Nebraska Director of Athletics Troy Dannen announced today the appointments of Kristen Brown and Kortne Gosha to the Husker senior administrative team, as well as the promotion of Tyler Kai to lead the external functions of the Huskers Athletic Fund unit. The appointments are in addition to the promotion of Dennis Leblanc to Deputy Athletic Director for Student Services in April.
Brown will serve as Deputy Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator, with sport administrator duties for several Husker sports including volleyball and women’s basketball. Gosha will serve as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Capital Planning with oversight of the Huskers’ capital planning, construction and facilities units while Kai will now serve as Deputy Athletic Director for Revenue Generation.
“We welcome Kristen and Kortne to the Husker family and look forward to both of them having an immediate impact on our department,” Dannen said. “They bring valuable and unique expertise and experiences from a number of different institutions serving in a variety of roles in intercollegiate athletics. Tyler has proven to be a tremendous asset to Nebraska, and we are excited to have him lead our external fundraising efforts.”
Brown most recently spent four years at Texas A&M, where she served as the department’s Senior Woman Administrator with oversight of women’s basketball, volleyball, soccer, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s swimming and diving. She spent her first two years at Texas A&M overseeing the student-athlete experience, during which time she provided executive leadership for the department on all matters related to student-athlete engagement. Prior to Texas A&M, Brown worked for six years at the University of Maryland, and worked for the Big Ten, Big East and American Athletic conferences as an administrator focused on basketball.
Gosha spent the past two years at Tulane University as the Deputy Athletic Director for Facilities and Operations. With the Green Wave, he oversaw facilities and operations, capital projects/construction, facilities master planning, event management and guest services, camps/clinics, risk management and information technology. In addition, Gosha was the sport administrator for baseball, football, sailing and track and field. Gosha joined Tulane after serving three years as the Vice President and Director of Athletics at Florida A&M. Among his more notable accomplishments at Florida A&M was laying the groundwork for the school’s landmark decision to move from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in the fall of 2022, developing a comprehensive strategic plan for the department and securing a $10 million dollar grant for stadium renovations. Gosha also served in administrative positions at the University of Miami, Middle Tennessee State and Jacksonville State.
Kai, who has been with at Nebraska for three years, will have oversight of all external facing areas with the athletic development unit, including major gifts, the annual fund, ticketing/premium seating and will serve as the liaison for the relationship between athletics and 1890. He has been an integral part of the HAF team during his time in Lincoln, serving as the Associate AD of Leadership Gifts and Capital Projects. He led the overall major gift program for capital projects and endowments, securing major gift commitments from Husker supporters. Kai previously spent four years at Tulane University as the Associate AD for Development, and also has fundraising experience from the University of Tennessee and Kansas State University.
Derek Freeman will continue in his role as Senior Associate Athletic Director – Development and will lead all internal operations of the HAF team including campaign planning and department operations, including gift processing and data analytics