MIKE HAMRICK, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Having elevated Rebel Athletics to unprecedented success both on and off the field, Mike Hamrick enters his seventh year as UNLV's Director of Athletics in 2009-10.

UNLV has enjoyed unparalleled achievement over the last five years under Hamrick's watch, winning 22 Mountain West Conference Championships, including five each in 2006-07 and 2007-08, and a school-record six MWC titles in 2004-05.

In addition to a strong showing in the MWC, several Rebel teams have advanced to NCAA and NIT play: men's and women's basketball, women's soccer, baseball, softball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's swimming, women's track, and men's and women's tennis and volleyball. In 2007, the Runnin' Rebel basketball team reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991, finishing with an overall record of 30-7 and a final ranking of 14th in the country. In addition, the Runnin' Rebels averaged 13,791 fans for home games during MWC play, UNLV's highest average attendance for league games since 1997-98. The Runnin' Rebels returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and won their first-round game, giving the program back-to-back NCAA Tournament wins for the first time since 1990-91. During that two-year run, UNLV recorded 57 wins, which was the ninth most in the country over that span among teams that played in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. During the 2008-09 season the Runnin' Rebels averaged 14,971 fans for home games during MWC play and overall UNLV sent six teams to NCAA and NIT postseason competitions.

Along with their excellence on the field, Rebel student-athletes have reached new heights outside of the stadiums as well during Hamrick's six years. UNLV Athletics set or tied several records in the classroom in 2008-09, including having 13 of 17 teams with a GPA of 3.0 or greater and 131 student-athletes named to academic all-conference teams. Additionally, UNLV had three programs (men's golf, women's tennis and volleyball) turn in perfect Academic Progress Rate scores of 1000, and 15 of 17 sports programs had better four-year APR scores than their four-year scores released a year ago. Overall UNLV reached an all-time high with a score of 935, and no UNLV team was subject to any historical or contemporaneous APR penalties.

Hamrick announced a new partnership between the Athletics Department and ISP Sports on Aug. 7, 2007. The two entities are working together with UNLV's multi-media rights and corporate sales and sponsorship development for athletics, special events and entertainment, which will guarantee UNLV Athletics more than $32 million over a 10-year period. Also as part of the agreement, $3.5 million has been spent on equipment upgrades, which include a new center-hung scoreboard, a new LED ring beam and a new courtside signage system at the Thomas & Mack Center, a new marquee outside the arena and a new baseball scoreboard at Wilson Stadium. UNLV also signed an exclusive deal with Nike in 2008 worth more than $3 million, which outfits student-athletes with the latest Nike equipment and apparel.

UNLV also just recently completed an 18-month NCAA certification process and was certified with no conditions.

In his second year at Las Vegas, Hamrick oversaw the restructuring of the Athletics Department to include direct oversight of the Thomas & Mack Center, Cox Pavilion and Sam Boyd Stadium in order to better serve the school's varsity sports. In the three years since, this area recorded its best financial period in UNLV's history. He also streamlined fundraising efforts with the introduction of the Rebel Athletic Fund, which has significantly increased the private donations to UNLV athletics.

In Hamrick's six years at UNLV, nearly $11 million has been used to improve athletic facilities, including new lights at the Bill "Wildcat" Morris Rebel Park football practice facility, the total renovation of the courts at Fertitta Tennis Complex and the Runnin' Rebel basketball locker room, replacement of the soccer playing surface and irrigation system at Peter Johann Memorial Field, replacement of the baseball infield at Earl E. Wilson Stadium and a complete pool replacement at Buchanan Natatorium. Included in that is the $3.5 million in facility upgrades to the Thomas & Mack Center and Earl E. Wilson Stadium through the ISP Sports agreement.

Hamrick was also instrumental in working with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Las Vegas Events in bringing the Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships back to the Thomas & Mack Center. After a three-year stint in Denver, the event returned to the UNLV campus in 2007 and a recently announced three-year extension will keep the event in Las Vegas at least through 2013. In 2007, Hamrick's department was recognized by the Women's Sports Foundation with a grade of "A-" after the organization compiled a study comparing the percentage of female students to the percentage of female athletes over 10 years at NCAA colleges and universities. Grades were assigned to each school based on proportionality.

Hamrick served as a member of the initial Bowl Championship Series AD Advisory Committee and is a current member of the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Board of Directors. He is a past member of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee and chair of the West Region Baseball Committee, a position he held until September of 2006.

Hamrick, who spent the previous eight years leading East Carolina University to unprecedented success, including overseeing $46 million in facility improvements, was no stranger to Las Vegas as he began his professional career at UNLV in 1981-82, working in the athletics promotions area.

Prior to going to ECU in April 1995, Hamrick was the Director of Athletics at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, where he engineered the Trojans' move into the Sun Belt Conference. Before going to UALR, Hamrick served as assistant athletics director at Illinois State University from 1984-90. At ISU, he initiated and coordinated departmental external activities. He also served as Director of the Redbird Educational and Scholarship Fund. Also, Hamrick worked as Assistant to the Director of Athletics at the University of Kansas from 1982-84.

A 1980 graduate of Marshall University, Hamrick played football for the Thundering Herd and was a two-year starter (1978-79) at linebacker. In 1981 he received a master's degree from Ohio University, where he was also an assistant football coach. He earned the Ohio University's Sports Administration Program's Distinguished Alumus Award in 2007. Hamrick and his wife, Soletta, are the parents of three children - twin sons, Brett and Justin (21), and daughter, Mollie Ann (18).