Thuente, Drummond Join UNM in External Roles
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Director of Athletics Eddie Nuñez has announced the hiring of Joe Thuente and Tricia Drummond to the department staff. Thuente joins as the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Communications, and Drummond is the Associate Athletic Director for Ticket Operations.
David Williams, UNM’s Deputy Athletic Director said of the two new members of the department, “We are really excited to be able to bring in both Joe and Tricia.” He added, “Both have great experience in their areas in Division I. Joe has been very successful as his previous schools and will provide the cohesiveness to external components, and Tricia will be able to step right in with our new ticketing system and be an asset for our fan base.”
Thuente comes to UNM after a one-year stint at UTSA, where he served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing, overseeing all the marketing and out-bound efforts for the Roadrunners. His focus was on football and men’s basketball, developing and implementing marketing and promotional plans while also overseeing game day production.
At UNM, Thuente will have an expanded role. He will coordinate and oversee many of the external components of UNM Athletics, overseeing marketing, promotions, Lobo TV, UNM social media and communications. Along with developing marketing and promotional plans, Thuente will help coordinate the different campaigns and themes that will weave through the various external components.
Prior to his year at UTSA, Thuente spent four years at South Dakota as the Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Game Day Production. At USD, he was responsible for developing marketing and promotions plans for all 17 Coyote sports, as well as overseeing game production and the overall marketing brand for Coyote Athletics.
He also has spent four years at the Assistant Director of Marketing at Northwestern, working with most of the Wildcats’ ticketed sports.
Drummond comes to UNM after spending the past three seasons working as the Associate Athletic Director, Ticket Operations at North Texas in Denton. While with the Mean Green, she oversaw all facets of North Texas’ ticket operations, and she handled many special projects including serving as the ticket director for the 2018 Conference USA Basketball Tournament. She also oversaw the transition from Ticketmaster to the Paciolan Ticketing System, which is the new ticketing system implemented by UNM Athletics.
With New Mexico, Drummond will serve as a lead voice in the implementation of UNM’s new Paciolan system, and will handle all facets of ticket operations, including managing a full-time staff, game day staff and financial reconciliations.
Drummond, a native of Clarksburg, Ohio, was also Director of Ticket Operations at Ohio University for three-and-a-half seasons, starting with the Bobcats in 2012. She also has worked in ticket offices at Wisconsin and Bowling Green State.
Thuente is a native of Johnston, Iowa, and earned a degree in business management from University of Northern Iowa in 2009 and received his master’s in intercollegiate athletics leadership from University of Washington the following year.
Drummond earned both a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in sport administration from Ohio University in 2016 and 2010, respectively. During her time as an undergraduate at Ohio, she was a student intern in the athletic ticket office and served as the head manager for the Ohio women’s basketball team for two seasons.