Harvard University

Katie Patton is in her first season as Harvard's Director of Football Operations, a position she was elevated to in April 2025. Patton previously served as the program’s Assistant Recruiting and Operations Coordinator for the 2024 Ivy League-winning campaign.
 
In her role, Patton is the Crimson’s point person regarding travel, facility usage and video, while working directly with athletic administration, the equipment staff and sports medicine team.
 
With Patton’s elevation, Patton became the youngest Director of Football Operations in Division I, the only female to hold the role in the Ivy League, and Harvard’s first woman to be named to the position.
 
Patton arrived at Harvard prior to the 2024 campaign from Michigan State where she earned her undergraduate degree, while also working with the Spartans football program and MSU's athletic communications office.
 
Joining the Michigan State football team in Aug. 2021, Patton served as its Office/Operations Student Assistant all four years as an undergraduate. In her role, Patton assisted the coaching staff year-round and helped manage the day-to-day operations, which included all aspects of practice, summer camps and other special events. A valued member of the MSU program, Patton also organized and assisted in various gatherings involving recruits, donors and other members of the East Lansing community.
 
In Patton's final year at Michigan State, she doubled her time at MSU's athletic department, taking on the role of Athletic Communications Intern. During Patton's one season in the office, she assisted with the media-relations efforts for several Spartan teams, including football, basketball, soccer, field hockey and volleyball.
 
Patton, who also served as Vice President of Communications for Alpha XI Delta, managing all communication strategies from Dec. 2021-22, graduated with a degree in journalism with a minor in public relations in the spring of 2024 and comes from a football background. Her father is a college football coach with stints at Northwestern, Oklahoma, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Eastern Michigan and Miami (Ohio). Her brother, meanwhile, played football at Northern Illinois, coached at Wyoming and is now on the coaching staff at NIU.