COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M executive associate athletic director for internal operations Joe Fields is leaving his post at A&M to join former A&M deputy athletics director Justin Moore at Tulsa. Moore and A&M athletics director Trev Alberts confirmed the move with KBTX Tuesday. Fields will serve as deputy athletic director in Tulsa.
In July, Tulsa hired Moore as the new athletic director of the Golden Hurricane.
“It’s a loss for the department,” lamented Alberts. “Joe’s really talented, very respected, trusted. I understand his desire to reconnect with Justin and to advance his career. We’re certainly happy for Joe and his family. I know he’s excited about the opportunity and recognize it’s a hole for us.”
Fields’ tenure at A&M began in 2017 where he served as associate athletics director for academic services and was promoted to senior associate athletics director for student-athlete services and administration, where he supervised the Center for Student-Athlete Services which provided academic aid in multiple forms to A&M’s athletes.
He also served as the deputy athletics director for administration and student-athlete experience, before elevating to his current position. Fields oversaw A&M’s name, image, and likeness compensation activities, the Letterman’s Association and equipment and apparel operations and contracts.
Football was always a constant for Fields, a Houston native, who used the sport to steady an uneasy childhood which saw his three sisters and mother move approximately 12 times, Fields told The Eagle in 2019 . He turned that love into a football career as a quarterback and defensive back at Syracuse from 2004 to 2007.
Instead of moving into coaching after his career, he took a job at Syracuse to work on academics with Orange athletes and fell in love with the role. He turned that into a 7-year tenure working at his alma mater before returning closer to home to work at A&M.
“I always felt like I was playing with house money,” Fields told The Eagle. “[My family was] extremely proud when I went to college and I had [an] opportunity playing [in the] NFL, and now having this opportunity at Texas A&M… being associated with it and having such a big role here absolutely makes them proud.”
Fields recently moved into his current role this spring, after Alberts reorganized the athletic department and made personnel cuts. One of those laid off was Moore.
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At the time, Alberts said the cuts were in an effort to become more efficient and effective in the new landscape of college athletics, which potentially includes revenue sharing with athletes as a part of the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement. According to the settlement, athletic departments could pay out more than $20 million per year to athletes beginning in the fall of 2025.
“This morning, we met with several individuals to inform them that, in light of the upcoming changes to our administrative structure, they will not be employees of the athletics department in the future,” said Alberts in a statement at the time. “These changes are difficult and let me state emphatically, these people have done nothing wrong. These are good hard-working members of the Aggie family, and their service is greatly appreciated. I can assure you; this was not personal; it was a business decision and a very difficult one at that.”
Alberts said the team will work to fill his position soon.
“Anytime there’s new leadership, there’s oftentimes some transition like that,” Alberts added. “So, we’re going to certainly be wishing him well from afar and we’ll get busy. This is a position that we’ll be backfilling and hoping that we can have some sort of communication about that plan relatively soon.”
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