After 10 years leading Tufts’ athletics programs to national recognition, John Morris, director of athletics, is leaving the university to become CEO at Collegiate Sports Connect. During Morris’ tenure, Tufts won five NCAA team national championships and 27 individual national championships, as well as 32 team championships in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), including five first-time championships in the last five years.

In 2021-22, the Jumbos won the Learfield Directors’ Cup for the first time in school history, earning Tufts the recognition as the most successful Division III athletics program in the nation. The university also placed within the top five for the Directors’ Cup out of more than 400 Division III colleges and universities for five years, even though the school had never placed in the top five prior to 2015. Morris was also recognized as a 2023 NACDA Division III Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year.

“For the past decade, Tufts’ student-athletes have reached new heights under John’s leadership,” says Tufts President Sunil Kumar. “We are very grateful to John for the commitment to excellence that he has brought to the university, a commitment that has benefitted everyone in our community. By finding the appropriate successor, we hope to maintain and build on the remarkable record of accomplishments that John has achieved during his time leading our athletics program.”

“In his ten years at Tufts, John has been a transformational leader,” said Ted Tye, A79, A06P, A13P, vice chair, Tufts Board of Trustees, and longtime chair, Athletics Board of Advisors. “He has taken Tufts Athletics to new heights in terms of performance, facilities, philanthropy, coaching, and, most of all, the quality of the total student-athlete experience. We look forward to building on the nationally recognized programs that John has strengthened. He will forever be a Jumbo.”

In addition to successes on the playing fields, Tufts student-athletes have excelled in the classroom. The university had 43 Academic All-Americans during Morris’s tenure and averaged 383 Academic All-NESCAC honorees per year. In 2023-24, Jumbo student-athletes earned a 3.61 student-athlete GPA, and over the past 10 years, averaged a 3.47 GPA. Two student-athlete alumni (Mitchell Black and Katelin Isakoff) also received the prestigious NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship. Tufts is the only NESCAC school to have a winner of this award—and the only Division III institution with two winners.

As athletics director, Morris says, he has always sought to provide “the best possible student-athlete experience and ensure that the field of play is not only a place for winning championships, but also a classroom for learning life lessons and a place for creating lifelong friendships and memories.”

Tufts’ athletics facilities have undergone a major transformation since 2015. A variety of state-of-the-art facilities have been constructed to enhance the student-athlete and fan experience, including Ounjian Field for field hockey, the Tufts Squash Center, baseball’s Sol Gittleman Park, the indoor golf training center, and the new Vouté Tennis Courts. Other major capital projects include significant improvements at Ellis Oval (with synthetic turf, light, video board and new locker rooms), major renovations of Cousens Gymnasium lobby and coaches’ offices, and new locker rooms for faculty, staff and students.

Morris speaks with fondness about his work with the coaches and staff. “It’s hard to express how grateful I am for the last 10 years and the opportunity to know and work alongside the amazing Tufts student-athletes, coaches, and staff. As I embark on an exciting new professional adventure, I feel lucky to take with me so many wonderful friendships and Jumbo memories,” he says. 

“The Tufts campus community is so special, and it has been a pleasure to collaborate with so many great colleagues and friends over the years,” Morris adds. “And I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Ted Tye, the Athletics Board of Advisors, and so many Tufts alumni and friends who have supported our efforts so loyally over the last 10 years.”

Morris will be at Tufts until June 6. Alexis Mastronardi, currently deputy director of athletics, will serve as interim athletics director. 

“We celebrated all of our successes and tackled all of our challenges as a team and as a family, and that’s what made it all so fun and rewarding,” Morris says. “The athletics department will move ahead seamlessly under the outstanding leadership of Alexis Mastronardi as interim athletics director. In the months and years ahead, I look forward to attending as many Jumbo games as I can as one of Tufts’ biggest fans.”