Azusa Pacific University, the NAIA Directors’ Cup champion in 2009-10, will hold its presentation during halftime of its September 18 football game against Whittier at 6 p.m. PT.

The Cardinal of Stanford will honor its athletics programs with its Division I Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup during halftime of its October 23 homecoming game versus Washington State.

The Division III Directors’ Cup will be presented on the campus of Williams College during halftime of its homecoming game against Wesleyan (Conn.) College on November 6.

“As NACDA continues to recognize collegiate sports champions from Divisions I, II and III and the NAIA, we want to acknowledge the fact that Capital One has announced a program to recognize both a men’s and women’s champion at the Division I level, but would like to point out that the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup is a broad-based program that represents all student-athletes at four-year colleges and universities across the United States and Canada (approximately 1,400 institutions),” said National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) President Dave Roach, director of athletics at Colgate University.

“Our Association supports and will continue to administer the Directors’ Cup program, which has been in existence for 17 years, and is currently sponsored by Learfield Sports. The Directors’ Cup was created by athletics administrators for athletics administrators and is a highly recognized mark of distinction among collegiate institutions, which honors success in many sports, both men’s and women’s.”

About NACDA: NACDA, now in its 46th year, is the professional and educational association for more than 6,500 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 2,200 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention. Additionally, NACDA administers 11 professional associations for the separate business units that report directly to the athletics directors. More information at NACDA.com.

The regional network will allow for WAC football and basketball games to be produced and distributed to media outlets in the respective school markets. Learfield Sports’ locally based WAC Sports Properties team has oversight of the operation through Learfield Sports’ extensive conference partnership.

The WSN will encompass affiliates in 15 different markets in the WAC members’ reach. In addition to the Sept. 18 Utah State/Fresno State match up at 6 p.m. MST, games already scheduled for broadcast are Idaho at Western Michigan on Oct. 2 (noon MST) and Boise State at New Mexico State on Oct. 2 (6 p.m. MST). The WAC Sports Network will release the remaining schedule of games at a later date, pending ESPN national broadcast selections.

“The WAC Sports Network provides another outstanding opportunity not only to showcase our football programs but also to promote the Conference in a positive manner,” said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson. “We are very appreciative of Learfield’s effort to put this together for the 2010-11 season and know that it will benefit all concerned.”

According to Learfield Sports’ Vice President Eric Buchanan, WSN will be an excellent addition to the WAC member schools and is designed to complement existing local and regional television agreements.

“WSN will help broaden visibility for the league’s member schools and create a simplistic way to distribute games to fans through the various media outlets,” added Buchanan. “We’ve enjoyed teaming with Karl and his entire staff in seeing this idea become a reality. We feel certain the schools and their fan base will like the added television element WSN will bring.”

“We truly value our relationship with the WAC, its member schools and especially Commissioner Karl Benson. He has been a terrific leader for the conference, and we think the WSN is one more example of that leadership,” said Andy Rawlings, Learfield’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Learfield Sports’ league relationship with the WAC is a natural fit as the company represents seven member schools – Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, San Jose State and Utah State. Overall, Learfield Sports manages multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate institutions and associations, including the Big Ten, Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA) and Missouri Valley Conference, and is title partner for the acclaimed Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. WAC Sports Properties specifically focuses on the league’s corporate partnership program and selling title sponsorships for championship events, as well as other conference events.

Dustin Nichols

Dustin earned his BBA from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and is still finishing up his master’s of sport management from Wichita State.

Nick, who is a native of the Bay Area and grew up attending Stanford games at Maples Pavilion, also received his undergraduate degree from UC San Diego. Nick not only has served as marketing intern with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, but he brings five years of consulting experience from Thomson Financial, where he worked closely with numerous Silicon Valley companies.

A University of South Florida alum, Patrick also served seven years with IBM in Tampa in roles as Systems Engineer and Technical Sales Design. Outside of the office, he enjoys traveling, water sports and playing golf.

He is an avid hockey player, having competed in high school, club leagues and many men’s leagues.  He coaches his daughter’s team and also serves on the board of directors for Bangor Youth Hockey.  Jason also has coached high school varsity tennis for more than 12 years and enjoys fishing, camping and spending time with his family.

The 734th ADT is the first-ever Joint Iowa Army and Iowa Air National Guard unit to be deployed overseas and will be in Afghanistan for approximately one year with a mission of providing training and advice to Afghan universities, provincial ministries, and local farmers with the goal of providing increased stability and improved opportunities for Afghanistan’s reemerging agribusiness sector.

The ADT is a self-contained volunteer unit composed of more than 60 Iowa Army National Guard and Iowa Air National Guard members with backgrounds and expertise in various sectors of the agribusiness field.

Before re-joining Learfield Sports’ family, Brian most recently served as Associate Athletics Director for Development at Wichita State University. He was with the University since Nov. 2006 and before that, with Arkansas State University as Assistant Athletic Director for Development.

Brian, a K-State grad who earned his master’s at Wichita State, will be moving to OKC with his wife, Lindsay, and their children, Bennett and Caleb.

Shannon Dippold

Kelley Frink is our newest Business Manager, supporting the Heartland Region.  Prior to joining Learfield, Kelley worked as a Tax Accountant and Auditor for Williams-Keepers and KPMG, respectively.  She is originally from Columbia, Missouri and received her undergraduate and Master’s of Accountancy degrees from the University of Missouri.  Kelley, husband Jake, yellow lab Baxter, and soon to be baby live in Columbia.  Welcome, Kelley!

Gwen Kesel and Heather Morris are our new Accounts Receivable Coordinators.  Gwen and Heather will work alongside Rebecca Dickson and Eva Yeager covering AR sports regions.  In an effort to improve service to our clients, we have also added two additional new faces, Marilyn Langley and Cara Berhorst, who are responsible for collection calls in all regions.   Please feel free to reach out to all of our Accounts Receivable group for your AR needs.