Early Bird

Roadrunner joins NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics

John Kietzmann, associate director of athletics for marketing and promotions/external relations, will serve as the committee’s vice chair.

By Rob White

June 18, 2019

John Kietzmann, MSU Denver’s associate director of athletics for marketing and promotions/external relations, has been named vice chair of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics for 2019-20.

Kietzmann is set to begin his ninth academic year with the Metropolitan State University of Denver Athletics Department. At MSU Denver, he oversees marketing, promotions and special events, along with media relations.

The mission of the Committee on Women’s Athletics is to provide leadership and assistance to the NCAA in its efforts to provide equitable opportunities, fair treatment and respect for all women in all aspects of intercollegiate athletics.

The committee seeks to expand and promote opportunities for female student-athletes, administrators, coaches and officiating personnel. The committee promotes governance, administration and conduct of intercollegiate athletics at the institutional, conference and national levels that are inclusive, fair and accessible to women. The committee develops programs and resources that can be of practical use to the NCAA in its effort to achieve these ends.

The Committee on Women’s Athletics consists of 18 members, including six from Division I, six  from Division II and six from Division III. Six positions are allocated to men, six are allocated for women, and six are unallocated. One student-athlete from each division also serves as a member of the committee.

The committee studies and makes policy recommendations concerning opportunities for women in athletics at the institutional, conference and national levels, as well as other issues directly affecting women’s athletics.

General duties of committee members include increasing opportunities for female student-athletes, coaches, administration and officiating personnel; assisting the NCAA in achieving gender equity and complying with Title IX; increasing participation opportunities for female student-athletes; increasing professional-advancement opportunities for women, and more.

Kietzmann’s marketing efforts at MSU Denver were instrumental in the men’s basketball team setting its season attendance record in 2013-14, as well as securing $1 million naming rights for the Regency Athletic Complex at MSU Denver. He also designed the new floor in the Auraria Event Center, home to the Roadrunners basketball and volleyball teams.

Kietzmann has been instrumental in the fundraising efforts for the Regency Athletic Complex, which broke ground in spring 2013 and fully opened in 2015.

He joined the Roadrunners during fall 2011 after nearly six years in the athletics department at Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D., where he spent his last two years as assistant athletic director.