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Dawson, Mackin named to DI Women’s Basketball Committee

By Greg Johnson
NCAA.org

Chris Dawson, associate commissioner of the Pac-12, and Brian Mackin, the director of athletics at UAB, have been appointed to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.

Dawson and Mackin replace Renee Baumgartner and Leslie Claybrook on the committee. Both Baumgartner and Claybrook have recently taken new jobs in the membership, which makes them unable to represent the region they were originally appointed to fill.

Baumgartner, formally at Oregon as an administrator and women’s golf coach, is now the deputy athletics director at Syracuse. Claybrook, formally the senior associate athletics director at Rice, became an assistant commissioner at the Southeastern Conference.

The appointment process for the committee is coordinated through conference offices. The committee is composed of 10 members, with at least from each region (East, Mideast, Midwest, West) and six at-large members. The NCAA Division I Administration Cabinet must approve the appointments.

A maximum of three committee members may be from any single region. Six of the members represent Football Bowl Subdivision institutions or conferences, while four represent the Football Championship Subdivision or Division I (non-football) schools or conferences. Nominations may come from all 31 eligible conferences in Division I.  Committee members serve a term of five years and are replaced at the expiration of their term or if they depart their institution or conference affiliation at any time during their term.

Dawson has worked at the Pac-12 since 2001 when she was named assistant commissioner of Olympic sports. She was promoted to associate commissioner in February 2006. She is the conference liaison for women’s basketball, men’s soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and softball. She is also responsible for administering the officiating policy.

Dawson currently serves on the NCAA Division I Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Her previous NCAA committee service includes having chaired  the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet. She also served on the Strategic Planning Cabinet, the Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee, the Woman of the Year Committee and the Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee.

Her term on the women’s basketball committee lasts through 2016. 

Mackin was named UAB’s director of athletics on Feb. 14, 2007. He moved into the position after spending five years as senior associate athletics director for external affairs for the Blazers.

Mackin, a former baseball student-athlete at UAB, has overseen facility improvements that include a new 10,000-square foot weight room and a new athletic training facility that opened in the fall of 2008.

In 2006, Mackin was named Division I-A Fundraiser of the Year by the National Association of Athletic Development Directors. Under Mackin’s leadership, contributions to UAB athletics nearly tripled from $1.3 million in 2001 to about $3.7 million in 2006.

Mackin’s term on the women’s basketball committee lasts through 2014.