Staff Directory

Marcus Blossom

Title:
McCormick Endowed Athletic Director
Email:
Phone:
(402) 280-1795

As the landscape of college athletics continues its dramatic shift, the need for innovative approaches, steadfast leadership and vision for future modeling has never been more critical. Since his arrival as the McCormick Endowed Athletic Director on September 27, 2021, Marcus Blossom has worked tirelessly to position Creighton athletics for sustained competitive success while remaining in front of a rapidly changing environment.

During his first five years on campus, student-athletes have excelled in the classroom and on the field of play, while fundraising numbers and donors have increased substantially. Additionally, Blossom introduced the first strategic plan for athletics, a roadmap that will help Creighton athletics continue to advance forward and maintain its current momentum. He has navigated the evolving iterations of NIL and revenue sharing and has provided the necessary guidance, education and opportunities for Creighton student-athletes, while keeping the athletic department ahead of the curve.

Paramount to the mission of the University, Creighton athletes achieved an overall Graduation Success Rate of 997 with 12 teams recording perfect scores. In Spring 2026, the department boasted a cumulative 3.47 grade point average, with 86 percent of all
student-athletes owning a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better. An impressive 19 percent of CU’s student-athletes earned a perfect 4.00 GPA in the Spring 2026 semester.

Over the last five years Creighton programs have made 21 NCAA postseason appearances and finished runners-up for the DI-AAA Directors’ Cup trophy in 2023, recording the school’s second-best overall Directors’ Cup finish the same year.

Since Blossom’s arrival, Creighton and UCLA are the nation’s only schools to reach the Elite Eight in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Creighton, UCLA and Kentucky are also the nation’s only schools to reach the Sweet 16 at least once in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball in those five years.

Creighton has experienced enormous success in both men’s and women’s basketball in Blossom’s tenure. The men’s basketball team has finished inside the top five ultra-competitive BIG EAST each the last 10 seasons, reaching the NCAA Tournament seven times with an Elite Eight run in 2023 and Sweet Sixteen trips in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Creighton finished sixth in the nation in attendance (17,366) and posted a record number of season ticketholders in 2024-25, while 2025-26 marked the program’s 14th-straight non-COVID campaign in the top 10 in average home attendance.

Women’s basketball is thriving and reached four consecutive NCAA tournaments for the first time in program history from 2022-25, including an Elite Eight run in 2022. Attendance increased 68 percent from the 2022-23 season to the 2024-25 season.

Creighton has experienced competitive success across the board. Women’s volleyball has won 12 consecutive BIG EAST regular season and six straight BIG EAST Tournament titles, reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2023 and Elite Eight in 2024 and 2025. In September of 2025, the squad played in front of an NCAA Volleyball-only record indoor crowd of 17,675 in its matchup with in-state rival Nebraska.

During Blossom’s first five seasons as Creighton AD, the Bluejay men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams have recorded 16 more victories (373) than any other five-year period in school history.

Men’s soccer won the 2022 BIG EAST Tournament and would ride that momentum with a trip to the College Cup. Additionally, men’s soccer finished second in the nation in average attendance in 2023.

More than just academic and competitive success, Creighton had a record number of donors (6,320) and fundraising revenues for the 2026 fiscal year, totaling a 16 percent year-over-year increase.

Creighton set a record for non-capital gift revenues in FY24 and exceeded just under $2 million in FY26. Corporate sponsorship sales revenues have increased by over 64 percent in the last five years, while school licensing revenues set record levels in 2024 and then exceeded those by 6 percent in FY26. Creighton set an overall fundraising revenues record in FY26.

The Creighton men’s basketball program experienced a $5 million increase in annual revenue from 2022 to 2025. As part of creating a better spectator experience at CHI Health Center Omaha, the courtside seating options and experience were transformed, leading to more than $1.5 million in additional revenue.

