“We’re kind of the front porch; you come in, and then we let you in the doors, and you see all this amazing engineering and our business school and the amazing things that our students are doing, but sometimes people may not see that unless they are brought in through athletics.”
The Institute announced Ryan Alpert as its new Vice President and Director of Athletics on July 8, 2025. He replaces J Batt, who left for Michigan State. Alpert most recently worked as the senior deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer for the University of Tennessee, -Knoxville.
In a sit-down interview with the Technique, Alpert re-emphasized the crucial role of sports at the Institute. In his mind, athletics “are the most visible part because of the eyeballs,because of the reach.” That reach helps Tech’s footprint grow. Alpert believes success in sports brings more attention to all students.
“We’re located right here in midtown. We’re in the heart of Atlanta, and all of these buildings, you know, they face us because they want to recruit you and all of our other students, because they want to integrate in with the amazing work that our students are doing and the athletic department [is] sitting right here, again, we’re here to raise that flag and be here to win at the highest level, promote the brand and be a part of the community.”
In an introductory press conference on July 16, 2025, Alpert spoke about being financially-minded. While atTennessee, he broke many fundraising records, overseeing a $100 million increase in operating revenue during his tenure. Before that,, he helped the University of Missouri beat fundraising goals by 250% during the COVID-19 pandemic. With Tech, he still understands the importance of investors.
“Every year we want to be doing something. I think that’s important to show progress, and whether it’s the opening of a building or just, you know, being able to show exactly what we’re doing and communicate to those who’ve invested in it the impact they’re having,” he told the Technique when speaking about ongoing athletics projects. Within fundraising, he sees the value in demonstrating progress.
Alpert also cares about visible progress and growth across athletics at Tech: “We want to build a competitive athletic department and when I say compete, it’s obviously winning and losing on the field. … I want to have competitive athletes that want to have great GPAs and want to, you know, have great academic records. I also want to make sure that our student athletes have competition within each other. Last year we had 14 of our 17 teams participate in the postseason. How can we get to 17 of 17? How can we continue to push ourselves as athletes, but our department [can also improve], … I mean that in every category. So if our revenue was at, you know, X last year, how can we be X + Y? Ticket sales X + Y? Our marketing and end game. Maybe it was great, but how do we make it even better?”
Alpert clearly demonstrates this drive for improvement, saying, “if we stay stagnant, we’re moving backwards.” Alpert has the advantage of joining the Institute in the midst of the Full Steam Ahead initiative, a fundraising campaign aiming to improve Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, the Zelnak Basketball Center and O’Keefe Gym. The Fanning Center, a new student-athlete hub set to open in March 2026, is also under the Full Steam Ahead umbrella.Alpert believes the center is another demonstration of progress: “This year, our fans and students and everybody in the community are really starting to see the Fanning Center come together. Actually, the staff asked me the other day, ‘should we take the scaffolding down?’ and said, ‘yeah, absolutely.’ I want to show our fans and show everybody progress.”
Alpert’s love for college athletics and the Tech tradition shines through in conversation. “What makes college sports so unique … is that somebody who graduated 30 years ago can walk on this campus [and] know that you and they had a very similar experience and that badge of honor of graduating from Tech, but you can come to the games and celebrate that together.”
Adapting to a new environment in Atlanta will be critical, and Alpert is excited for the process.“You know, the biggest thing I think that athletic directors make a mistake of is ‘I bring my notebook from Tennessee and say here’s exactly what we’re going to do,’ and it’s a different place. … Every institution, every university has its uniqueness,” Alpert commented, “and so for me and my first, you know, 30/60/90 days is to certainly share my thoughts, but [I’m] really trying to listen and understand where we are.”
On adjusting to his new surroundings, Alpert also expressed appreciation for the students. “To start seeing the students come back on campus, … to be at the student union and to see the energy coming back, it’s been awesome,” he explained. Alpert also demonstrated a clear belief in the value of a student body that cares about sports.
“I just want to make sure the students know that you guys are the lifeblood of our organization. … Obviously [at] any place of higher education the students are essential and last year, [Tech football was] undefeated at home, … and I’ve heard that the student section and the energy was unbelievable. And I think as we continue to grow our fan base, having students here going crazy, being wild, impacting the game day is also a huge part of our brand. Think of games you’ve watched, and if you look over there in the corner, is the student section full? Is it rowdy and are the kids having fun? That also I think shows people on TV that are watching us what a great experience it is here.”