Robert Carlisle joined App State Athletics as Director of Student-Athlete Development in January 2022 and was promoted to Assistant A.D. for Student-Athlete Development in January 2023.

Carlisle, who arrived in Boone from Texas A&M University, oversees the BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Mountaineers RISE program that aims to develop, nurture, support and prepare App State student-athletes to be world-class leaders.

Elements of the Mountaineers RISE program include professional and career development, community engagement and leadership development. In conjunction with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, special events that are hosted annually include the Mountaineer Welcome Back, Letter Jacket Ceremonies, Senior Graduation Dinners and the Appspy’s Awards.

In addition to his time as an academic advisor with the Aggies’ football team from 2014-19 and the Texas A&M College of Engineering from 2019-21, Carlisle taught student success seminar courses as an instructor in the College of Engineering.

At Augustana College (Sioux Falls, S.D.) from 2012-14, Carlisle was a graduate assistant with the football team, an academic advisor and an instructor in the health, physical education and recreation department.

A two-time Division II national champion football player at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, Mich.), Carlisle earned a bachelor’s in physical education from GVSU in 2009 and a master’s in sports administration and leadership from Augustana in 2014.

Carlisle earned a Ph.D. in recreation, park and tourism sciences with a specialization in youth development from Texas A&M in 2023.

Carlisle and his wife, Ebony, have two children, RJ and Parker.