New Texas A&M athletics director Trev Alberts's first major order of business in College Station was to lay off a number of high-level staffers.
The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported Tuesday that Alberts laid off more than a dozen members of the Aggies athletics department, most of them high-ranking members with multiple decades of service to the university.
Included among the cuts was the No. 2 ranking member of the athletics department. Justin Moore, a 2-time A&M graduate, was let go Tuesday. He worked as a special athletic assistant while pursuing his Master's degree from 2006-08, then returned in 2012 alongside Kevin Sumlin as associate AD for football. He remained on following Sumlin's 2017 departure, eventually becoming executive deputy AD and chief operating officer.
Other staff members among the cuts, per the Eagle: deputy AD for external relations and business development Chris Park; deputy AD for administration and leadership/SWA Kristen Brown; associate AD for branding, creative and communications Tyler Pigg; associate AD for equipment and apparel Matt Watson; assistant AD for NIL Jamie Wood; and director of football technology James Duncan.
Watson was an A&M graduate who worked in the Aggies' equipment room for 34 years, while Wood left his job at Ohio State less than a year ago. Park is also a 2-time A&M graduate who re-joined the athletics department from Washington State in 2022.
“This morning, we met with several individuals to inform them that, in light of the upcoming changes to our administrative structure, they will not be employees of the athletics department in the future," Alberts said in a statement to the Eagle. "These changes are difficult and let me state emphatically, these people have done nothing wrong. These are good, hard-working members of the Aggie family and their service is greatly appreciated. I can assure you, this was not personal, it was a business decision, and a very difficult one at that.”
In his opening press conference at Texas A&M, Alberts estimated that direct payments to athletes could be an annual $15-20 million line item on the budget. There's also the House v. NCAA case seeking backpay and damages for past athletes that were barred from the payments today's athletes currently participate in, where a settlement could be in the billions for the NCAA and the major conferences.
Tuesday was not the first time Alberts has made a decision equal parts bold, necessary and unpopular. At Nebraska-Omaha, he eliminated the school's football and national-championship wrestling program in order to move the school from Division II to Division I, and he left his alma mater Nebraska to take the Texas A&M job earlier this year.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.