{"id":448063,"date":"2026-08-30T13:38:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448063\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:38:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:38:45","slug":"fresno-state-extends-ad-garrett-klassys-contract-through-2031","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448063\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno State extends AD Garrett Klassy\u2019s contract through 2031"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1179\" height=\"487\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8025-e1766788048493.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"three people at a news conference\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"attach_desc\">Fresno State Athletic Director Garrett Klassy, Diamond Learning Center Founder and President Jami De La Cerda and Fresno State Head Football Coach Matt Entz pose for photos at a July 2025 press conference announcing a matching $1 million donation campaign. Photo by Ben Hensley<\/p>\n<p>Fresno State has extended Director of Athletics Garrett Klassy\u2019s contract through June 30, 2031, as the university prepares for a new era of Bulldog Athletics.<\/p>\n<p>Klassy, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/stay-klassy-fresno-fresno-state-names-new-athletic-director\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">named athletic director in June 2024<\/a>, has overseen the department\u2019s transition to the Pac-12 Conference, which became effective July 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is home for us,\u201d Klassy said. \u201cMy family loves Fresno and the Valley, and I am incredibly fortunate to work every day alongside a transformational leader and visionary president in Sa\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brought media rights, sponsorships<\/p>\n<p>During Klassy\u2019s tenure, Fresno State created <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/fresno-state-changes-its-sports-marketing-model-after-decades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bulldog Sports Enterprises<\/a>, an in-house multimedia rights and corporate partnerships operation aimed at expanding revenue opportunities, local business partnerships and name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes.<\/p>\n<p>The department also secured its largest corporate partnership with The <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/fresno-state-wonderful-company-athletics-sponsorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Wonderful Company<\/a>, featuring jersey patch branding, football field branding and other assets.<\/p>\n<p>Fresno State also <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/major-gifts-fuel-bulldog-foundations-push-toward-pac-12-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">reported record fundraising during Klassy\u2019s tenure<\/a>, along with department-record academic performance among student-athletes.<\/p>\n<p>On-field product, entertainment<\/p>\n<p>On the field, the Bulldogs won the Mountain West Baseball Championship and an NCAA women\u2019s discus national championship. Klassy also made five head coaching hires, including football coach Matt Entz.<\/p>\n<p>Football attendance averaged more than 40,000 fans per game, while Valley Children\u2019s Stadium hosted its first concert, featuring global pop star Shakira.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFresno State Athletics belongs to the Valley,\u201d Klassy said. \u201cOur responsibility is to bring people together, create experiences that make our community proud and make sure people throughout this region feel connected to the Bulldogs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Klassy will oversee Fresno State\u2019s transition into the Pac-12 while focusing on athletics facilities, revenue, student-athlete experiences and competitive success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are just getting started,\u201d Klassy said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno State Athletic Director Garrett Klassy, Diamond Learning Center Founder and President Jami De La Cerda and Fresno&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,154195,97346,177420],"class_list":["post-448063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-state-athletics","tag-garrett-klassy","tag-wonderful"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}