RICHMOND, Ky. – Fans and media members can meet new Eastern Kentucky University Director of Athletics Matt Roan at a 10 a.m. reception on Wednesday at the EKU Center for the Arts.
 
Roan was chosen as director of athletics on Jan. 7.  He returns to EKU after three-plus years as director of athletics at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.  Roan will assume the duties from EKU Interim Director of Athletics Mark Sandy in early February. 
 
Roan was a deputy director of athletics at EKU in 2015 and 2016, after serving as a special assistant to the president and working with the counsel's office for two years.  He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky School of Law after a standout football career at Southern Utah University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a political science degree.
 
Nicholls State athletics garnered accolades and showed significant success under Roan's leadership.  Student-athletes at Nicholls State set school records for grade-point-average the last three academic years.  Both the men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the football and softball teams either won conference championships or reached the post season under Roan's leadership, with the women's team making it to the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history in 2018, and the football team hosting playoff games three years in a row.
 
Roan's hire aligns with several of EKU's core values, including being a school of opportunity and a destination institution for first-time students, many of which come from Appalachia.  Roan is originally from southwest Virginia and along with his sister, was the first from his family to attend college.