Blossom has helped address the future of both the baseball and softball programs. The department is currently in the construction phase of a new and impressive competition and developmental complex for the two programs. This project is part of the recently announced Fly Together project, a $300 million athletics and campus recreation initiative headlined by a new state-of-the-art sports performance center for student-athletes. Fly Together was made possible by a $100 million lead gift from Cindy and Scott Heider, trustees of the Heider Family Foundation. The Heider gift is the largest in the history of Creighton University.

In lock step with the University, Blossom is a member of the President’s cabinet and regularly collaborates with campus leaders to accomplish shared goals and strategic objectives. He has made eight head coaching hires during his tenure, has rebuilt his executive staff making critical hires in development, external relations and compliance, and serves as an Executive Committee member for the Men’s College World Series.

Blossom arrived at Creighton from College of the Holy Cross where he was the Director of Athletics for over two years. During Blossom’s time in Worcester, he led the development of the athletic department’s first strategic plan, a five-year roadmap to elevate the program by creating a high-performance culture, achieving and sustaining competitive excellence, increasing external support and community engagement and enhancing facilities.

The strategic plan was supported by fundraising efforts to grow annual fund revenues by at least 50%, increase scholarship dollars for Olympic sports and transform the outdoor athletics complex. Blossom and his team made significant progress on several priorities in his time at Holy Cross, including: (1) revitalizing the game experience with improved game presentation and video board technology, (2) significant improvements to the sports performance area by adding additional strength coaches and athletic trainers and (3) strengthening campus – athletics relationships grounded in mutual understanding, appreciation, respect and shared goals.

Holy Cross athletic teams experienced success and his time was marked by several new coaching hires as well. The football team won consecutive Patriot League championships in 2020 and 2021.

Academically, Holy Cross continued to rank amongst the nation’s elite under Blossom’s leadership. The Crusaders most recently ranked first in the nation with an overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 99 percent. Additionally, 15 Holy Cross teams received Division I Academic Progress Rate public recognition awards from the NCAA. These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. Holy Cross finished seventh in the nation among all Division I athletic programs in the number of teams honored. For the 2020-21 academic year, Holy Cross student-athletes posted a cumulative grade point average of 3.30, with 540 student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or higher.

Prior to Holy Cross, Blossom spent five years at Boston College finishing his tenure as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Business and Administration. Blossom was a member of the executive team and assisted with all aspects of strategic planning and vision execution for the department of athletics.

At BC, Blossom was the department’s senior financial and human resources officer responsible for all fiscal activities including budget planning, formulation, management, and resource allocation. He also directly supervised the broadcast services team (ACC Network), interactive media, technology, football equipment operations and campus recreation while being an integral part of all external contract negotiations and ticket sales strategies. Known for effectively collaborating with other campus units, Blossom was also the department’s liaison to residential life, concessions, dining services, event management, risk management and the university bookstore.

In addition, he was the program administrator for men’s basketball, softball, women’s rowing and men’s and women’s sailing. Also active in the ACC, Blossom was the chair of the ACC Women’s Rowing Committee and a member of the ACC Finance Committee and contributor to ACC Bowl Financials Subcommittee.

Prior to Boston College, Blossom was a senior administrator at Providence College. While at Providence, Blossom was responsible for the overall fiscal management of the athletics department’s operating budget including, but not limited to, budgeting and planning, financial reporting, forecasting, purchasing, travel, and internal controls/business policies and procedures. He was also the sport administrator for men’s soccer and member of the men’s basketball vision team at PC. He joined the Friars in 2012 after spending two years at Brown University where he was the Associate Athletic Director, Finance while also having oversight of marketing and promotions, communications, and ticket operations.

He also worked with the NCAA as an Assistant Director of Championships (2008-10) and Central Michigan as the Athletics Business Manager (2006-08) before being promoted to Assistant Athletic Director, Business Operations (2008).

Blossom earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance at Northeastern University, a master’s degree in sport management from West Virginia University and an MBA from the University of Rhode Island. While earning his undergraduate degree at Northeastern University, Blossom was a three-time GTE Academic All-District pick and three-time all-conference selection in men’s basketball.

Blossom and his wife, Karli, have two daughters: Maya (13) and Mora (10).