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Creighton University's Bruce Rasmussen appointed
to Division I Men's Basketball Committee

Bruce Rasmussen, the director of athletics at Creighton University, has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be named to the men’s basketball committee,” Rasmussen said. “The tournament is one of the premier events that I have ever been associated with, and I look forward to serving with such an elite group in the coming years.”

Rasmussen’s five-year term begins September 1. He will be the only newcomer to the committee for the 2013-14 academic year, replacing current chair Mike Bobinski, whose term was scheduled to end August 31. However, Bobinski was recently hired as the athletics director at Georgia Tech and therefore will be stepping down from the committee next month when he resigns from his current position as athletics director at Xavier University.

Rasmussen has been at Creighton for the past 33 years, serving as head women’s basketball coach for 12 seasons, culminating in a 28-4 season that saw the Bluejays win the Western Athletic Conference regular season and postseason championships and advance to the 1992 NCAA tournament. After serving as associate athletics director for two years, he was promoted to director of athletics, where he has spent the past 19 years leading the school to academic and athletics prominence while setting new standards for fundraising and overseeing the completion of impressive facilities. The dean of Missouri Valley Conference athletic directors, Rasmussen is a 2008 inductee into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame.

In addition to Rasmussen’s appointment, Joe Castiglione, the director of athletics at the University of Oklahoma and a member of the committee for the past two years, was reappointed to the committee with a three-year term that will expire in August of 2016.

Besides Bobinski and Castiglione, current members of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee include Joe Alleva, director of athletics, Louisiana State University; Scott Barnes, director of athletics, Utah State University; Doug Fullerton, commissioner, Big Sky Conference; Mark Hollis, director of athletics, Michigan State University; Judy MacLeod, executive associate commissioner, Conference USA; Ron Wellman, director of athletics, Wake Forest University; and Jamie Zaninovich, commissioner, West Coast Conference. Wellman will take over as chair following the completion of the third round of the 2013 championship, and will serve as chair for the 2013-14 season.

“Bruce’s background with basketball and his leadership role with a university that has sustained excellence with its basketball program made the decision to appoint him to this committee a natural fit,” said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s vice president for men’s basketball. “We look forward to his contributions. We’re also thrilled to have Joe Castiglione on the committee for a full term as it provides experience and stability to the group moving forward.”