Louisiana Tech Interim Vice President for University Advancement Lisa Bradley and Vice President/Director of Athletics Ryan Ivey announced the addition of Wally Crittenden as the new Senior Associate AD for Championship Resources and Hannah Huenefeld taking over as the new Director of the Louisiana Tech Athletic Club (LTAC).
Crittenden comes to Ruston with 20 years of collegiate experience, most recently serving as the Senior Associate AD of External Affairs at Stephen F. Austin. Meanwhile, Huenefeld has been elevated to Director of LTAC after serving as Assistant Director of Championship Resources.
“I am excited to have both Wally and Hannah within our championship resources unit,” said Ivey. “Both are former student-athletes that have a strong knowledge of the resources needed for supporting championship programs. As we continue to develop and grow our resources, it is critically important that we look at every revenue generation vertical that is available to us, while at the same time, understanding and respecting our many supporters.
“We must find avenues for many people to support Louisiana Tech athletics and diversify our approach. I truly believe with Wally leading our championship resources, and Hannah’s leadership with LTAC, we will have opportunities to develop a robust championship resources unit and build upon the foundation that has been established.”
In Crittenden’s new role at Louisiana Tech, he will be charged with leading the Championship Resources department while soliciting major gifts and assisting with other revenue streams for the athletics department and its 16 athletic programs.
“It is a special opportunity to join Ryan’s team here at Louisiana Tech,” said Crittenden. “I appreciate the passion and support throughout this transition from President Henderson, Ryan Ivey, University Advancement and all of Bulldog Nation.
“It is a unique time in college athletics and I am excited to embrace the challenges ahead working alongside such talented and driven people at Tech.”
Crittenden has spent the last decade at SFA where he was instrumental in helping to increase self-generated revenues by $2 million and assisting in securing over $10 million in contributions to assist in operating budgets and with capital projects for basketball, soccer, baseball, and softball and recently helped steward a $5 million pledge toward a new indoor football facility.
In his role, he was also the University Licensing Program Director, serving as the point of contact for both CLC and retail licensees while being responsible for onboarding new vendors. Under his leadership, the university set new all-time highs in revenue royalty share on two separate occasions.
His other responsibilities included overseeing ticketing and fulfillment for both general public and premium spaces and was in charge of technical back-office development and front-facing website updates. Ticket-related revenue has more than doubled from its previous all-time highs under his watch.
Having also served on the administrative side in Nacogdoches both as Associate AD for Business Development and Revenue Generation and Assistant AD for Business Development in Ticketing, he was also the head coach of the SFA women’s soccer program for seven years.
During his time as head coach, he was a three-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year recipient while leading the Ladyjacks to an 81-47-10 overall record and three Southland Conference league championships. Before leading SFA, Crittenden was an assistant coach at Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas A&M.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in sport management from Florida International (2002) and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Nebraska (2010).
Huenefeld, a Ruston native, spent the past year as part of the championship resources team. In her role, her primary responsibility was to make calls for the athletics department to either renew donations or help up sale to bring in new donations.
“Louisiana Tech is such an amazing institution, and I am honored to be the Director of LTAC,” said Huenefeld. “I could not be more excited to serve the Louisiana Tech and Ruston community.”
She earned her bachelor’s degree in sport management from Liberty (2023) where she was a member of the swimming and diving team.
