Career As Athletic Director
Ron Mason began his duties as athletic director on July 1, 2002. Before he officially became athletic director, Mason chose Rick Comley as his successor as hockey coach.
On November 4, 2002, after a disappointing season and a series of off-the-field incidents with players, Mason fired head football coach Bobby Williams with three games left in the season. Mason hired John L. Smith as head football coach on December 20, 2002. Mason fired John L. Smith four years later on November 2, 2006 leaving controversy amongst critics over whether Mason had been effective making his first major hire as athletic director.
While athletic director, the Michigan State hockey team won the school's third national title in 2007. Mason is the only person to have won NCAA ice hockey titles as head coach and athletic director.
Mason placed a priority seat licensing program in Spartan Stadium based on years of holding season tickets, contribution to the Ralph Young Fund, and a licensing fee for better seats on top of the price of season tickets. Further updates to increase revenue in Spartan Stadium included a $64 million USD expansion and improvements which include:
- 24 luxury suites
- 800 club seats
- The "Grand Entrance" featuring high ceilings, glass walls, marble floors and a new home for the original Sparty statue
- 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) luxury concourse
- Office space for the MSU alumni association and Spartan Athletic Office
- State of the art recruiting lounge
- Upgraded stadium wide bathroom and concourse renovations
- An increase of 3000 seats, bringing the total stadium capacity to 75,005
In September 2006, Michigan State University's Board of Trustees approved a contract extension for Mason extending his contract as MSU's athletic director through June 2008. He retired from the post of athletic director at Michigan State University on January 1, 2008, and was succeeded by Mark Hollis.
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