Paul Kabbes enters his fifth year at Louisiana Tech, his first as the senior associate athletics director for championship resources.

Kabbes will take the lead in soliciting major gifts for the athletics department. His main focus is to establish and cultivate relationships with both and new existing donors who have the ability to provide championship resources for Bulldog and Lady Techster student-athletes. Kabbes played a key role in the fundraising efforts for the new baseball, softball, and soccer facilities that opened this year after a 2019 tornado ripped through Ruston. He also was the lead fundraiser on the Thomas Assembly Center court renovation which was finalized in July 2021.
 
He will continue his role as men’s basketball sport supervisor and add football sport supervisor to his list of duties. Kabbes served as the lead fundraiser for the men’s basketball locker room renovation project completed in August 2019. He also works in conjunction with the director of athletics on football scheduling for Louisiana Tech.

Kabbes joined Louisiana Tech on March 1, 2017 after spending three years as the associate athletics director for external relations at the University of Illinois Springfield. He has also made stops at UAB and Illinois State during his career.

In the associate athletics director role at Louisiana Tech, Kabbes was responsible for securing private support for the University's athletic programs with an emphasis on major gifts. He provided oversight for the Louisiana Tech Athletic Club (LTAC) while providing direct supervision for the Director of LTAC, Coordinator of Athletic Advancement, and Graduate Assistant for LTAC.

Together with his team, LTAC finished two consecutive fiscal years with a record amount in dollars raised, surpassing $1.6 million for the first time ever in 2018. LTAC also reached a record number of members with 1,225.

During his time at UIS, Kabbes oversaw the areas of fundraising, marketing, media relations, ticket sales, and event management. He was also a member of the athletic senior administration. Kabbes provided sport oversight for men's soccer, baseball, volleyball and men's and women's golf, and served as the lead fundraiser for the baseball turf project installed in the spring of 2017.

From 2012-14, Kabbes served as the associate director of development at the University of Alabama Birmingham. His main focus was oversight of annual giving for the Blazer Boosters office that raised $1.4 million during the 2013 calendar year.

Prior to joining the Blazers, Kabbes spent two years with the Illinois State Athletic Department as the development graduate assistant. He assisted with the selling of club seats for a newly renovated Hancock Stadium on ISU's campus. During graduate school, Kabbes became strongly involved with fundraising for the Miracle League of Central Illinois, a non-profit organization that provides children with mental or physical disabilities the chance to play baseball.

The Normal, Illinois native graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in business management in 2010. He was a four-year student-athlete on the IWU baseball team and pitched for the 2010 Division III National Championship team.

Kabbes completed his master's degree in sport management from Illinois State University in 2012. He and his wife, Emily, live in Ruston with their two-year-old son, Bennett.