The Oregon State Beavers have hired Pittsburgh's Scott Barnes as vice president and athletic director, the university announced Thursday afternoon.

Barnes' hiring comes a day after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that OSU had offered Barnes the job, but that the two sides were in negotiations. Barnes will start Feb. 13 of next year and replaces Todd Stansbury, who recently left OSU after less than two years as athletic director to take the same post at Georgia Tech, his alma mater.

"I am very excited to join Beaver Nation and am ready to hit the ground running and build upon the success of OSU Athletics," Barnes said in a statement. "I guarantee that we will contribute to advancing the mission of this university. We will deliver the highest level of achievement on the playing field and for all student-athletes in the classroom, in the community and in their lives and careers.

"Everything that we will do will be defined by excellence. Success will be measured in wins, championships and by providing the best student-athlete experience possible."

Barnes' name surfaced as a possible option at OSU shortly after Stansbury's departure.

"I chose Scott Barnes because he is the perfect fit for Oregon State University," OSU President Ed Ray said in a statement. "He will guide OSU Athletics to compete and win championships the right way -- the Oregon State way.

"Scott is a proven leader and a champion with a long track record of success. He will lead the immediate and long-term achievement for all OSU sports programs and contribute greatly to the passion of everyone within Beaver Nation. He understands that at Oregon State University, good is not good enough. OSU and its student-athletes will be champions in all aspects of athletics, as students and in the community."

Barnes' hiring came after a national search that drew "incredibly strong interest from a deep pool of leading university athletic directors and top private sector sports administrators," Ray said in the statement.

At Oregon State, Barnes will oversee a department that has 18 sports and an annual budget of $84 million, compared with Pitt's 19 sports and $75 million budget.

The Beavers will introduce Barnes at a news conference next Thursday.

Prior to joining Pittsburgh's department as athletic director in spring 2015, Barnes was Utah State's athletic director and hired Beavers football coach Gary Andersen in 2009. Barnes also has ties to the West Coast, as he's a Spokane native and the former athletic director at Eastern Washington (1999-2005) and associate athletic director at Washington (2005-08). He also played basketball at Fresno State and held positions at Humboldt State, Pacific, and San Diego, which are all located in California.

Barnes' most notable task during his time at Pitt was hiring men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings. He's also earned a strong reputation as a fundraiser during his career in athletics and was previously the chairman of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Committee.

At OSU, Barnes takes over a department with entrenched coaches in the primary four sports: Andersen, men's basketball's Wayne Tinkle, women's basketball's Scott Rueck and baseball's Pat Casey. Facilities upgrades to both the Valley Football Center and Gill Coliseum are also underway.

"The key thing is, whoever the AD is gonna come and be here, it needs to be a destination," Andersen said when the position opened in September. "This is a special place. It's a special fit, and it needs to be somebody that is completely committed to being the athletic director at Oregon State and not have outside distractions."

Marianne Vydra, OSU's Deputy Athletics Director for Administration and Senior Woman Administrator, has been serving as the interim athletic director since early November.

-- Gina Mizell | @ginamizell