CULLOWHEE – Western Carolina University Chancellor Kelli R. Brown has announced that Randy Eaton , director of athletics at WCU since 2011, will no longer serve in that role, effective immediately, and the university will not be renewing his contract, which expires in June 2020.

Brown made the announcement Tuesday, Dec. 10.

Eaton was named to lead WCU's athletics program in December 2011. Before coming to WCU, he served as senior associate director of athletics at the University of Maryland and held positions in athletics administration at a number of schools across the nation including the University of Houston, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and WCU's fellow Southern Conference school, East Tennessee State University.

“Western Carolina University's athletics program has made numerous positive steps forward during Randy Eaton 's time on campus, and we are grateful for the leadership he brought as director of athletics,” Brown said. “Chief among those positive developments are improvements in overall support for our student-athletes and increases in student-athlete GPAs, in addition to advances in athletics fundraising. WCU's athletics program is better today than it was when Randy Eaton arrived, and we thank him for that.”

Until a permanent director of athletics is named, WCU athletics staff will report to Mike Byers, WCU's vice chancellor of administration and finance.

WCU's Athletics Department fields men's teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track and field, and women's teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The Catamount Club, the fundraising arm of the athletics program, generates financial support for student-athlete scholarships and aids facility enhancements and other needs through capital campaigns.

Plans for the launch of a national search for a new director of athletics will be announced soon, Brown said.