Staff Directory
Zack Lassiter
- Title:
- Vice President for Athletics
- Email:
- Phone:
- 325-674-2873
ACCOLADES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Zack Lassiter was named ACU’s vice president for athletics on Nov. 9, 2021.
ACU (2021-Present)
Zack Lassiter is in his fifth academic year as ACU’s vice president for athletics in 2025-26. He signed a five-year contract extension in March 2026.
Lassiter’s vision for ACU Athletics is to create an environment where student-athletes can grow spiritually, achieve academic excellence, and compete for championships. During his tenure, the department has experienced increased success both competitively and academically, while also taking an intentional approach to spiritual development.
Athletics Success
The Wildcats have won six team conference championships – football in 2024 and 2025, baseball in 2025 (regular season), men’s tennis in 2022 and 2025, and men’s golf in 2022 – under Lassiter’s leadership. ACU also had runner-up finishes in women’s track & field (2022), men’s basketball (2022), baseball (2022 and 2025 tournaments, and 2024 regular season), football (2022), and women’s golf (2024 and 2025).
The ACU football team earned the right to host first round games in the FCS Playoffs in 2024 and 2025. The Wildcats defeated Northern Arizona 24-0 in 2024, and Lamar 38-20 in 2025, marking the program's first time to win postseason games in consecutive seasons since 2007-09 in its Division II era. The back-to-back United Athletic Conference titles are the first successive championships since 1950-53 when the Wildcats won the Texas Conference four times in a row.
The Wildcats boast 12 victories over Power 4 baseball teams in Lassiter’s tenure, including the program’s first home win over a ranked opponent. Those wins go along with one Power 4 win each for the men’s basketball, men’s tennis, softball, and volleyball programs. In all, ACU has claimed 16 victories over Power 4 teams since 2022. Other highlights include the women’s basketball team reaching the Super 16 of the WNIT in 2025, its deepest postseason run in nearly 30 years, and women’s golfer Ryann Honea qualifying for the NCAA Regional round in 2024 and 2025.
ACU has earned five conference Coach of the Year awards with football’s Keith Patterson and men’s tennis’ Juan Nunez each winning twice. Men’s golf head coach Tom Shaw was named the WAC Coach of the Year in 2022. Under Lassiter’s leadership, four student-athletes have been recognized as WAC Player of the Year, and three others have earned WAC Rookie of the Year honors.
In May 2022, Lassiter announced the addition of a women's golf program. The Wildcats played their first full season in the 2023-24 academic year and saw nearly instant success. ACU finished in first or second place in eight of its eleven tournaments that season. The Wildcats were runner-up at the WAC Women's Golf Championship, and Honea earned the individual championship.
Academic Success
The Wildcats have also excelled in the classroom, as ACU student-athletes have set a new department record GPA of 3.41 in the fall 2024 semester. The department’s GPA has increased every academic year since 2018–19, including two consecutive years—2023–24 and 2024–25—with a GPA of 3.37. ACU student-athletes also earned a 3.37 GPA in the fall 2025 semester.
For the 2024-25 academic year, 187 student-athletes earned Academic All-WAC honors by attaining at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and playing in at least 50% of their team’s games. ACU had a record 52 student-athletes named Academic All-WAC in the fall of 2025.
Faith Formation
Remaining true to the ACU Mission, Lassiter implemented the ACU Advantage program, which provides Christian leadership development for head coaches, positioning them to be the spiritual leaders of their programs. On departmental surveys, ACU Advantage has consistently received praise from head coaches as being beneficial for their own walk with Christ and helping them steward their student-athletes and programs.
Revenue Generation
Lassiter has used his expertise in revenue generation to make an immediate impact at ACU. Since his arrival, annual fundraising has increased by 360%, annual corporate sponsorship revenue has increased by 105% and annual ticket sales have increased by 97%.
In addition, $75 million in capital projects have been completed. Most notably, Lassiter led a one-year campaign to support the renovation of ACU’s baseball stadium, now named Bullock Brothers Ballpark at Crutcher Scott Field. That campaign attracted more than $16 million of philanthropic gifts for the project, which was completed for the 2025 season. Lassiter opened the renovated Moody Coliseum, a $50 million project, and has also led facility improvements for football, tennis, and softball during his ACU tenure.
ACU Athletics has continually broken records during ACU Gives, the university’s annual donation campaign. In 2024, more than $370,000 was raised for ACU Athletics. That amount increased by 28% in 2025 to a record $475,000.
Lassiter has navigated ACU through the constantly changing landscape of collegiate athletics by reinventing ACU’s Name, Image and Likeness fundraising initiative to the Wildcat Annual Fund. Every dollar donated goes to student-athletes through the scholarship enhancement fund and faith development fund.
