ONE OF ONE
12/9/2025 9:00:00 AM | General
McNamee says the Baylor AD position is ‘absolutely a dream come true’
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – When Doug McNamee left Baylor Athletics 7 ½ years ago to become president of the Waco-based Magnolia franchise, his thought at the time was "that it might be the end in terms of that journey and that path."
"And the truth of the matter is that it was just the start," said the 45-year-old McNamee, who was officially introduced on Monday as Baylor's Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, a role that he calls an "absolute one-of-one job opportunity."
Baylor University President Dr. Linda Livingstone said McNamee "brought all the things to the table that we were looking for" in a search that took 2 ½ weeks to find the school's 19th all-time athletics director.
"He certainly has a background in athletics," Livingstone said of McNamee, who started as a student manager with the Baylor men's basketball program in 1999 as a freshman from Lake Jackson, Texas, and left in June 2018 as Senior Associate AD for External Relations.
"Doug knows and loves Baylor; he's deeply committed to Baylor. He brings an entrepreneurial spirit. He has done media deals, he's done corporate partnerships, all kinds of brand building. With what we need and the way college athletics is going, we felt like he brought the perfect combination of skills to the table."
This was truly a homecoming for McNamee, who noted when he left seven years ago that "Baylor is in the fabric of who I am."
A third-generation Baylor graduate, Doug's grandfather, the late L.V. McNamee, was the dean of Baylor's School of Education in the 1970s and '80s; and his father, Gary McNamee, was a Baylor graduate who sparked his son's interest in everything green and gold.
Looking out at the crowd gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, Doug said he was overwhelmed by the number of Baylor students that had come to watch Monday's introduction.
"I'm so overwhelmed and grateful for the number of students that were just in that event before, because I was one of them," he said at the ensuing press conference. "I remember tailgating at Floyd Casey Stadium when tailgating wasn't cool. And I saw some hard times when I was a student in undergrad.
"Started to see some better times in grad school. My second year of grad school, I got to the College World Series. The year before that, men's tennis won a national championship. You started to feel the momentum in the athletic department change."
To this day, Doug calls his summer internship working in the Houston Astros' ticket resolution window in 2003 "the most important job of my career."
As the crowd laughed, Doug quickly responded, "I mean that sincerely, because it gave me the chance to sit face to face with the fans and listen and learn from them about things that they might not be happy with. And I learned at that point the difference between anger and apathy and how you can flip someone into your favor if they're telling you've they got a concern. That was an incredible transformational opportunity for me."
Returning to Baylor to work on a master's in sport management, he worked with student-athlete services and the baseball program for two years of grad school. "Without a whole lot of sales experience," Doug got a job with International Sports Properties straight out of college as a marketing assistant and became the general manager three years later when it transitioned to IMG.
"I learned how to work with corporations and understand and deliver (return on investment)," he said.
Hired as the Assistant AD for premium tickets for the Bear Foundation in 2012, Doug rose to the Associate AD level and took over direction of the Bear Foundation three years later, helping the organization fully fund all athletic scholarships for the first time.
After serving in a larger role as Baylor Athletics' Senior Associate AD for External Affairs for a year and a half, Doug left in June 2018 to take the leadership position with Magnolia and then spent the last three-plus years as president of Field & Stream.
"The last seven years were incredibly rewarding," he said, "and I would say informative and important for me to understand what would be necessary to ultimately get this call and blessing to come back seven years later. I joke that this has been a 27-year preparation for this conversation and what's ahead. And it is absolutely a dream come true."
To that point, when Doug got the call from President Livingstone to speak with the selection committee, "I had an hour carved out in my time and was ready to go prep."
"That's when I said, 'You know what, I've had 27 years to prep for this conversation, there's no need to prep,''' he said. Instead, he visited the gravesite of his father and mother in Waco and "just sat with them and just reflected."
"And I'll tell you, that peace and that calm and trust in God's plan – to walk into that conversation with the president and the selection committee – gave me all the trust and confidence I needed. When I walked out of there, I said, 'May God's will be done.' I believe strongly in my vision and what I can do for this university. But if there's somebody better, I have all the trust in the world in the president in her decision, and Baylor is in good hands. So, this has been an overwhelming moment."
While his plate of responsibilities is overflowing, McNamee listed his top three priorities as he starts the new job.
"We all know how important football is, and we know that the transfer portal is around the corner," he said of a two-week period beginning Jan. 2. "I want to be there to help (head football coach Dave Aranda) and get his team ready to go. I know they're looking at things from a different lens in how they approach it, and they're making some hard decisions. We have to do well (in the portal) to have a successful 2026 season."
Secondly, McNamee's message to the Baylor fans is that he's one of them, "we hear them, and we need them."
"We want them to come alongside us," he said. "Whether it's individuals with names on buildings, to a casual Waco fan that just happens to be interested in coming to a game, I want them to know that they're welcome and they're needed within our university and our athletic program. . . . We will work hard to earn their trust and commitment."
In assessing the athletic department staff, McNamee said he wants to make sure that "we have a team that's externally focused and revenue focused in the way that we're set up."
"We're going to continue to serve and take care of our student-athletes in a first-class manner," he said, "but the department is going to be revenue and externally focused to serve our constituencies, and specifically our fans."
Ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work, Doug said Baylor is "a place that has meant the world to me."
"It provided me a chance to meet my wife (Lacy)," said Doug, who also has two daughters, Josie (10) and Maggie (8). "It affirmed my faith. It has given me a calling in life. It has given me so much, so I'm just eager to give back to the university that's done so much for me."
