Randall William Spetman (born December 30, 1952) is an American college athletic director who was most recently athletic director at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

from 2008 to 2013. Spetman has also been the director of athletics at Utah State University and the United States Air Force Academy. He was a vice president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics during the 2009–10 academic year.

Early life, education, and military career

Spetman was born in

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha–Council Bluffs ...

. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1971 and the United States Air Force Academy in 1976. While at the Academy, he played at defensive end for the

Air Force Falcons football The Air Force Falcons football program represents the United States Air Force Academy in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. Air Force has been a member of the Mountain West Conference s ...

team from 1973 to 1975. Spetman has master's degrees from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

and from the Naval War College. After graduation from the Academy, Spetman spent 28 years in the United States Air Force as a pilot. In addition to being an assistant coach for Air Force football, Spetman served in the Air Force in various capacities, including Chief of Bomber Planning in Operations

Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and Desert Storm and Chief of the Command and Control Division, Operations Directorate of the

United States European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russi ...

in Stuttgart, Germany. Spetman retired as a colonel in April 2004.

Athletics administration career

Beginning in August 1995, Spetman was associate athletic director at Air Force before being promoted to athletic director effective March 1, 1996. In 2000, Spetman hired Joe Scott to be Air Force Falcons men's basketball coach and in 2002 signed Scott through 2008. On October 15, 2003, Spetman announced his retirement effective in December. In March 2004, three months after Spetman's retirement, Scott led Air Force to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 40 years. Utah State University president

Kermit Hall Kermit Lance Hall (August 31, 1944 – August 13, 2006) was a noted legal historian and university president. He served from 1994 to 1998 on the Assassination Records Review Board to review and release to the public documents related to the assa ...

hired Spetman on June 18, 2004 to be athletic director effective July 1. By 2007, Utah State had won four WAC championships and had a conference-best 78 percent graduation rate. Spetman became athletic director of

on February 4, 2008, hired by president

T. K. Wetherell Thomas Kent Wetherell (December 22, 1945 – December 16, 2018) was an American politician and educator. He served as member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1992, and was president of Florida State University from 2003 thro ...

. In July 2008, Florida State hired

Lonni Alameda Alana Maree "Lonni" Alameda (born June 11, 1970) is an American softball coach who is the current head coach at Florida State. She has been head coach at Florida State since 2009, in addition to the USSSA Pride of National Pro Fastpitch from 2016 ...

as head softball coach, following the retirement of longtime head coach Joanne Graf. Alameda would go on to win five consecutive ACC Coach of the Year honors from 2013 to 2017 and the

2018 Women's College World Series The 2018 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 18 through June 6, 2018 as the final part of the 2018 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining ...

title. After the resignation of longtime head coach Bobby Bowden, Spetman promoted offensive coordinator

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

as the new Florida State Seminoles football head coach in December 2009. The '' Tallahassee Democrat'' reported that Bowden made the decision to retire following a meeting with Wetherell and Spetman. Fisher would take Florida State to three straight bowl victories and two ACC Atlantic Division titles, with top-ten year-end rankings after the 2012 season. On June 5, 2013, new Florida State president

Eric Barron Eric James Barron (born October 26, 1951) is an American academic administrator who was the 18th president of the Pennsylvania State University from 2014 until 2022. Previously, he was the 14th president of Florida State University and director ...

reassigned Spetman to a special advisor role for the remainder of his contract that would expire in February 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spetman, Randy 1952 births Living people American football defensive ends Air Force Falcons athletic directors Air Force Falcons football players Florida State Seminoles athletic directors Utah State Aggies athletic directors Central Michigan University alumni Naval War College alumni United States Air Force colonels Sportspeople from Council Bluffs, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Military personnel from Iowa