LITTLE ROCK — A picture frame rested on a greeting table outside the Hames Room inside the Convocation Center containing a portrait of Terry Mohajir, who in 1992 was a strong safety for Arkansas State with a square jaw and jet black hair.
Next to it was another frame with another image of Mohajir, only with silver hair, a softer jaw line and clad in a white dress shirt and red tie.
Two decades after he arrived as a transfer from Butler County (Kan.) Community College, Mohajir, 42, returned Wednesday to take over as the school’s athletic director after almost two years as an associate athletic at the University of Kansas.
“I’m actually right back where I started my career,” Mohajir said, holding back tears. “I’m so excited to be back.”
Six weeks after Dean Lee was reassigned to ASU’s fund- raising arm, school officials said they found a hire with a deep background in fundraising, facility upgrades and a depth of experience ranging from modest mid-majors to a elite BCS programs.
“This guy gets it,” ASU System President Charles Welch said. “He gets what it takes at a high-level program and what it takes at an emerging program.”
Mohajir, who has a threeyear contract worth the statemaximum $139,671 annually, took the job after a 16-month stint at Kansas, where he was the school’s chief marketing officer and in charge of promotions, ticket sales, media rights and heading up the Jayhawks’ fundraising efforts.
He oversaw the Williams Education Fund, which is Kansas’ chief conduit for donor money, and produced roughly $22 million in fiscal 2012, according to a copy of his resume obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Doing so meant expanding Kansas’ donor base, which stood at roughly 5,200 people, to generate an $4 million increase in funds and “cultivating” 780 new donors, according to his resume.
Mohajir arrived after a scandal in his wing of Kansas’ athletic department led to topranking employees being implicated in a federal investigation for fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million worth of football and basketball tickets and reselling them illegally through ticket brokers.
“The fact that he was the man Kansas brought in to clean up some of the problems they had speaks volumes,” Welch said.
Mohajir’s stop before Kansas also played a critical role in his hiring.
From 2004 until May 2011, Mohajir was in charge of fundraising at Florida Atlantic University, a Sun Belt Conference member whose entrance into Division I football included 11 seasons with former Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger as head coach.
Mohajir worked alongside Schnellenberger, who retired after last season with a 58-74 record, during a $70 million fundraising effort to build a 30,000-seat on-campus football stadium that opened in October 2011.
His resume touts the fact he brought in “150-plus” individuals and corporations as donors, fleshed out a priority seating program based on giving, and helped generate an eight-fold increase in giving to Florida Atlantic’s upper-tier booster group called the “Directors Club.”
Before Florida Atlantic, he had a seven-year tenure handling fundraising at the Missouri-Kansas City, and spent his first year after graduating from Kansas with a masters degree in athletics administration working in promotions and corporate tickets sales for Jayhawks football.
“Terry is unusual in that he has experience at every level of [college] athletics,” ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson said. “He’s been at medium-size schools that struggle with budgets. He’s been at mid-major schools and Big 12 schools. He has that unique package.”
His ties to Jonesboro are clear.
Mohajir, an native of Overland Park, Kan., was recruited by Larry Lacewell but played the 1990 and 1991 seasons under Al Kincaid. With a fifth year of eligibility remaining, he served as an assistant in recruiting for Ray Perkins along with an internship with former athletic director Charles Thornton.
In 1993, he graduated with a degree in sports management and went to Kansas for three seasons on Coach Glenn Mason’s staff before pursuing his master’s degree full time.
ASU wants Mohajir’s skills at raising money to pay dividends, especially after announcing plans for a $22 million football operations center and indoor practice facility at the north end of recently renamed Liberty Bank Stadium — a change that came after a $5 million donation.
“It’s going to be phenomenal,” Mohajir said. “It’s going to be as big-time as any place in the country.”
Paying the bills does not faze him.
“Raising money in this climate is a challenge, but it’s got to happen,” Mohajir said.
Mohajir also dismissed the notion raising money at ASU could prove more difficult than at FAU — which is located in the nation’s fifth-largest metropolitan area — or at a BCS-level school such as Kansas with a marquee program such as men’s basketball.
“South Florida is a difficult place to build a program,” Mohajir said, noting numerous instate loyalties. “I’m not afraid to talk to anybody. Our biggest supporters down there were Seminoles, Gators, Hurricanes, Bulls, Scarlet Knights.”
Over his first 90 days on the job, Mohajir said he will spend his mornings conducting a full-scale internal audit of the department, focusing partially on academic compliance and academic progress. In the afternoon, he’ll work on “external relations,” also known as fundraising.
There is little doubt he’s happy to be back.
“I can’t hide it,” Mohajir said. “I’m an emotional guy, and our coaches will learn that about me. Just can’t hide it.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/20/2012