James D. Fiore Jr. (born August 13, 1968) is an American sports administrator who served as the Director of Athletics at Stony Brook University from 2003 to 2013.
[1] Fiore was named Stony Brook's athletic director in 2003 and was fired in 2013 after numerous accusations of sexual harassment, misappropriation of university resources, and employment discrimination.
[3] In 1993, Fiore served as an executive assistant at the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and later that year was a compliance intern at Fordham University.
By 2012, Stony Brook had 1,300 annual donors and secured a $4.3 million donation by billionaire alumnus Glenn Dubin for a 8,000-square foot weight facility.
Fiore led efforts to found the Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band, offer the FCS maximum number of scholarships for football, hiring academic sports staff, extending campus dining hall hours and aggressively fundraising the university's alumni base.
[9] A week later, ESPN's Kate Fagan reported that numerous accusations of inappropriate behavior had been brought against Fiore over the last two years.
Woodruff and senior associate AD Matt Larsen, now the athletic director at North Dakota State, both asked Fiore to resign, but he refused.
[12] Female coaches and student-athletes at Stony Brook alleged that Fiore would directly ask them about their sexual orientation and send them inappropriate text messages from his university cell phone.
However, official documents claimed that Stony Brook did not interview key female coaches, staff and administrators during its internal investigation into Fiore's alleged misconduct.
[12] Once considered a "rising star" in college athletics for his role in elevating the Stony Brook program, the sexual misconduct allegations halted Fiore's career.