Bio

Chris Spells is entering his seventh year with CMS Athletics in 2023-24 as the Assistant Athletic Director overseeing athletic facility operations, recreation, and campus engagement.

Spells joined CMS Athletics with the primary role of operationalizing Roberts Pavilion, the campus’ new 150,000 square foot facility for Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation in the Spring of 2016. In addition, he served as the Director of Recreation, and helped revitalize the campus’ recreation and wellness offerings with club sports, intramurals, and fitness programming.

On the operations front, Spells leads the games management and scheduling for CMS’ 21 varsity sports.  In addition to those roles, he currently serves as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee advisor, as well as the head of the Student Athlete Engagement subcommittee on the CMS DEI committee. 

Before joining Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Spells worked in the athletics department at Stanford as the assistant director of recreational facilities and operations. During his five years in Palo Alto, he worked in a variety of roles, including leading games and event management, and also had the opportunity to open and manage two new recreation facilities on their campus.

Spells graduated from California State University at Fresno in 2021 with a bachelor's of science degree in kinesiology.