Dr. Sam Ferguson, UT Tyler athletic director, is promoting Mike Reed, James Bonnette and Jacqueline Martin in the school’s athletic department.

Reed, head softball coach Reed has been elevated to Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations along with retaining his head coaching duties. Bonnette has been promoted to Senior Associate AD for Compliance and Academic Support, and Martin has been moved to Associate AD for Operations/SWA. All three will retain their current roles in addition to their elevated duties.

“After evaluating the skills of our staff and the needs of our department, I’m excited to have these three strong leaders join the executive team,” Ferguson said. “Mike not only brings tremendous institutional knowledge and the perspective of an elite coach, but he also has past experience managing the department budget. We’re excited to open up this expanded role for him while he continues to coach our team.

“Jackie has been an incredible asset to the department in how she has organized our operations and game day experiences. She’s like a Swiss Army Knife, as she brings many tools to the table that can push us forward. And James is the content expert in compliance and has worked hard to innovate and lead us into a new era of college athletics.

“While these three are talented, I’m most excited about the values they model. We have a strong executive team in place to work with an equally strong group of coaches to fulfill our mission of ‘Molding student-athletes into champions of character, champions of competition, and champions in their careers.”

Reed recently completed his 25th year of coaching and 22nd year with UT Tyler after starting the program in 2004. He has led the Patriots to three national championships in his tenure, most notably the 2024 and 2025 Division II national championships. In addition to his coaching duties, Reed has served as an Assistant AD of Compliance and Assistant AD of Business and Budget during his time with the Patriots. He will continue to coach the Patriots softball team while taking on additional roles.

The Clarksville native earned his masters of education at UT Tyler while obtaining his bachelor’s degree in business administration from East Texas Baptist University. Reed and his wife Amanda have three children: Garrett, Gavin and Rylee Paige.

Bonnette just completed his eighth year with UT Tyler following the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year. He has spent 20 years working in collegiate athletics, and previously served as the Associate Director for Athletic Compliance at Texas A&M International before becoming UT Tyler’s first full-time Assistant AD for Compliance. Bonnette will continue his compliance role while also taking on additional roles in academic support.

A Lancaster, Ohio native who played baseball and earned two degrees from the University of Akron. Bonnette resides in Tyler with his wife, Gracy and daughter Scarlett.

Martin just completed her fourth season as the Assistant Director of Athletic Facilities and Operations. She joined UT Tyler in October of 2021 after serving as the Athletic Operations and Facility Coordinator at Western Colorado University for one year. She began her full-time career in collegiate athletics as a Facility, Events, & Construction Assistant at Texas A&M University. She will continue to serve in her role as Operations and Facility Coordinator while adding additional Senior Women’s Administrator duties.

Martin earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Sports Management Concentration in 2019 from Illinois College. Martin and her husband Brett currently reside in Tyler.