July 10, 2015
San Jose, Calif.-- Willie McHargue has been named the Major Gifts Officer for the San José State University Athletics Department, as announced by Athletics Director Gene Bleymaier.
McHargue brings over 15 years of collegiate experience to his position. He spent two years (2011-13) as the Associate Director for Development at Santa Clara University where he consistently exceeded his fundraising goals. He served as the office's liaison to the Athletics Department and developed and executed plans to raise money for the department. McHargue served as a fundraising leader for the SCU Softball Field project.
He spent eight years as the Director of Athletics Marketing and Promotions at Santa Clara (1991-99). McHargue grew sponsorship revenue by 400 percent during his eight seasons, added floor seating at men's basketball games to increase revenue, secured a multi-year contract for broadcast rights for men's basketball and grew attendance figures to all-time highs during his tenure.
At two other schools, McHargue worked to grow corporate sponsorship sales during his tenure. He was the General Manager for Stanford Sports Marketing (2004-05) and an Account Executive for ESPN at TCU Athletics (2001-04).
McHargue also spent time working with both Bay Area National Football League teams in corporate sponsorship sales. He worked for the Oakland Raiders (2013-14) as a Director of Corporate Sponsorship Sales and the San Francisco 49ers (2005-11) as a Senior Account Executive. With the 49ers, he developed new revenue streams while having to work with Candlestick Park (then the oldest non-renovated stadium in the NFL) and was part of a sales team which generated then-record amounts in sponsorship revenue.
McHargue got his start in college athletics at his alma mater, Butler University, where he worked the sports information office from 1988-90. He then moved to California to work as the Assistant SID at Santa Clara for the 1990-91 school year before moving into the marketing office.
Active in sports away from the job, McHargue has coached baseball in the Pleasanton National Little League since 2010 at the T-Ball, Farm, A and AA levels. Since 2012, he has also served as an assistant coach for the Pleasanton Youth Basketball girls teams at the 4th, 5th and 6th grade levels.
A 1989 graduate of Butler with a bachelor of science degree in radio and television, McHargue currently resides in Pleasanton.
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