Lassiter has established strategic partnerships with Teamworks, and Under Armour, and expanded the corporate relationship with First Financial Bank.
National & Regional Leadership
In 2024, Lassiter was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. This 12-person group is responsible for selecting, seeding and placing the 68 teams for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and then serves as administrators at sites throughout the tournament. This appointment runs through 2029.
Lassiter also is a member of the FCS Football Regional Advisory Committee.
Prior to ACU
Prior to ACU, Lassiter oversaw the external units at Oregon State, while serving as the sports supervisor for men’s basketball and golf. During his tenure at OSU, he improved ties between academic and athletics departments in Corvallis, as well as the local business community. These partnerships led to the nation’s first in-house advertising and creative agency in intercollegiate sports. That increased awareness resulted in OSU being one of only two Division I programs to sell out a home game in football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball during the 2016-17 season.
The Beavers saw unmatched success during Lassiter’s tenure as the deputy AD for external relations. The men’s basketball program made two NCAA appearances, including its first Pac-12 Championship and a run to the Elite Eight in 2021. The women’s basketball team made five NCAA appearances, including a Final Four in 2016 and three additional appearances in the Sweet 16. The baseball team made a pair of trips to the College World Series and won the 2018 national championship.
Lassiter served OSU following three years on the executive team at the University of Central Florida. Under his leadership, ticket sales increased by 25 percent and UCF was recognized as the top athletics department in the nation for customer service.
From 2005-2012, Lassiter held several positions at Utah. He was a part of the team that helped the institution transition from the Mountain West to the Pac-12. He served the Utes as the associate athletics director for revenue generation when he left for UCF.
Lassiter’s professional career began as an assistant ticket manager at North Carolina from 2001-2003. He held a similar role at LSU for two years.
Along the way, Lassiter has served on administrative teams for football programs that have won three BCS bowl games - the 2004 national championship (LSU), the 2009 Sugar Bowl (Utah) and the 2014 Fiesta Bowl (UCF).
Lassiter earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Willamette University (1998) and a master's degree in sport administration from the University of North Carolina (2002).
He and his wife, Rachel, have two sons, Luke and Logan.
- Won six team WAC / UAC Championships
- Five head coaches named WAC / UAC Coach of the Year
- Record-setting department GPA
- Created ACU Advantage program for spiritual and leadership development
- Exponential increase in fundraising and revenue generation
- Realized $75 million in completed facility improvements
- Created a robust NIL and revenue share program for student-athletes
- Appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee
Zack Lassiter was named ACU’s vice president for athletics on Nov. 9, 2021.
ACU (2021-Present)
Zack Lassiter is in his fifth academic year as ACU’s vice president for athletics in 2025-26. He signed a five-year contract extension in March 2026.
Lassiter’s vision for ACU Athletics is to create an environment where student-athletes can grow spiritually, achieve academic excellence, and compete for championships. During his tenure, the department has experienced increased success both competitively and academically, while also taking an intentional approach to spiritual development.
Athletics Success
The Wildcats have won six team conference championships – football in 2024 and 2025, baseball in 2025 (regular season), men’s tennis in 2022 and 2025, and men’s golf in 2022 – under Lassiter’s leadership. ACU also had runner-up finishes in women’s track & field (2022), men’s basketball (2022), baseball (2022 and 2025 tournaments, and 2024 regular season), football (2022), and women’s golf (2024 and 2025).
The ACU football team earned the right to host first round games in the FCS Playoffs in 2024 and 2025. The Wildcats defeated Northern Arizona 24-0 in 2024, and Lamar 38-20 in 2025, marking the program's first time to win postseason games in consecutive seasons since 2007-09 in its Division II era. The back-to-back United Athletic Conference titles are the first successive championships since 1950-53 when the Wildcats won the Texas Conference four times in a row.
The Wildcats boast 12 victories over Power 4 baseball teams in Lassiter’s tenure, including the program’s first home win over a ranked opponent. Those wins go along with one Power 4 win each for the men’s basketball, men’s tennis, softball, and volleyball programs. In all, ACU has claimed 16 victories over Power 4 teams since 2022. Other highlights include the women’s basketball team reaching the Super 16 of the WNIT in 2025, its deepest postseason run in nearly 30 years, and women’s golfer Ryann Honea qualifying for the NCAA Regional round in 2024 and 2025.
ACU has earned five conference Coach of the Year awards with football’s Keith Patterson and men’s tennis’ Juan Nunez each winning twice. Men’s golf head coach Tom Shaw was named the WAC Coach of the Year in 2022. Under Lassiter’s leadership, four student-athletes have been recognized as WAC Player of the Year, and three others have earned WAC Rookie of the Year honors.
