Pittsburgh deputy AD Christian Spears named AD at Marshall

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Pittsburgh deputy athletic director and chief operating officer Christian Spears has been hired as athletic director at Marshall. Spears will guide Marshall’s pending transition from Conference USA to the Sun Belt. Spears will start on March 14 and take over from interim athletic Jeff O’Malley, who has been in place since Mike Hamrick stepped down last July to take a new role within the university. Prior to joining Pittsburgh in 2017, Spears spent three years as deputy athletic director at Eastern Michigan and five in the same role at Northern Illinois. He had other assistant athletic director stints at Harvard and Southern Illinois.