Q&A: MTSU Deputy Athletic Director Lee De Leon speaks about NIL, transfer portal

Lee De Leon has experience working in athletic departments all across the country.

De Leon got started in college athletics in 2005 as a marketing assistant at LSU. De Leon would then spend 3 years as assistant director of marketing at Houston. From there, De Leon would spend time at Arizona, New Mexico, Purdue, and Abilene Christian.

At the time of his hiring at Abilene Christian, De Leon was the youngest Division 1 athletics director in the country. During his tenure at Abilene Christian, the school’s annual revenue grew by 81%.

After a successful tenure at Abilene Christian, De Leon spent 2 years at the University of Louisiana as Deputy Director of Athletics before accepting his current position as Deputy Athletic Director at Middle Tennessee State University.

At MTSU, De Leon is responsible for overseeing, directing, and managing all aspects of Athletic Development, Sponsorships, Marketing, Merchandise, and Licensures associated with the MTSU Athletic Department. Naturally, this means that De Leon is directly involved with any NIL dealings at MTSU.

The NIL Deal recently had the chance to speak with De Leon about how MTSU is adjusting to the NIL era of college sports.

The NIL Deal: Have NIL laws impacted the way that the administration at MTSU operates?