New FDU athletics director Jason Young sees big changes ahead

Jason Young, FDU’s new director of athletics, calls this a “golden era” for the Knights. It’s hard to argue. Under retiring AD Brad Hurlbut, who took the reins in 2019, FDU men’s basketball stunned the world by taking down top-seeded Purdue in March Madness, women’s basketball produced back-to-back unbeaten seasons in the Northeast Conference, men’s soccer made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances, women’s volleyball made the NCAAs for the first time ever, women’s bowling advanced to the NCAA Final Four, and men’s track standout Salif Mane became NCAA champion in the triple jump and finished sixth at the Paris Olympics.

The baseball team is currently 24-6 in the NEC and seeking its first NCAA appearance on the heels of $1. 3 million stadium renovation. And the department has added two sports, and two more are on the way.

The 36-year-old Young has been on board the whole time, arriving in 2019 and rising to the post of deputy athletic director. He negotiated FDU’s naming-rights sponsorship agreement that renamed the Rothman Center to the Bogota Savings Bank Center in 2024. Just recently, he led the negotiations as FDU became the first U.

S. college to sign an apparel deal with Macron, an Italian-based sportswear company well known throughout international soccer. Young discussed his vision for FDU athletics in a tumultuous time for college sports in a wide-ranging interview with NorthJersey.