Thomas H. McClelland II (born 1982) is the athletic director at Rice University. He was previously the deputy athletic director for external affairs at Vanderbilt University.
Personal life
McClelland was born in Eunice, Louisiana and raised in Basile, Louisiana, graduating from Basile High School. After high school, McClelland attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana where he was a walk-on on the Demons football team as a long snapper and the track and field team as a javelin thrower, before earning a scholarship his senior season. McClelland graduated from Northwestern State with a bachelor's degree in 2004 and completed his master's degree in sports administration in 2005.
McClelland met his wife, Jessica, at the NSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry and they were married in December 2002. They have two sons, Lawson and Grayson.
He is also a 2012 graduate of the Executive Program of the Sports Management Institute and attended instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.
In 2021, McClelland and his wife established the Tommy and Jessica McClelland Family Scholarship, investing the initial $10,000 toward the endowment that will benefit Northwestern State student-athletes.
McClelland's son, Lawson, was diagnosed with autism as a child. Louisiana Tech alumnus and member of Brooks & Dunn, Kix Brooks, advised McClelland to bring his son to Monroe Carell, Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, where Brooks was the advisory board chair. After spending time there and at Vanderbilt's Kennedy Center, which specializes in treatment and research for autism spectrum disorders, McClelland considered moving closer to the hospital in Nashville before being contacted by Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee, eventually resulting in McClelland's hire at Vanderbilt.
Career
McClelland began his athletic administration career at his alma mater, Northwestern State. After completing his undergraduate degree in 2004, he served as an intern for then-NSU athletic director Greg Burke while pursuing his master's degree.
After completing his master's degree, McClelland became the first Southland Conference championships intern before becoming coordinator of athletic events, sales, and marketing at McNeese State University in 2006.
McNeese State
In 2007, then-McNeese State athletic director Sonny Watkins announced his retirement and McClelland was named interim AD. McClelland was promoted to athletic director in March 2008. At the time he was hired at McNeese, McClelland was the youngest athletic director in all of NCAA Division I at only 26-years old.
While serving as athletic director at McNeese State, McClelland made a national name for himself and his work received praise from athletic administrators all over the country. McClelland and his McNeese staff raised more than $3 million in private donations and he was instrumental in increasing corporate sponsorships to nearly $1 million annually while securing new clients and multi-year sponsorships. During his time at McNeese, he led an improvement in team Academic Progress Rate (APR) that exceeded NCAA targets, set single game and season attendance records in several men's and women's programs, directed $11 million in facility construction and improvements. McNeese State athletic programs also won 11 conference championships under his leadership.
Louisiana Tech
In July 2013, McClelland was hired as athletic director at Louisiana Tech University. He replaced former athletic director Bruce Van De Velde, who stepped down earlier in the month. He took over as Louisiana Tech was transitioning conference affiliation from the WAC to Conference USA. During his time at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs athletic programs experienced one of its most impressive runs since the 1970s. Over that time, the Bulldogs had postseason appearances in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, golf, and track and field.