COLORADO SPRINGS —— The National Collegiate Hockey Conference — the new eight-school, Division I men’s hockey conference that will start play in the 2013-14 season — today announced that veteran sports executive Jim Scherr will be its first Commissioner.
Scherr, who has more than 20 years in sports management leadership, including stints as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Olympic Committee and executive director of USA Wrestling, was introduced by Brian Faison, University of North Dakota Athletic Director, at a news conference today at Penrose House in Colorado Springs.
“I am honored to have been selected by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to become its first commissioner,” Scherr said today. “We have just 21 months before we drop the puck to launch our first season and there’s a lot to accomplish. This is a once-in-a-career opportunity and I look forward to leading a conference, including the eight outstanding hockey programs with their coaches, staffs, student-athletes and fans, that has the potential to become the premier single-sport conference in intercollegiate athletics.”
The eight members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference are: Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University.
Scherr will immediately begin building a conference staff and working on several key organizational functions and projects, including hockey operations and competition, business development and marketing initiatives.
“The selection of Jim Scherr as our first commissioner is the culmination of a thorough, national search to identify an exceptional sports business executive who will provide the leadership, vision and credibility to make our new Conference the benchmark for excellence in collegiate hockey,” Faison said
Scherr served as CEO of the USOC from 2005 to 2009, overseeing 45 Olympic sports and directing the day-to-day operations of an organization dedicated to providing unparalleled service and support to America’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. During that time, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team collected 110 medals, the most ever for an American Olympic team in a non-boycotted Games, to lead the overall medal count at the Beijing Summer Games.
At the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Team USA finished an impressive second with 25 Olympic medals, the highest total for an American team in a Winter Games held outside of the United States.
