Fernandez, a native of Cornelia, Georgia, came to the University of Tennessee as Associate Director in October of 2003 after serving five years at the University of Arkansas as academic counselor and academic coordinator for Men's Athletics. He received his masters from the University of Arkansas and his undergraduate from Clemson University, where he was a former football student-athlete. Fernandez is also a 2005 graduate of the NCAA's Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males and Females.