Lucas Vollmer, Assistant Sports Editor | Iowa State Daily

AMES — President David Cook named Jared Benko the new athletic director at Iowa State University. Benko will start Oct. 30.

“Athletics is vital to the strength of our university,” Cook said in a press release by Iowa State Athletics. “Jared Benko brings the leadership experience and strategic vision to build on our success, support our student-athletes as students first and ensure Iowa State is well positioned for the future of college athletics.”

Benko will take over for Jamie Pollard, who is retiring at the end of October. Benko will be responsible for the operation of Iowa State’s 18 Division I programs and establish a strategic vision.

“Iowa State has a strong athletics foundation and I’m excited to serve as the next director of athletics,” Benko said in the press release. “Iowa State has competitive momentum, strong fan support and outstanding facilities. For me, this is an opportunity to build on that success while bringing a problem-solving mindset to a period of significant change in college athletics.”

He will also serve as an adviser to the president and ambassador for Cyclone Athletics. That extends across the university, the Big 12 Conference and the state of Iowa.

Benko previously worked at Auburn as the executive deputy athletic director. He was responsible for business operations, NIL, revenue sharing, revenue generation and financial strategy, among numerous other responsibilities.

His department oversaw the day-to-day operations of Auburn’s $228 million athletics program.

Benko also chaired the SEC’s Lead Advisors Committee, which helped lead the conference in revenue sharing and NIL.

“The passion surrounding Cyclone Athletics and Iowa State University is obvious, and the department has shown that it can compete nationally while operating with discipline and creativity,” Benko said in the press release. “My approach is straightforward – be a great teammate, set clear expectations, communicate, listen, make decisions and hold myself and others accountable.”

Before working at Auburn, Benko was the athletic director at Georgia Southern for four and a half years. During his tenure, he set four consecutive fundraising records totaling over $40.95 million. He also renovated all the team’s major facilities.

Prior to joining Georgia Southern, Benko took on progressive leadership roles for over a decade in the SEC at schools like Georgia, Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State.

Iowa State will hold a press conference introducing Benko as the new athletic director Monday. It is not open to the public, but it will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and Cyclones.com.