After completing his master's degree, McClelland became the first Southland Conference championships intern before becoming coordinator of athletic events, sales, and marketing at McNeese State University in 2006.
In 2007, then-McNeese State athletic director Sonny Watkins announced his retirement and McClelland was named interim AD.
[8] During his time at McNeese, he led an improvement in team Academic Progress Rate (APR) that exceeded NCAA targets, set single game and season attendance records in several men's and women's programs, directed $11 million in facility construction and improvements.
[8] Off the field, nearly 1,200 Louisiana Tech student-athletes were recognized on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, including a record 212 in 2018-19, and continued to earn high marks in APR and Graduation Success Rate.
These two facilities not only changed the landscape of football game days at Louisiana Tech, but also produced more than $1.2 million in additional revenue per year for the athletic department.
In 2020, McClelland left Louisiana Tech to become deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue generation at Vanderbilt.
At Vanderbilt, McClelland provided oversight of the transformational Vandy United campaign, The largest athletics fundraising campaign in Vanderbilt history, Vandy United raised over $300 million to support the construction of new and renovated athletic facilities at the university.
[5] On July 30, 2023, Rice University president Reginald DesRoches announced that McClelland would be the school's next director of athletics.