OGDEN, Utah (November 16, 2018) - The Big Sky Conference in conjunction with the league’s Presidents’ Council has announced that Tom Wistrcill will become the seventh commissioner in league history.



“The Big Sky Conference and the Presidents’ Council are delighted to welcome Tom Wistrcill into the Big Sky Family,” said Robert Nelsen, Chair of the Big Sky Presidents’ Council. “In Tom, we have a leader who will continue to guide the Big Sky to even greater heights. As one of his fellow commissioners said, ‘Tom is creative and visionary.’ We look forward to working with him. The future is very bright for the Big Sky Conference.”



Wistrcill arrives at the Big Sky Conference after having served as the Senior Vice President at Learfield Sports since 2015. While with Learfield, Wistrcill helped develop new collegiate relationships within the company’s University Partnership Group. In 2015, Wistrcill returned to Learfield after previously serving as the General Manager for its Badger Sports Properties team representing Wisconsin Athletics from 2002-06.



Greg Brown, President and CEO of Learfield Sports commented, “I’ve known and worked alongside Tom Wistrcill for nearly two decades. He’s a strong, highly qualified and skilled leader. He will bring creativity and enthusiasm to the Big Sky Conference as its next Commissioner.”



"My family and I are proud to join the Big Sky Conference, and I am honored to have the opportunity to support the student-athletes, student bodies, coaches, faculty and staff, alumni and fans, athletic directors and the presidents at its member universities," Wistrcill said.



Wistrcill is a former Division I athletics director with nearly 25 years of experience in college athletics. Wistrcill’s previous stints include serving as the Director of Athletics at the University of Akron from 2009-15. He also made stops at the University of Minnesota as the Senior Associate Athletics Director and has six years of conference office experience serving as the commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.



“The Big Sky Conference has found the right person for the job,” said Joel Maturi, former Director of Athletics at Minnesota. “Tom’s passion for college athletics and the student-athletes, his ability to develop and nurture strong relationships, and his great work ethic will be great assets to the Big Sky and its institutions. I will be forever indebted to him for the exemplary work he did at the University of Minnesota, particularly in leading the efforts to get football back on campus with the new stadium. Congratulations to Tom and the Big Sky.”



"I deeply appreciate the Council of Presidents providing me the opportunity to lead this accomplished and cohesive group of institutions,” Wistrcill said. “The conference's vision and mission -- to provide a world-class student-athlete experience, and to promote the success of the member universities and their communities while developing student-athletes as champions for life -- is exactly what intercollegiate athletics should be about, and I look forward to working every day to enhance these goals for the Big Sky."



Wistrcill graduated from St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Communications. He later earned his Master of Arts in Educational Leadership with a focus in Athletic Administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.



Wistrcill will begin at the Big Sky on December 10, 2018.



About the Big Sky Conference

The Big Sky Conference is a NCAA Division I conference, competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. The venerable Big Sky Conference has nearly 4,500 student-athletes, from 15 different institutions, competing in 16 sports (seven men’s, nine women’s). The Big Sky Conference, spread across the western United States, was founded on Feb 25, 1963, as the name “Big Sky” was adopted by the six presidents of the charter members as the name of the new conference. The league has 11 full members (Eastern Washington University; the University of Idaho; Idaho State University; the University of Montana; Montana State University; Northern Arizona University; the University of Northern Colorado; Portland State University; Sacramento State; Southern Utah University; and Weber State University); two football affiliate institutions (California Polytechnic State University and the University of California, Davis); and two men’s golf affiliates (Binghamton University and the University of Hartford).



