strategies. Scott also led an overhaul of the Phoenix’s Communications Department to a more digital and storytelling focused unit than statistics and recaps.

At Samford, Scott was responsible for the vision, culture and oversight of marketing, ticket sales, donor club, video, & licensing units. While serving as the Director of Marketing, Licensing, Ticket Sales, and The Bulldog Club, Scott instituted the first Priority Points system for the athletic department and donors. Additionally, Scott helped to grow ticket revenue over 30% during his tenure, including a 45% increase in Football per game.

Under Scott’s leadership, numerous National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) awards have been collected by his departments.

• Gold: Student Promotion (2012), Schedule Poster (2012), New Revenue Generation Idea (2021)
• Silver: Season Ticket Sales Campaign (2013)
• Bronze: Community Engagement & PR (2019), Student Promotion (2020)

Before entering the world of college athletics, Scott’s early professional years included tenures at ISP Sports in Birmingham, AL and numerous cable networks with the media sales departments in New York City.

Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts from Denison University in May 1999, and earned his Master’s of Education in Athletic Leadership from Clemson University in August 2021.

He is married to the former Tracy Linville, and they are the parents of sons Wyatt (15), and Cole (13).