FIU Athletics Paw'dcast Episode 16 | 2024 Year in Review with Corey Brooks and Athletics Director Scott Carr
Paws Up Podcast - Episode 80 Feat. Scott Carr
Scott Carr was named Florida International University’s athletic director on Dec. 1, 2021. During his tenure, FIU Athletics has seen great success on and off the competition surfaces. Shortly after being hired, Carr began the process to develop a strategic plan, “Relentless Pursuit,” announced publicly in Spring 2023 that set the vision for the department “To be distinguished for our relentless pursuit of excellence and student-athlete achievement.” These six Strategic Goals were set to guide the department: Student-Athlete Well-Being and Performance, Academic Success and Student-Athlete Development, Revenue Generation and Fiscal Responsibility, Best-In-Class Facilities, Culture of Competitive Excellence, and Brand Advancement and Fan Engagement.
With a focus on revenue generation and brand enhancement, Carr revamped the external department which has led to records in revenue generation and brand value for the department. In Summer 2022, FIU Athletics launched the Panther Club, the primary fundraising arm for the department. This led to record fundraising numbers, including the largest one-time philanthropic gift in the history of FIU Athletics, a combined $2M from four donors. Football season ticket sales have more than doubled over Carr’s first three years, suites sold out, and attendance has increased from the student body and general fanbase. Increasing these revenue streams have become a top priority as the department fully embraces the need to generate additional dollars for Name Image and Likeness opportunities for the student-athletes.
Sponsorship revenue is at an all-time high for the department overall and includes the extension of the naming rights for the Ocean Bank Convocation Center that quadrupled the previous financial agreement with Ocean Bank.
On August 6, 2024, FIU Athletics announced a groundbreaking partnership with international superstar and entrepreneur Armando Christian Pérez, better known as Pitbull. The 10-year agreement rebrands FIU Stadium as Pitbull Stadium, making it the world's first-ever athletics venue with an artist possessing the naming rights. The partnership is valued at $1.2M annually but also provides FIU Athletics with unprecedented brand value. In fact, FIU Athletics received nearly $90M in brand value and 7.8 Billion social media impressions in the first 14 days after the announcement.
FIU Athletics has also enhanced their brand nationally through creative initiatives such as “Vice” themed uniforms and events and being the only FBS Football Team to have a different field design for every home game. The content creation team and live video department have been greatly enhanced during Carr’s tenure which has led to greater brand growth and relevancy for the department and institution, including producing the most live broadcasts of any CUSA member in 2023-24.
Academics has been a huge point of emphasis for Carr with departmental records in overall GPA (3.44 GPA in 2023-24) and APR (993 APR in 2022-23).
Facility construction and renovation have been a high priority for Carr during his time at FIU. Those projects include the newly constructed PayCargo Tennis Complex and weight room in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. Project renovations include the hydrotherapy rooms at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and the Landon Field House and dugouts at the Softball Stadium. Locker Room enhancements include Football, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Indoor Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Women’s Tennis, Men’s Track, and Women’s Track.
FIU Athletics has achieved great competitive success during Carr’s tenure as well, including 8 Conference Championships. FIU Athletics had the 4th highest finish in school history in the Director’s Cup in 2023 and has placed multiple teams and individuals in the NCAA postseason each year.
Prior To FIU
Carr boasts 28-years of experience in intercollegiate athletics and arrived at FIU following a stint at the University of Central Florida (2016-2021), where he served as deputy and interim athletic director.
Prior to arriving at UCF, Carr served as senior associate athletic director for external affairs at Auburn University (2009-2016). He also held positions at the University of Southern Mississippi (2001-2009) and the FedEx Orange Bowl (1997-2001).
Carr was a member of the UCF Athletics staff since 2016. Carr joined the Knights as executive associate athletics director/CMO in February of 2016 and was promoted to deputy athletics director for brand activation in April 2018. In January 2021, Carr was named interim director of athletics.
As deputy athletics director, he had oversight of ticket sales and operations, corporate sales and partnerships, the annual fund, brand advancement, strategic communications and gameday experience. Carr was also very involved in the strategy and implementation of the Knights move from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 Conference in 2021.
Carr was part of UCF’s bowl advance planning team, had sport oversight of the women’s basketball program, served as the sport administrator for the men’s basketball program for the 2020-21 season and previously was sport administrator for the men's soccer, cross country and track and field programs.
He also supervised the spirit programs, including the 2020 national champion cheerleading team.
Carr oversaw the transfer of management of the UCF Convocation Corporation from the University administration to UCF Athletics. The wholly owned corporation is a $20M annual operations entity that consists of student housing, retail space and Addition Financial Arena. He also served on the executive committee as chair-elect for the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.
During Carr’s tenure in Orlando, UCF increased the amount of premium seating in football, basketball and baseball. The overall ticket and seat-based donation growth during this time also increased significantly. In 2018, UCF sold out season tickets in the football stadium for the first time in program history and repeated the feat in 2019.
Carr was a key factor in UCF becoming a national brand that consistently finished in the top-25 in engagement on all major social media platforms. UCF was routinely recognized nationally for its creative video content and bold cutting-edge style of storytelling.
Prior to the 2020 winter season, UCF expanded its video capabilities by increasing the number of video control rooms to produce live events for ESPN per the renegotiated television contract between the AAC and ESPN.
Prior to his tenure at UCF, Carr served as senior associate athletic director for external affairs at Auburn University.
At Auburn, Carr was responsible for the external affairs of the athletics department. He had direct oversight of the marketing and promotions department, including ticket sales, ticket office, event management and community relations. He was responsible for the game-day experience at all sporting events and dealt with all athletics department contracts including but not limited to ISP, Under Armour, and Sodexho (concessions).
For several years, Carr was responsible for the premium seating and the annual donations associated with tickets and parking. Carr also oversaw the implementation of the SEC Network into Auburn’s video department, War Eagle Productions. He joined the Auburn staff in August 2009.
Prior to Auburn, Carr served in various capacities at Southern Mississippi for eight years. The final position he held in Hattiesburg was deputy director of athletics, external affairs (2006-2009), where he served as the number two executive of the department.
Prior to Southern Miss, Carr worked in multiple, ascending roles with the FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
Carr is a native of Gainesville, Florida, and earned his undergraduate degree in business management from the University of Florida in 1995. He earned his master’s degree in sports management from Florida in 1997.
Carr is married to the former Pam Snowe. The couple has two daughters, Ashton and Katie, and one granddaughter, Kylie.
