FootballScoop is proud to announce that Shane Elder is the 2018 FootballScoop Football Operations Director of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.

North Texas has dramatically ramped up its football programs in three years under Seth Littrell. From ramping up the program’s recruiting and social media efforts, to expanding the Mean Green’s support staff to breaking ground on multiple facilities projects — all the behind-the-scenes efforts that don’t show up on Saturdays yet are required in flipping a 1-11 program to post back-to-back 9-win campaigns.

Elder has been there every step of the way for the Mean Green’s rise.

“Shane has been a huge reason for our success over the past three seasons,” Littrell told FootballScoop.

A Texas A&M graduate, Elder worked in the Aggies’ marketing and promotions office while obtaining his Master’s degree in sport management. He remained in College Station afterward, where he worked in A&M’s recruiting office. From there, Elder helped build the UTSA football program from the ground up as director of football operations and later as assistant AD for football and operations. He joined the North Texas staff prior to the 2016 campaign.

The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Billy Rah Johnson [UCF], Josh Thompson [Appalachian State] and Elder) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year’s winner.

Elder will receive his award and be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention.

Previous winners of the Football Operations Director of the Year award are Tom Deahn (Temple, 2009), Mike Kerin (West Virginia, 2010), Mike Sinquefield (TCU, 2011), Matt Doyle (Stanford, 2012), Jason Grooms (Ohio, 2013), Mack Butler (Oklahoma State, 2014), Mark Robinson (Florida State, 2015), Tim Knox (Illinois, 2016) and Tyler Cook (UAB, 2017).

Since 1965, the AstroTurf brand has been driven by forward thinking ingenuity. Today AstroTurf continuously improves its system design to deliver playing surfaces with the most realistic, sport-specific performance, longest lasting durability, and sound player protection. For more information please visit AstroTurf.com

Created in 1999, FootballScoop.com is the premier source for coaching job information and has long been the most widely viewed website by coaches, athletic directors, strength & conditioning coaches, operations and equipment staff across America. As the leading coaching job information venue, FootballScoop.com serves our viewers’ needs by providing first hand, timely & accurate information for our audience. FootballScoop.com is the premier provider of official job postings.