CSU San Bernardino Athletics Director Shawn Farrell has announced the hiring of Ryan Cook as the department's Associate Athletics Director for Development and Brian Gaul as the Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing and Athletics Communication.

"I am tremendously excited to welcome Ryan and Brian to the CSUSB Team," Farrell said.  "What they bring in terms of ability to develop and maintain benefactor and corporate relationships, and market and communicate our story is instrumental in what we are building here in terms of creating a dynamic championship student-athlete centered experience."

In his role, Cook will continue to cultivate and steward relationships on behalf of the Athletics Department as our primary contact.

Most recently, he was the General Manager for Learfield Sports managing the multi-media rights agreement for the Cleveland State Athletics Department.  Ryan is a recognized leader in athletics revenue generation who has greatly expanded monetary resources at every stop of his career.

He worked for three years at Seattle University as the Athletic Department's Assistant Athletics Director for Corporate Partnerships.

Prior to his collegiate athletics experience Cook spent time working in the NBA, MLB, and Minor League Baseball in many different roles, including ownership of the High Desert Mavericks.  Cook is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and was an All-American men's water polo student-athlete and a member of the men's basketball team.

"I am very excited to join Shawn (Farrell) and the team at CSUSB as we build a championship Athletics Department," Cook said. "This is a great opportunity to be back in the Inland Empire, support our student-athletes, and share the vision and mission of our Athletics Department. 

Gaul has spent more than a decade working in athletic communications and marketing.  Most recently, he spent the past two seasons at Gonzaga University, working primarily with the women's basketball program that won back-to-back West Coast Conference Championships and advanced to two NCAA Tournaments as well as with their renowned men's basketball program.

Prior to that, he spent five years at the NAIA and NCAA Division II level at Concordia University Irvine in Southern California.  While there he covered four teams that won National Championships and expanded video streaming, game operations, and digital marketing while helping move the department from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II level.

He is a 2008 graduate of the University of Montana and interned there before working for two years at Mesa Community College in Phoenix, Ariz.

"The opportunity to join Shawn (Farrell) in developing his vision for CSUSB Athletics was something that I had to be a part of," Gaul said.  "There are great stories to tell here and I can't wait to push our communications and marketing forward to bolster the outstanding work our coaches and student-athletes are doing."