Kentrell Kearney returned to Norfolk State University as the Associate Athletic Director for Student Services in November 2023. In this role, Kearney has administrative oversight of compliance, academics, mental health, sports medicine, and strength and conditioning.
Prior to his return, Kearney served as the senior associate athletics director for compliance at Dartmouth College and as the associate athletics director for compliance at Florida A&M University.
At both institutions, Kearney oversaw all aspects of the athletics compliance office, ensuring the intercollegiate athletics program operated within NCAA, conference and institutional rules and guidelines. At Florida A&M, he also served as the sport administrator for several teams and as the advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and developed student-athlete programming related to personal development, career development, mental health and community service.
Before Florida A&M, Kearney spent two years as the director of compliance at Norfolk State. In that role, he served as the day-to-day manager of the athletics compliance office. He developed and implemented a comprehensive compliance program that supported the department’s commitment to NCAA legislation through educating coaches and staff, monitoring activities and enforcing rules.
Kearney has also worked at the conference level with both the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). He spent two and a half years as the assistant director of compliance/championships at the MEAC, helping oversee all aspects of the conference compliance program. That work included serving as the primary compliance liaison with member institutions for rules education and interpretations. His other responsibilities included oversight of the conference’s National Letter of Intent (NLI) program and serving as the primary liaison to the MEAC Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
He spent two years as the compliance services coordinator at the SWAC, where he helped oversee the office’s day-to-day compliance responsibilities, including NCAA rules and governance, and education and interpretations of NCAA and SWAC rules.
Kearney earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Norfolk State in 2007 and a master’s degree in sport management from Old Dominion University in 2010. He is an alum of the NCAA Dr. Charles Whitcomb Leadership Institute (2024) and a member of the National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC). He has also attended several NCAA workshops, including the NCAA Leadership Academy and Effective Facilitation workshops.
