Grand Canyon University Athletics
Jason Linders
Linders Named Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development
4/2/2015 12:13:00 PM | General, S-A Development
Grand Canyon has named Jason Linders as its new Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development, as announced by Vice President of Athletics, Mike Vaught. Linders is the newest member of the athletics leadership team and will oversee Academics, including the development and implementation of a premier student-athlete academic services program, Life Skills, and Career Development for student-athletes.
Linders comes to GCU from the University of South Florida where he was the Associate Athletics Director for Academics. He had also served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Football Student-Athlete Development at USF from 2009-2013.
Under Linders' leadership, USF posted a department record 83 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which represented a six percent increase over last year's announced rate. USF has seen its overall program GSR rise in each of the last five years and now exceed the national average for Football Bowl Subdivision schools, which stands at 75 percent. Seven USF Athletics programs exceeded or matched a program record high in GSR during the latest reporting period. USF's Graduation Success Rates for African-American student-athletes of 75 percent and Hispanic student-athletes of 86 percent were well above the national averages of 68 percent and 79 percent, respectively.
USF's football APR score for 2007-08 was last among BCS institutions. With Linders at the helm, the program has seen consistent increases in their APR score, graduation rate, and team grade-point average. By 2012-13, USF's APR ranked third in the American Athletic Conference, second in the state of Florida, and 25th nationally among Division I-A programs. Following the 2013 season, USF placed 23 members of the football team on The American All-Academic Team, which surpassed the previous program record of 20 from the 2012 Big East All-Academic Team.
For the first time in program history, USF Athletics had every one of its 18 evaluated teams earn a score of 950 or higher in the NCAA's most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) report released in May.
Linders spent 2006-09 at UNLV, where he was the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Academic Services (SAAS). He also was an assistant football coach for eight years in the collegiate ranks, including stops at University of Nevada, Southern Utah University, Millsaps College, and Montana State University.
Linders graduated from Humboldt State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Master of Science degree in Kinesiology. He is currently working on a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Adult Education, at USF.
A native of Santa Ana (CA), Linders and his wife, Annette, have three daughters, Kayla, Kalani and Kamea.
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Linders comes to GCU from the University of South Florida where he was the Associate Athletics Director for Academics. He had also served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Football Student-Athlete Development at USF from 2009-2013.
Under Linders' leadership, USF posted a department record 83 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which represented a six percent increase over last year's announced rate. USF has seen its overall program GSR rise in each of the last five years and now exceed the national average for Football Bowl Subdivision schools, which stands at 75 percent. Seven USF Athletics programs exceeded or matched a program record high in GSR during the latest reporting period. USF's Graduation Success Rates for African-American student-athletes of 75 percent and Hispanic student-athletes of 86 percent were well above the national averages of 68 percent and 79 percent, respectively.
USF's football APR score for 2007-08 was last among BCS institutions. With Linders at the helm, the program has seen consistent increases in their APR score, graduation rate, and team grade-point average. By 2012-13, USF's APR ranked third in the American Athletic Conference, second in the state of Florida, and 25th nationally among Division I-A programs. Following the 2013 season, USF placed 23 members of the football team on The American All-Academic Team, which surpassed the previous program record of 20 from the 2012 Big East All-Academic Team.
For the first time in program history, USF Athletics had every one of its 18 evaluated teams earn a score of 950 or higher in the NCAA's most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) report released in May.
Linders spent 2006-09 at UNLV, where he was the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Academic Services (SAAS). He also was an assistant football coach for eight years in the collegiate ranks, including stops at University of Nevada, Southern Utah University, Millsaps College, and Montana State University.
Linders graduated from Humboldt State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Master of Science degree in Kinesiology. He is currently working on a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Adult Education, at USF.
A native of Santa Ana (CA), Linders and his wife, Annette, have three daughters, Kayla, Kalani and Kamea.
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