In May 2022, Lassiter announced the addition of a women's golf program. The Wildcats played their first full season in the 2023-24 academic year and saw nearly instant success. ACU finished in first or second place in eight of its eleven tournaments that season. The Wildcats were runner-up at the WAC Women's Golf Championship, and Honea earned the individual championship.
Academic Success
The Wildcats have also excelled in the classroom, as ACU student-athletes have set a new department record GPA of 3.41 in the fall 2024 semester. The department’s GPA has increased every academic year since 2018–19, including two consecutive years—2023–24 and 2024–25—with a GPA of 3.37. ACU student-athletes also earned a 3.37 GPA in the fall 2025 semester.
For the 2024-25 academic year, 187 student-athletes earned Academic All-WAC honors by attaining at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and playing in at least 50% of their team’s games. ACU had a record 52 student-athletes named Academic All-WAC in the fall of 2025.
Faith Formation
Remaining true to the ACU Mission, Lassiter implemented the ACU Advantage program, which provides Christian leadership development for head coaches, positioning them to be the spiritual leaders of their programs. On departmental surveys, ACU Advantage has consistently received praise from head coaches as being beneficial for their own walk with Christ and helping them steward their student-athletes and programs.
Revenue Generation
Lassiter has used his expertise in revenue generation to make an immediate impact at ACU. Since his arrival, annual fundraising has increased by 360%, annual corporate sponsorship revenue has increased by 105% and annual ticket sales have increased by 97%.
In addition, $75 million in capital projects have been completed. Most notably, Lassiter led a one-year campaign to support the renovation of ACU’s baseball stadium, now named Bullock Brothers Ballpark at Crutcher Scott Field. That campaign attracted more than $16 million of philanthropic gifts for the project, which was completed for the 2025 season. Lassiter opened the renovated Moody Coliseum, a $50 million project, and has also led facility improvements for football, tennis, and softball during his ACU tenure.
ACU Athletics has continually broken records during ACU Gives, the university’s annual donation campaign. In 2024, more than $370,000 was raised for ACU Athletics. That amount increased by 28% in 2025 to a record $475,000.
Lassiter has navigated ACU through the constantly changing landscape of collegiate athletics by reinventing ACU’s Name, Image and Likeness fundraising initiative to the Wildcat Annual Fund. Every dollar donated goes to student-athletes through the scholarship enhancement fund and faith development fund.
Lassiter has established strategic partnerships with Teamworks, and Under Armour, and expanded the corporate relationship with First Financial Bank.
National & Regional Leadership
In 2024, Lassiter was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. This 12-person group is responsible for selecting, seeding and placing the 68 teams for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and then serves as administrators at sites throughout the tournament. This appointment runs through 2029.
Lassiter also is a member of the FCS Football Regional Advisory Committee.
Prior to ACU
Prior to ACU, Lassiter oversaw the external units at Oregon State, while serving as the sports supervisor for men’s basketball and golf. During his tenure at OSU, he improved ties between academic and athletics departments in Corvallis, as well as the local business community. These partnerships led to the nation’s first in-house advertising and creative agency in intercollegiate sports. That increased awareness resulted in OSU being one of only two Division I programs to sell out a home game in football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball during the 2016-17 season.
The Beavers saw unmatched success during Lassiter’s tenure as the deputy AD for external relations. The men’s basketball program made two NCAA appearances, including its first Pac-12 Championship and a run to the Elite Eight in 2021. The women’s basketball team made five NCAA appearances, including a Final Four in 2016 and three additional appearances in the Sweet 16. The baseball team made a pair of trips to the College World Series and won the 2018 national championship.
Lassiter served OSU following three years on the executive team at the University of Central Florida. Under his leadership, ticket sales increased by 25 percent and UCF was recognized as the top athletics department in the nation for customer service.
From 2005-2012, Lassiter held several positions at Utah. He was a part of the team that helped the institution transition from the Mountain West to the Pac-12. He served the Utes as the associate athletics director for revenue generation when he left for UCF.
Lassiter’s professional career began as an assistant ticket manager at North Carolina from 2001-2003. He held a similar role at LSU for two years.
Along the way, Lassiter has served on administrative teams for football programs that have won three BCS bowl games - the 2004 national championship (LSU), the 2009 Sugar Bowl (Utah) and the 2014 Fiesta Bowl (UCF).
Lassiter earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Willamette University (1998) and a master's degree in sport administration from the University of North Carolina (2002).
He and his wife, Rachel, have two sons, Luke and Logan.
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