Staff Directory

Tyler Muse

Title:
Associate Athletic Director for External Relations
Email:

Tyler Muse joined Rice Athletics in November 2025 as Associate Athletic Director for External Relations, where he oversees marketing, creative services, broadcast productions, and communications for the Owls. In this role, Muse is responsible for driving attendance growth, enhancing the Rice Athletics brand, strengthening campus and community engagement, and elevating the overall game day and fan experience across all sport programs.

Muse served as Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement at the University of Houston from 2019 to 2025, where he played an instrumental role in elevating multiple programs nationally through innovative marketing, fan engagement, and game day experience strategies. He served as the primary marketing contact and game day producer for men’s basketball and volleyball, while also overseeing marketing initiatives for soccer and track & field, and assisting with all 17 sport programs.

During Muse’s six-year tenure, Houston Men’s Basketball emerged as one of the nation’s premier programs, compiling a 97–6 home record and establishing one of the strongest home-court advantages in college basketball. His efforts coincided with a historic run that included one national championship appearance (2025), two Final Four appearances (2021, 2025), five conference regular-season championships (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), and three conference tournament championships (2021, 2022, 2025). Under his leadership, the program shattered every men's basketball attendance record at the Fertitta Center, highlighted by the 2023–24 season that produced 17 sellouts, averaged 106% capacity (ranking first among Power Five programs and seventh nationally), and culminated in a record crowd of 7,933 against Kansas. During the 2022–23 season, Muse helped raise average actual attendance by 44% and student attendance by 39%, setting a single-game student attendance record through innovative campus engagement initiatives and incentive-based programs.

Muse also led a transformative period for Houston Volleyball, producing one of the most successful seasons of fan engagement in program history. The 2023 campaign resulted in a 137% increase in paid tickets, 109% growth in total tickets distributed, a 127% increase in average attendance, and a 214% increase in student attendance. The season culminated in a program-record and all-time University of Houston women’s sporting event attendance mark of 7,047 against Texas, setting a new benchmark for volleyball attendance and atmosphere.

Across both programs, Muse developed and executed a strategic, competition-driven game day presentation model focused on energy, tradition, and crowd impact. He founded the men’s basketball student section “The Cage,” resurrected historic traditions, introduced new in-arena elements, implemented coordinated free-throw distraction strategies, large-scale visual elements, including giant COOGS letters, and built detailed game scripts designed to maximize home-court advantage and directly support on-court success.

In addition to his sport-specific responsibilities, Muse coordinated Houston Football game day operations and student tailgating, managed Houston Athletics’ social media platforms, assisted with the creation and distribution of all marketing collateral and promotional materials, and played a key role in the launch of the “Phi Slama Jama” branded merchandise line. His work earned national recognition, including NACMA Silver and Bronze Awards for excellence in marketing, digital strategy, and event presentation.

Prior to Houston, Muse spent one year at Louisiana State University as Assistant Director of Marketing, where he served as the primary contact for Gymnastics, Volleyball, and Track & Field. His marketing leadership helped LSU Gymnastics achieve the highest average attendance in program history (12,009), finish first in the SEC, and rank among the top programs nationally and across all women’s college athletics.

Muse began his collegiate athletics career at the University of Missouri, where he served as Marketing Assistant and led successful attendance, revenue, and brand initiatives across multiple Olympic sports, including a record-setting attendance increase for Mizzou Tennis. He also played a key role in rebranding the Truman Kids Club and developing the Mizzou Spirit Program for community engagement.

A native of Roswell, Georgia, Muse earned a Master of Science in Sports Management and Policy and a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management from the University of Georgia, where he worked extensively in the Georgia Athletic Association’s marketing and promotions departments. Prior to Georgia, he played collegiate baseball at Western Kentucky, Connors State, and briefly at Rutgers.

Muse and his wife, Chelsea, have two daughters, Kennedy and Morgan.