Feb. 27, 2014
SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State has bolstered its athletics personnel with the addition of three staff members in recent weeks, in addition to the promotion of a long-standing staffer to the level of director, MSU Director of Athletics Kyle Moats announced Thursday (Feb. 27).
Dan Raines, who joined the MSU staff in 2010 as an academic advisor and later assistant director, was promoted to director of the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Academic Achievement Center. The facility formerly known as the Achievement Center for Intercollegiate Athletics (ACIA) was recently re-named in honor of Wynn, the first director of women's athletics at Missouri State. Raines replaces former director Monica Jones who returned to the University of Arkansas to take a position at her alma mater.
Marcus Ozbun
Raines' replacement is Marcus Ozbun, who joined the staff in February as an academic advisor. Ozbun comes to Missouri State from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., where he served as an academic advisor since October of last year. While at Northeastern State, Ozbun's duties included assisting students with course registration, monitoring student academic progress and providing students with registration and academic program information. He will work with men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's golf this spring.
Ozbun previously worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas in the department of health, human performance and recreation. He also was a ticket office intern with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Double-A baseball team in Springdale, Ark. Ozbun earned his Master's degree in recreation and sport management from the University of Arkansas in 2013 and earned a Bachelor's degree in business administration from Arkansas in 2011.
Jared Schmidt
Jared Schmidt was hired as the men's equipment manager in January after serving as a graduate assistant in football equipment operations at the University of Arkansas. While in Fayetteville, Schmidt's duties included coordination of daily operations of the football equipment room, overseeing student managers and directing summer camp operations for football equipment. Schmidt also was a student football equipment manager for Kansas State football from 2008-12.
Schmidt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business finance from Kansas State University in May 2012 and is slated to earn a Master's degree in recreation and sport management from Arkansas in May 2014.
Brian Burton
Brian Burton was hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach after spending the last two-plus years as the strength and conditioning coach at Park Vista High School in Boynton Beach, Fla. Burton designed and instilled sport-specific programs for nine different sports at Park Vista. He will work with women's basketball, volleyball, tennis and men's and women's swimming and diving.
He also gathered experience as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport in Boynton Beach and as an assistant strength and conditioning coordinator at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. His certifications include CPR and first aid/AED, USA weightlifting and the National Federation for Professional Trainers. He is in the process of obtaining certification from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. Burton earned his bachelor's degree in general studies with concentrations in exercise physiology, psychology and science and technology from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. in 2006.
The personnel additions are pending formal approval from the Missouri State Board of Governors at its next scheduled meeting on March 6-7.