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – When Doug McNamee left Baylor Athletics 7 ½ years ago to become president of the Waco-based Magnolia franchise, his thought at the time was "that it might be the end in terms of that journey and that path."
"And the truth of the matter is that it was just the start," said the 45-year-old McNamee, who was officially introduced on Monday as Baylor's Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, a role that he calls an "absolute one-of-one job opportunity."
Baylor University President Dr. Linda Livingstone said McNamee "brought all the things to the table that we were looking for" in a search that took 2 ½ weeks to find the school's 19th all-time athletics director.
"He certainly has a background in athletics," Livingstone said of McNamee, who started as a student manager with the Baylor men's basketball program in 1999 as a freshman from Lake Jackson, Texas, and left in June 2018 as Senior Associate AD for External Relations.
"Doug knows and loves Baylor; he's deeply committed to Baylor. He brings an entrepreneurial spirit. He has done media deals, he's done corporate partnerships, all kinds of brand building. With what we need and the way college athletics is going, we felt like he brought the perfect combination of skills to the table."
This was truly a homecoming for McNamee, who noted when he left seven years ago that "Baylor is in the fabric of who I am."
A third-generation Baylor graduate, Doug's grandfather, the late L.V. McNamee, was the dean of Baylor's School of Education in the 1970s and '80s; and his father, Gary McNamee, was a Baylor graduate who sparked his son's interest in everything green and gold.
Looking out at the crowd gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, Doug said he was overwhelmed by the number of Baylor students that had come to watch Monday's introduction.
"I'm so overwhelmed and grateful for the number of students that were just in that event before, because I was one of them," he said at the ensuing press conference. "I remember tailgating at Floyd Casey Stadium when tailgating wasn't cool. And I saw some hard times when I was a student in undergrad.
"Started to see some better times in grad school. My second year of grad school, I got to the College World Series. The year before that, men's tennis won a national championship. You started to feel the momentum in the athletic department change."
To this day, Doug calls his summer internship working in the Houston Astros' ticket resolution window in 2003 "the most important job of my career."
As the crowd laughed, Doug quickly responded, "I mean that sincerely, because it gave me the chance to sit face to face with the fans and listen and learn from them about things that they might not be happy with. And I learned at that point the difference between anger and apathy and how you can flip someone into your favor if they're telling you've they got a concern. That was an incredible transformational opportunity for me."
Returning to Baylor to work on a master's in sport management, he worked with student-athlete services and the baseball program for two years of grad school. "Without a whole lot of sales experience," Doug got a job with International Sports Properties straight out of college as a marketing assistant and became the general manager three years later when it transitioned to IMG.
"I learned how to work with corporations and understand and deliver (return on investment)," he said.
Hired as the Assistant AD for premium tickets for the Bear Foundation in 2012, Doug rose to the Associate AD level and took over direction of the Bear Foundation three years later, helping the organization fully fund all athletic scholarships for the first time.
After serving in a larger role as Baylor Athletics' Senior Associate AD for External Affairs for a year and a half, Doug left in June 2018 to take the leadership position with Magnolia and then spent the last three-plus years as president of Field & Stream.
"The last seven years were incredibly rewarding," he said, "and I would say informative and important for me to understand what would be necessary to ultimately get this call and blessing to come back seven years later. I joke that this has been a 27-year preparation for this conversation and what's ahead. And it is absolutely a dream come true."
To that point, when Doug got the call from President Livingstone to speak with the selection committee, "I had an hour carved out in my time and was ready to go prep."
"That's when I said, 'You know what, I've had 27 years to prep for this conversation, there's no need to prep,''' he said. Instead, he visited the gravesite of his father and mother in Waco and "just sat with them and just reflected."
"And I'll tell you, that peace and that calm and trust in God's plan – to walk into that conversation with the president and the selection committee – gave me all the trust and confidence I needed. When I walked out of there, I said, 'May God's will be done.' I believe strongly in my vision and what I can do for this university. But if there's somebody better, I have all the trust in the world in the president in her decision, and Baylor is in good hands. So, this has been an overwhelming moment."
While his plate of responsibilities is overflowing, McNamee listed his top three priorities as he starts the new job.
"We all know how important football is, and we know that the transfer portal is around the corner," he said of a two-week period beginning Jan. 2. "I want to be there to help (head football coach Dave Aranda) and get his team ready to go. I know they're looking at things from a different lens in how they approach it, and they're making some hard decisions. We have to do well (in the portal) to have a successful 2026 season."
Secondly, McNamee's message to the Baylor fans is that he's one of them, "we hear them, and we need them."
"We want them to come alongside us," he said. "Whether it's individuals with names on buildings, to a casual Waco fan that just happens to be interested in coming to a game, I want them to know that they're welcome and they're needed within our university and our athletic program. . . . We will work hard to earn their trust and commitment."
In assessing the athletic department staff, McNamee said he wants to make sure that "we have a team that's externally focused and revenue focused in the way that we're set up."
"We're going to continue to serve and take care of our student-athletes in a first-class manner," he said, "but the department is going to be revenue and externally focused to serve our constituencies, and specifically our fans."
Ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work, Doug said Baylor is "a place that has meant the world to me."
"It provided me a chance to meet my wife (Lacy)," said Doug, who also has two daughters, Josie (10) and Maggie (8). "It affirmed my faith. It has given me a calling in life. It has given me so much, so I'm just eager to give back to the university that's done so much for me."
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