SMU announced Damon Evans as SMU’s new athletic director on March 22. Just five days later, the university welcomed Evans to the Hilltop during a press conference in the Miller Event Center inside Moody Coliseum. Over two hundred people packed inside to welcome Evans and his wife, Kerri, to Dallas as the Mustangs look to take the next step in becoming an elite academic and athletic institution.
When SMU first received the invitation to join the ACC in September 2023, the Chair of the Board of Trustees, David Miller claimed during a press conference held in Armstrong Fieldhouse on Sept. 1, 2023, “We [SMU] just made the ACC stronger.” Now, almost one and a half years later, David Miller shared that the addition of SMU to the ACC has brought excitement to different fan bases and strength to the conference overall.
“I’ve attended literally every away football game and I think all but one or two away basketball games,” Miller said. “I’ve gone to these ACC cities for all those games and I’ve encountered no one who will debate that [claim].”
Evans took note of SMU’s leadership in its fight to join a power conference in 2023 and was impressed by their determination.
“The powers that be here went big game hunting, and what I mean by that is, to go out and say, ‘We need to find a power conference and do everything that we can to get in that conference,’” Evans said.“And I saw that.”
Evans’ resumé speaks for itself. He served as the athletic director at the University of Georgia from 2004 to 2010. In that time, Georgia won 13 national titles and 19 SEC titles. In 2018, Evans became the AD at the University of Maryland. During his tenure, Maryland won a combined 49 Big Ten championships and tournament titles.
Among the people in the crowded Miller Event Center for the press conference was President-elect Jay Hartzell. Set to be the 11th president of SMU, Hartzell helped the search committee to find SMU’s new athletic director, and was also a big reason why Evans left his previous job at Maryland.

“When I saw the news that [Hartzell] was coming to SMU, I said, ‘Wow, they’re really going after someone special,’” Evans said. “I had heard a lot about him. When I had the opportunity to meet with him, it just further reiterated my desire to be at this institution.”
During the press conference, Hartzell shared how his conversations with Evans during the interview process showed they held similar ideologies.
“People often want to think there’s the athletic side and the academic side [to a college], but part of our conversation with Damon and part of my enthusiasm for him in this really important leadership role is that he appreciates the fact that these things are actually very interdependent and interwoven,” Hartzell said.
Evans mentioned that the alignment within the administration at SMU was an appealing reason to make the transition to the Hilltop.
“This type of partnership and alignment rarely happens, you guys,” Evans said. “But it is happening here, right now, at perhaps the most consequential time in the history of intercollegiate athletics.”
Evans considers the present as “the most consequential time in the history of intercollegiate athletics” due to the uncertainty of the future. However, he believes that his experience in the Big Ten, SEC and now ACC will help position SMU positively in the future.
“What I think the experiences in the ACC, the Big Ten, and now the ACC have allowed me is this: to develop relationships with a lot of different people, the movers and the shakers, who may be the ones that impact the next cycle,” Evans said.