Paul Mott 1980; 1981 (id)

Paul Mott, although born in Germany, Paul didn't start playing soccer until he was 12 years old and living in the States. At 12, he started as a winger, as he gained physical stature he moved into midfield and eventually into the sweeper role. The Rowdies' 1979 first round draft choice, signed a professional contract in February, out of Dartmouth College. Drafted in the 18th pick by the Rowdies. Was, also drafted by the MISL New York Arrows.

He could play in the defense or midfield, he was quick, had neat control and good distribution. He was strong in the tackle, and a good left foot. Made 13 appearances during the 1980 outdoor season.

After his short playing career, Paul began his career in secondary school administration as an admissions counselor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., from 1981-83. From 1983-85, he served as assistant director of admissions at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Mott went on to spend eleven years as director of college counseling, a teacher of civil rights and civil liberties and varsity soccer coach at St. Mark’s School of Texas (located in Dallas).

He was inducted into the Dartmouth College Hall of Fame (his alma mater) in 1984 after finishing his career as the school’s 10th all-time leading scorer. Mott served as his team’s captain and received All-America honors as a senior. In addition, Mott was named team MVP as a senior, was a two-time All-Ivy League and three-time All-New England selectee.

Paul was named president of the New Orleans Hornets on April 28, 2005. As the team’s president, he oversees all business aspects of the franchise, inlcuding strategic planning, business developlment, marketing and branding and day-to-day operations. Mott came to the Hornets from the NBA league office in New York, where he had served as senior director of team marketing and business development since December 2001. While in that position, he worked with eight different NBA franchises (inlcuding the Hornets) on relevant issues key to each respective team, including marketing, development, public and community relations and ticketing. Before to joining the NBA front office, Mott spent five years with Major League Soccer. Two of those years were spent at the league office as vice president of club services, where he worked with each team on ticket sales, marketing and business development. The three years prior to that were spent with the Dallas Burn (who have since changed their name to F.C. Dallas) in a variety of executive roles, including senior vice president. He began his career with the Burn working on special projects several years after putting in the successful bid to bring one of the inaugural franchises to Dallas. After the first season, Mott was promoted to vice president of operations and administration before subsequently being promoted to senior vice president. Rather than pursuing the team presidency when that position came open, Mott chose to accept the vice president of club services position at the MLS league office. In addition to his work with MLS, Mott also has extensive experience working with international soccer competition. He served as a field producer at the 1994 World Cup in Dallas and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (for both the preliminary round games and the medal round games). Mott also spent many years assisting U.S. Soccer with men’s and women’s national team games and was an enthusiastic member of the World Cup Dallas speaker’s bureau.

NEW YORK (Monday, September 17, 2007) - Major League Soccer today announced that Paul Mott, former president of the NBA New Orleans Hornets and veteran of the NBA's team services department, has been appointed Head of Team Services. In his new role, Mott will oversee the Team Services department for MLS, supporting the business efforts of the League's teams, with a specific emphasis on ticket sales and service functions. He will lead a team of Account Managers to consult, train and implement best practices via the teams' president/general manager and ticket sales and service managers.