Managing Director, College Division
Jeff Schemmel is Managing Director of the College Division of JMI Sports, providing athletics consulting and services to university athletic departments and intercollegiate conferences.
As Managing Director, Schemmel directs strategic planning, new business development, and intercollegiate industry relations while managing a team of reputable advisors to execute services. In this position, Schemmel is responsible for identifying, securing and managing new business for the College Division. In serving the company’s clients, he develops effective resolutions for the issues facing collegiate athletic departments and conferences. Areas of service include, sports facility development, NCAA infraction representation and compliance review, coach and administrator searches, NCAA reclassification and certification, Title IX and gender equity evaluation, and championship event planning and execution.
Schemmel has over 22 years of intercollegiate athletics management experience. A former Athletic Director who has served in key leadership positions within the NCAA, the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA, and at schools in the Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 conferences, he has unparalleled background and expertise. Further, his expansive professional network gives JMI Sports clients access to the most respected names in college sports today.
Prior to joining JMI Sports, Schemmel was director of athletics at San Diego State University. During his tenure, he negotiated the school’s first comprehensive apparel/equipment contract with Nike and the first marketing/media contract with Learfield Sports, and was responsible for hiring and retaining many of the school’s successful coaches and administrators. In addition, he served as Chair of the NCAA Division I Championship and Sports Management Cabinet.
In 2004, Schemmel was the associate commissioner for governance and legal affairs at Conference USA, where he was involved in the negotiation of the league’s broadcast rights contracts with ESPN and CST, and was a member of the NCAA Division I Management Council. In 2003, Schemmel was hired by Arizona State University as senior vice president and executive director of development. During his time there, more than two hundred million dollars was raised for the university.
Beginning in 1991, and over his 13 years at the University of Minnesota, Schemmel served as associate athletic director/director of compliance, before being promoted to senior associate athletic director chief operating officer. He was responsible for all day-to-day operations, and directed all NCAA and Big Ten Conference Championships hosted by the university. He also served as executive director of the Twin Cities Organizing Committee for the 2001 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.
Schemmel holds a Juris Doctor degree from Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas and earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Kansas State University, where he was an NCAA champion in track and field. He began his athletics administration career in 1988 at his alma mater, serving as Associate Athletic Director for Development and Compliance. Prior to that he practiced law for ten years in Topeka, Kansas, with specialty in corporate and sports law.
Schemmel and his wife Lori have two sons who are also involved in college athletics; Justin is assistant director of compliance at the University of Minnesota and Jon is the director of development at the University of South Dakota.