who trust you so you have that trust where people in the community

When Tim Leonard first looked into the open Wolf Pack athletic director position, he was asked on a number of occasions what intrigued him about the job.

“It’s Nevada,” said Leonard, who was named Wednesday one of three finalists for the position. “That’s what intrigued me. It’s a great place. It has a ton of history. It’s a big-time program. It’s an exciting place. It’s funny because I’ve received that question a lot, and it’s Nevada. That’s as simple as I can put it.”

Leonard, 44, currently the senior associate athletic director at SMU, is joined as a finalist by Washington State senior associate AD John Johnson and Utah senior associate AD Doug Knuth.

The top selling point for all three finalists was their ability to raise money, but none of the candidates has had as much experience in that field as Leonard, who has a 21-year career in athletics fundraising.

Leonard, a 1992 Boise State graduate, came to SMU in 2008 and has raised more than $100 million in donations, including an increase in annual giving each year he’s been with the Mustangs. Last year, he was named the “fundraiser of the year” by the National Association of Athletic Development Directors.

In fiscal year 2012, total giving to SMU athletics exceeded $19.2 million, more than Nevada’s entire athletic budget of $18.1 million. Leonard also spearheaded a season-ticket sales push that resulted in a school-record 11,000 season tickets being sold.

In addition to his stint at SMU, Leonard has spent time in the athletic department fundraising offices at Central Florida (1999-2008), Boise State (1997-99) and Illinois State (1992-97). He’s had success at each spot, although he didn’t brag about the financial boosts he’s provided each school.

“I’ve just been fortunate to be around great coaches and great ADs where we’ve had projects that people have been excited about,” Leonard said. “I’ve also been fortunate to be around great donors. I’ve just been the conduit to bring those ambitions, those hopes and those dreams out to the community and fortunately the communities I’ve been in have been put in a position to respond. A lot of it is luck and a lot of it is the fact we wore out the leather on the bottom of our shoes.”

At Central Florida, Leonard sold the naming rights to UCF’s football stadium to Bright House Network for $15 million. Annual giving at UCF increased by 25 percent during his decade-long tenure at the school.

UNR president Marc Johnson, tasked with making this hire, has been clear that the Wolf Pack’s next athletic director must have a strong fundraising background, one of Leonard’s strong suits.

“This person must have a couple of real excellent skills,” Johnson said last month. “One would be in fundraising, which means communicating with the public what the needs are of the athletics unit and then being able to develop relationship with folks who trust you so you have that trust where people in the community are willing to invest in athletics. That will be a big key element.”

While Leonard, a native of Twin Falls, Idaho, is the only one of the three candidates without experience at a BCS school, he does have brief athletic director experience. He was the interim AD at SMU from May-August 2012 after Steve Orsini was fired last year. It was during that period when Leonard knew he wanted to be a full-time AD.

“It was something I enjoyed immensely,” said Leonard, who will be the first candidate to have an on-campus interview next Monday. “It just felt natural. I didn’t have any hesitancy. There was nothing that threw me for a loop. It just so natural that I knew it was something I wanted to do.”