Auburn deputy AD Jared Benko announced as Iowa State's next athletics director

AUBURN — Jared Benko , executive deputy athletics director at Auburn University since November 2024, is leaving the Plains to become Iowa State 's athletics director, the Cyclones announced Friday, Oct. 16.

Benko joined Auburn athletics director John Cohen 's staff after serving as AD at Georgia Southern, a position he had held since March 2020. That was Benko's first-ever athletics director role, meaning his move to Iowa State will be his first time serving as athletics director at a Power 4 institution.

In Benko's latest stop on the Plains, his duties included business operations, name, image and likeness (NIL) and revenue-sharing, NIL events and strategic initiatives, player management, contracts, human resources, information technology, equipment, sports performance and sports medicine, according to his staff bio.

Prior to Georgia Southern, Benko worked for four different SEC schools, beginning at Georgia, his alma mater, in 2008.

Benko was Georgia's assistant director of business operations for three years, eventually moving on to Arkansas, where he was director of business operations from 2012 to 2015. What followed was a two-year stint at Auburn , Benko's first, where he served as assistant athletic director for finance for former AD Jay Jacobs.

Benko then spent four years at Mississippi State. He was hired by then-AD Scott Stricklin, who currently holds the same role at Florida. But Benko eventually worked for Cohen, continuing his duties as senior associate athletics director for finance until 2020.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter . To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser .