Last modified: Thursday, September 2, 2004
Indiana University appoints Rick Greenspan as director of intercollegiate athletics
NOTE: More information about the search process that resulted in Rick Greenspan's appointment is available at the Web site of the IU director of intercollegiate athletics at https://www.indiana.edu/~adsearch/.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University today (Sept. 2) announced that IU President Adam W. Herbert has appointed Rick Greenspan, director of intercollegiate athletics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, as the university's next athletics director.
Greenspan succeeds J. Terry Clapacs, who has served as director of intercollegiate athletics at IU since November 2002 and continues as IU vice president and chief administrative officer. As athletics director at IU, Greenspan will oversee 24 Division I-A programs with over 600 student-athletes in men's and women's intercollegiate sports.
A native of Greenbelt, Md., Greenspan brings to IU a depth and breadth of experience after 25 years in the administration and management of intercollegiate athletics, physical education and recreation programs at public and private universities. He also has served in athletic conference and NCAA leadership capacities.
"In Rick Greenspan, Indiana University has found a consummate professional -- a successful, experienced athletics administrator of unquestioned integrity who embraces the values of this great institution," Herbert said.
"The success of our student-athletes, as measured by their performance on the field and in the classroom, is of paramount importance," Herbert said. "Rick not only understands that principle -- he has perfected it."
"I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the athletics department at Indiana University," Greenspan said. "The history and proud traditions associated with IU's athletics programs are legendary. I am committed to ensuring that IU's student-athletes and athletic programs perform at the level of excellence which we are right to expect," he added.
Herbert emphasized that the university's due diligence process was extensive.
"We conferred with scores of individuals who have had previous experiences with Rick, including fellow athletics directors, coaches, conference leaders, administrators and others. To a person, each offered a resounding endorsement regarding his character, talents and abilities," the president added.
"The search process went exactly according to a plan to which the committee agreed at its first meeting in early June," said Ken Beckley, chairperson of the 16-member search committee and president of the Indiana University Alumni Association.
"Approximately 100 persons applied, representing a diverse pool of professions, race and gender.
"Throughout July, the committee looked at applicant materials and compared each candidate to the list of qualifications that we sought in the person we and the president wanted for athletics director," continued Beckley. "The pool was eventually narrowed to a small group of persons who were interviewed in Chicago in early August, and we submitted a select list of high-quality candidates to the president."
"The search committee did an excellent job in identifying Rick Greenspan as a candidate for the position of athletics director at IU," Clapacs said. "I am pleased to hand over the reins to someone who is so capable. He is a man of good values and high standards. I expect the department to thrive under his outstanding leadership, and I believe that he will represent IU in a way that all Hoosiers want to be represented."
"During several hours of conversations with Rick, I became convinced that he was the person to lead IU athletics into the future," Beckley said. "He cares deeply about student athletes and coaches, he is effective in the areas of fiscal management and fund-raising, and he will relate well to our alumni and his colleagues in athletics."
At Army, Greenspan was director of intercollegiate athletics, where he led a program with a $23 million budget that served nearly 800 student-athletes. While there, Greenspan oversaw the design and construction of several major athletics facilities and the updating of older ones. He overhauled the annual giving program which resulted in a 300 percent increase in gifts, and he created a system of coaches' accountability and support programs in which 34 percent of all student-athletes were recognized on the dean's list.
"Rick Greenspan saved the Army athletics program," said Brigadier Gen. Dan Kaufman, dean of the Academic Board and chairman of the Athletic Committee at the United States Military Academy. "We were in severe financial difficulties, and this affected our program of competition. He fixed all of that."
Army teams were highly competitive on Greenspan's watch. In overall sports standings in the Patriot League, Army's men's and women's athletic teams finished second in the league's President's Cup standings for the past three consecutive years.
Before going to Army, Greenspan was director of intercollegiate athletics at Illinois State University, a 19-sport NCAA Division I program. There, he managed a $10 million budget and developed a reserve in excess of $5 million. Athletics facilities and student-athlete support services were enhanced during his watch, and ISU teams received the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Trophy, an honor representative of overall athletic program excellence, four times -- 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. The rate of student athlete graduation was nearly 70 percent, well above that of the general student population on campus.
Greenspan's leadership has extended into the athletic conferences with which he was associated as well as with the NCAA. He was chairperson of the Patriot League Athletic Administration Committee. He is currently a member of the board of trustees of the NCAA Division I-A Athletic Director's Association, a member of the NCAA Management Council, and a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Executive Committee. While at ISU, he was the Gateway Football Conference President, chaired the Missouri Valley Conference media, championship and finance committees, and was a member of the Gender Equity, Long-Range Planning and Expansion Committee for the Missouri Valley/Gateway Conference.
Greenspan spent one year as senior associate athletics director at the University of Miami (Fla.) before becoming athletics director at ISU.
Prior to his time at Miami, he was at the University of California at Berkeley for eight years, where he was associate athletics director for external affairs and also served as acting athletics director for one year.
Greenspan held positions in physical education and recreational sports at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of New Hampshire at the beginning of his career.
He earned a master's degree in physical education with an athletics administration emphasis from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. He also has a bachelor's degree in behavioral science from the University of Maryland, where he was a four-year letter-winner in baseball.
Greenspan has been given a five-year contract. His salary as Indiana University director of intercollegiate athletics has been set at $275,000 per year. After completing the terms of his contract, he is entitled to deferred compensation of $30,000 per year. His starting date is set for mid-September.
Greenspan and his wife Jenny will live in Bloomington. The couple has two grown children -- Emily, 23, a graduate of the University of Connecticut; and Ben, 20, a student at the University of Connecticut, where he plays intercollegiate baseball.
