Mississippi University for Women has named head softball coach Buddy Foster the interim athletic director, according to a Thursday press release.
Foster’s appointment comes less than 24 hours after multiple sources alerted The Dispatch that now-former MUW Athletic Director Jason Trufant was reassigned from his post to become a special adviser to President Nora Miller. The university confirmed the reassignment in an official statement released Wednesday night.
“I am confident in Foster’s leadership as we enter the next phase of athletics,” Miller said in Thursday’s press release. “We have reached some major milestones in Owls athletics, and we will continue to build on that momentum.”
Foster, who was hired by the school in June, arrived in Columbus after four years at Greenville University (Illinois), where he served as the head softball coach and as the director of NCAA Compliance. He also previously worked as the athletic director at Morthland College (Illinois) and has spent 26 years in college athletics.
He will remain softball coach while serving as interim athletic director.
“I am honored that President Miller has selected me to lead the Athletic Department,” he said in the press release. “The foundation has been set here for tremendous growth in athletics. With a renewed vision of culture, the sky is the limit. I look forward to contributing to the growth and enhancing the proud traditions of athletics here at The W.”
Trufant’s reassignment came just more than six weeks after The Dispatch concluded a five-month investigation in which one current university employee, two former student athletes and six former athletic department employees described a toxic culture cultivated by Trufant within the Owls’ athletic department that was largely ignored by higher-ranking administration. Trufant outright denied those claims in a sit-down interview with The Dispatch on Nov. 2.
During his tenure as athletic director that began in the spring of 2016, the women’s basketball team won the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national title in 2019, while the baseball and softball teams reached the USCAA Small College World Series in 2018 and 2019.
Trufant also oversaw the hiring of all MUW coaches since sports were restarted at the school during the 2017-18 school year. In that time, the school has seen at least nine head coaches among its 15 athletic programs leave for various reasons.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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