Slonaker Named Director of Bulldog Club

FOOTBALL

Mark Slonaker, a Regional Director with the University of Georgia Central Development Team and four-year basketball letterman, has been named Executive Director of the UGA Bulldog Club according to an announcement Friday by Director of Athletics Greg McGarity.

Since July of 2008, Slonaker has served as a Regional Director for Principal & Major Gifts on the staff of the UGA Development Office. As part of the University’s Central Development Team, Slonaker has spent most of his time in the major cities on the west coast identifying, cultivating, and soliciting UGA alumni and friends for major gifts.

"I'm very excited and thankful for the opportunity that Greg has provided,” said Slonaker. “I'd also like to thank Vice President Tom Landrum and Greg Daniels from the UGA Division of External Affairs for a great experience representing the University in that capacity. I look forward to supporting the coaches, student-athletes and members of the Dawg Nation as we strive to make the Athletic Association the best in the country."

“We look forward to Mark’s leadership in this important Athletic Association role,” said McGarity. “I’m confident we will be very strong in our customer service efforts and I know our Bulldog Club members will enjoy working with Mark and his staff.”

“It’s been great having Mark as a part of the University’s Regional Development Team the past three years,” said Greg Daniels, Senior Director of Principal and Major Gifts at UGA. “While all of us will miss him, with Mark’s leadership, energy, and love of the University of Georgia and UGA athletics, I don’t know of a person better suited for this position.”

A native of Rahway, N.J., Slonaker lettered for the Dawgs (1976-79) and was co-captain of coach Hugh Durham’s first team at Georgia in ‘79. He went straight into the coaching profession upon graduation making stops at The Lovett School in Atlanta, six years as an assistant at Georgia State, six more under Durham at his alma mater and at Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College before being named head coach at Mercer University in 1997.

During Slonaker’s 11 years at Mercer (1998-2008), his 2003 team won 23 games and captured the school’s first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference championship. Slonaker was named National Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com at the end of the season.

Slonaker, who has also served as color analyst on the Georgia Basketball Radio Network since 2009, earned his B.S. degree in Education from UGA in 1980 and his Master’s degree in Sport Administration from Georgia State in 1989. He and his wife Kathy have three grown children: Michael, Meaghan and Patrick.