College Sports Information Directors of America

Four NCAA Division I conference commissioners will address The Future of Intercollegiate Athletics in a panel discussion at the 2007 CoSIDA Convention on July 3 in San Diego, Calif.

The panel includes Big West Conference Commissioner Dennis Farrell, Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson, Pac-10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen and Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson.

The panel will discuss items including how media impacts intercollegiate athletics, currently and in the future, including the internet and television.  The discussion will not be only about public relations issues, but also about the structure of the mediums.

 

Farrell, in his 15^th year as Big West Commissioner, has been active in representing the Big West on both the national and regional level. From 1994 to 1997 he served on the important NCAA Council and from 1991 to 1997 he sat on the NCAA Two-Year College Relations Committee (including serving as its chair from 1992 to 1995). He also served as the Division I-AAA Vice President of the Collegiate Commissioners Association and is chair of the NCAA Baseball Issues Committee. Farrell is also presently a member of the Los Angeles Sports Council which is active in securing, marketing and administering major athletic events for the Southern California area.

Before joining the Big West, Farrell was the sports information director for nearly three years at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, Calif. A 1974 graduate of San Diego State University, Farrell worked for the Daily Californian newspaper in El Cajon and radio station KDEO while attending college. From 1975 to 1977, he was employed as sports editor of the Saddleback Valley News in Mission Viejo. He also worked in the sports department of the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Prior to assuming the role of commissioner on July 1, 1992, Farrell served the conference in various capacities as an assistant/associate commissioner since joining the conference in 1980. During his Big West tenure, Farrell has acted as the primary rule interpreter, championship administrator, schedule coordinator and director of the league's successful postseason basketball tournament.

 

In his six-plus years at the helm of the Mountain West Conference, Thompson has been instrumental in negotiating nearly $230 million in television revenue. Thompson has guaranteed greater levels of television exposure for all MWC sports in the years ahead with the advent of the leagues partnership with College Sports Television (CSTV). A new era began in the fall of 2006 as CSTV became the official television partner for the Mountain West Conference. Thompson spearheaded the leagues potential 14-year agreement with CSTV, giving the fastest-growing independent cable network exclusive rights to Conference football and mens basketball, plus coverage for all other MWC sports. The agreement incorporates all Conference-related media and marketing rights, including all television, national over-the-air and satellite radio, video-on-demand, and online and broadband rights. The multi-media partnership also includes the MWC Television Network, the first-ever regional sports network dedicated solely to an intercollegiate athletic conference.

During his career, Thompson has served as a member of the Executive Committee and the Directors Cup Committee of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), as well as the governing NCAA Council and various Council subcommittees. He has also played a prominent role in hosting numerous mens and womens NCAA postseason basketball tournaments in St. Louis, Atlanta, New Orleans and Denver.

Prior to Thompson appointment as Mountain West Commissioner, he was the Commissioner of the American South (1987-91) and the Sun Belt (1991-98) Conferences.  He began his athletics career as an assistant sports information director at Kansas State before becoming PR Director of the Kansas City Kings of the NBA and the Director of Communications for the Metro Conference.

 

During Hansens tenure as Commissioner, the Pac-10 has inaugurated its nationally prominent women's sports program, created two football television programs, expanded television coverage in basketball.  He has also joined in establishing the Bowl Championship Series, developed Pac-10 relationships with six bowl games, and initiated an administrative fellowship program to expand minority opportunities in college athletic administration, all while remaining dramatically successful nationally in a broad range of sports. That success was capped by a historic 14 NCAA championships in 1996-97, and is reflected in the Conference's dominance of the annual Directors' Cup competition which identifies the nation's strongest athletic programs based on overall achievement.

Prominent in NCAA affairs, Hansen served on two major NCAA groups, the Gender Equity Task Force and the Division I Task Force on Restructuring. He chaired a committee on contest exemptions, and served on the Nominating and Special Events Committees. He currently is a member of the NCAA Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee, the NCAA Amateurism Clearinghouse Advisory Group and Chair of NCAA Football. He served for two years as President of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), and four years on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern California Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, and served on that organization's national Honor's Court for six years. He was presented the Northern California Chapter's Distinguished American Award in 1998.

His previous Pac-10 service as Public Relations Director from 1960 to 1967 followed graduation in 1959 from the University of Washington and a year as a reporter on the staff of the Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian. During his 1967-83 service with the NCAA, he was Director of Public Relations (1967-71) and Assistant Executive Director (1971-83). Significant duties included being director of the NCAA football television program for 11 years, administrator of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament for two years, director of governmental affairs, administrator for the Committee on Women's Athletics, and director of media relations for many NCAA events. He previously served as editor of the NCAA News, director of the Communications Department and staffed other key committees.

 

When Karl Benson was named the fifth commissioner in the history of the Western Athletic Conference on April 20, 1994, he brought with him a wealth of experience and a personal history of success to the position.

Nationally, Benson has earned the respect of his peers after serving on the NCAA Management Council from 1999-2002, and just completing a five-year term on the NCAA Mens Basketball Committee.

In the summer of 2005, he implemented Play Up a new marketing campaign to improve the public and private perceptions of the WAC and its members through national, local and regional touch points.

Benson came to the WAC after four successful years as the commissioner of the Mid-American Conference.  There, he implemented several innovative projects and was instrumental in the formation of the Las Vegas Bowl.

Prior to taking the reins of the MAC, Benson served on the NCAA staff for more than four years where he was the director of NCAA championships when selected as MAC commissioner.

Benson joined the NCAA staff in January, 1986, as a compliance representative and was appointed assistant director of championships in June, 1987.  He was promoted to director of championships in 1988.  In that position, Benson actively supervised eight assistant directors in their administration of 68 NCAA championships.