Forty-five years after helping create Seminole Boosters Inc., Andy Miller now knows who will carry the torch for FSU athletics fundraising into the future.

Central Michigan Athletics Director Michael Alford, who has been in that position for three years, has been hired following a national search to replace Miller as the new president of Seminole Boosters.

The school made the official announcement shortly after the story broke. Alford was introduced internally on Wednesday morning.

Don't miss out on our great football coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial

“The CEO Search Committee completed a six-month search process, and yesterday our Executive Committee approved Michael Alford as our next CEO,” said Bob Davis, chair of the Board of Directors of Seminole Boosters, Inc. in a press release from Florida State. “Michael has worked for some of the top sports programs in the country, both professional and collegiate. He is an incredibly successful fundraiser and brings experience as an athletic director, which will make our relationship with athletics through the FSUAA even stronger and will benefit both organizations.

“We are grateful to Andy Miller for over 45 years of leadership and vision that he has provided Seminole Boosters. The organization that he has built and led makes us unique in collegiate sports and is a big reason our position drew an incredible amount of interest from all over the country.

“We look forward to formally introducing Michael, Laura and their family in the very near future.”

Alford has a lengthy history in fundraising and on the business side of athletics. Before going to CMU, he was a senior associate athletics director at Oklahoma.

Before that, he led Alabama's marketing department and was the senior director for corporate partnerships and sales for the Dallas Cowboys from 2008 to 2012.

Alford's previous employers include ESPN, Southern Cal, the Cincinnati Bengals and the University of Cincinnati.

Miller is expected to stay with the program for several months to help Alford with the transition before retiring. During his four-plus decades at FSU, Miller helped elevate the fundraising unit from one that brought in a few hundred thousand dollars each year to now over $55 million annually.

Alford played baseball at Mississippi State University and at UAB, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts in 1993. He completed his master’s degree in athletics administration at the University of Arkansas in 1995.

Alford’s wife, Laura, played volleyball at Hawaii and coached at Cincinnati and UCI. They have three daughters, Audrey, Ashley and Anna Leigh.

Stay connected with Warchant.com for more on this story.

----------------------------------------------------

Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council