Greg Paules was introduced Monday as UC Riverside's new director of intercollegiate athletics, bringing with him a decade of Division I leadership experience and a mandate to deepen the Highlanders' roots in a city he believes has been underserved by its own university program.
Paules, 39, comes to UCR from Cal State Fullerton, where he served as senior associate athletics director and chief operating officer since 2020, overseeing a $24 million annual budget and completing more than $30 million in capital improvement projects. He replaces Wes Malette, who left UCR last year to become a deputy athletics director at the University of South Carolina.
"What drew me here is simple," Paules said at his introduction ceremony on the Riverside campus. "It's the potential."
He wasted little time in framing that potential in geographic terms. "As you see, Riverside continues to grow," he said. "Athletics will serve as a unifying force, a place where pride, connection, and shared experiences come to life."
UCR Chancellor S. Jack Hu, who will oversee Paules directly, called the hire a pivotal moment for the program. "Greg brings deep Division I athletic leadership experience, strong knowledge of the Big West Conference, and a proven record of developing philanthropic support for athletics," Hu said.
Paules inherits a program entering one of the most consequential periods in its history. California Baptist University, also based in Riverside, joins the Big West Conference this year, creating what figures to be one of the rare true crosstown rivalries in Division I college athletics: two four-year programs, the same city, the same conference, competing for the same fans, the same recruits, and the same piece of the Inland Empire's civic identity. (Comparisons to the Research Triangle's ACC cluster, Duke, North Carolina and NC State, are instructive but imprecise; those programs share a metro area, not a city.)
UCR sits on the hills above Riverside, a sentinel over the basin stretching toward Moreno Valley and San Bernardino. CBU sits near the 91 freeway in the heart of the city, woven into the daily geography of Riverside in a way the Highlanders have long struggled to match. Paules was asked directly about the rivalry Monday and didn't flinch.
"I think everyone will have those games circled as soon as the schedules come out," he said. "I know families are gonna be split and divided, and that's gonna make for some great conversation around the Thanksgiving table."
He cast the rivalry as a statement about regional identity. "We're not just this subset of LA that's kind of out there," Paules said. "We have a community here. We're going to show the world that it can be fun and it's a good place to be."
The crosstown dynamic will test Paules' development background almost immediately. Both programs will recruit from the same IE talent pool, compete for the same donors, and vie for the loyalty of the same families on game nights. Paules, who grew up in Monrovia and attended La Salle High School, knows the region from the inside.
"We can really get our arms around Riverside, Moreno Valley, and San Bernardino if we build a great product," Paules said. "It's a strong sports community and culture, and we just have to tie it to the university."
"We are entering a new era of Highlander athletics," he said. "I am honored to lead it."
UCR competes in 17 sports at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big West Conference. Paules was selected following a nationwide search.
