Joey Bailey - Deputy A.D./Strategic Initiatives & Administration - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Joey Bailey

Title:
Deputy A.D./Strategic Initiatives & Administration
Email:
Phone:
662-325-0863

Sport Oversight: Baseball and Women's Basketball

Joey Bailey was named Deputy Athletics Director for Strategic Initiatives and Administration at Mississippi State University on February 6, 2023. In this role, Bailey provides executive leadership for the department’s operations, driving the execution of strategic priorities and translating departmental strategy into action across the organization. She leads cross-functional alignment and enterprise planning that support competitive success, while establishing operational standards and systems that enhance efficiency and consistency.

Bailey oversees a broad portfolio that includes strategic planning, administration, capital projects and facilities planning, event management and game operations, sport administration and campus partnerships. She leads the execution of the Mississippi State Athletics Master Plan, ensuring alignment with long-term vision, donor intent, and departmental objectives. In addition, Bailey directs department-wide strategic planning efforts, including the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategic plan encompassing organizational structure, stakeholder engagement and enterprise-level initiatives.

Bailey joined Mississippi State from the University of Oklahoma, where she served as Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives and was a member of the senior leadership team under longtime Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione. At Oklahoma, she led the creation and execution of the department’s strategic plan, managed high-priority special projects, oversaw strategic communications initiatives, and served as a trusted advisor to the athletics director. She also played a key role on Oklahoma’s SEC Transition Committee, helping guide the department’s preparation for entry into the Southeastern Conference.

Prior to her role in strategic initiatives, Bailey played a central role in aligning and integrating Oklahoma Athletics’ external units as part of a department-wide transformation to a modern, 21st-century athletics model launched in August 2021. That effort contributed to nationally recognized, record-breaking attendance figures and historic revenue achievements.

Earlier in her tenure at Oklahoma, Bailey led donor engagement and stewardship initiatives for the department’s fundraising arm, The Sooner Club, where she developed the department’s first comprehensive stewardship strategy. She oversaw the vision, planning and execution of statue unveilings honoring legendary head coach Bob Stoops, Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield and the Selmon Brothers. Bailey also spearheaded the launch of the Women of Championship Excellence initiative, a dedicated fundraising effort for women’s sports that raised more than $25.2 million in its inaugural year for female-focused facility projects.

Prior to her time at Oklahoma, Bailey gained experience with Legends, the Dallas Cowboys and IMG Properties.

No stranger to the Southeastern Conference, Bailey was a member of the Arkansas Razorbacks women’s basketball team. She earned her bachelor of arts in journalism, with an emphasis in public relations and advertising, from the University of Arkansas in 2014, and her master of business administration from the Sam Walton College of Business in 2016.