CALGARY – Veteran athletics administrator and alumnus Ron Wuotila is the new Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Calgary.

Dean of Kinesiology Wayne Giles made the announcement in front of an assembled group of student-athletes, coaches, support staff, and faculty Wednesday afternoon, marking the end of a search which began in December when Kevin Boyles announced his resignation.

Wuotila (wha-TILL-luh) joins the Dinos with a lengthy pedigree in post-secondary athletics in Canada and the United States, as well as significant international experience as the Head of Basketball Operations and High Performance Manager for British Basketball. His appointment is effective immediately, and he will begin full-time in September 2011.

“This is an exciting opportunity,” said Wuotila, the fifth full-time athletic director in Dinos history. “The record speaks for itself – the Dinos are among the very best university programs in Canada and the recreation opportunities for student, staff and the community are second to none. I look forward to the challenge of improving our performances year on year and developing student-athletes that the University of Calgary can be proud of.”

Since March 2007, Wuotila has been employed by British Basketball, providing leadership and management of the British senior and under-20 men's and women's national teams in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics in London. He will continue to work with British Basketball through the end of the Olympics under a flexible work arrangement agreed to by the association and the University of Calgary.

A Calgary native, Wuotila's roots in the city's sporting community are deep. After spending the 1993-94 season as head coach of the women's basketball program at Mount Royal College, he took on leadership of the men's program in 1994 and led the Cougars to their first conference championship in 16 years in 1997. He was named the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference coach of the year three times during his tenure, and he spent six months as the acting manager of athletics at Mount Royal in 1999.

In 2000 he moved to Pittsburgh, where he served as Director of Basketball Operations for three NCAA Division I schools over a three-year period – first the Robert Morris men's program, followed by the women's team at the University of Pittsburgh and the men's program at Duquesne University.

Upon his return to Canada, he was hired as the full-time manager of athletics at Mount Royal, a position he held from 2003-05 where he provided overall leadership to the college's 10 intercollegiate sports teams. In 2006 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he started as a coaching consultant for UK Sport before taking on the challenge of preparing the British national teams for their home Olympics.

“Ron joins us with a unique mix of experience that I am confident will make him a very effective Director for Dinos Athletics and Recreation and an advocate for student-athletes,” said Giles. “He is a proven leader and a visionary thinker, and he has an established record of success. We welcome him to the University of Calgary.”

“Given the quality of our university and the dynamic business environment in Calgary it is clear that Dinos Athletics will continue to be one of the best, if not the best athletic programs in Canada,” Wuotila said. “I'll spend the next few months learning more about all of the teams and programs and how we can maximize our performance.”

He holds a Bachelor of Physical Education from the University of Calgary as well as a Master of Physical Education (Athletic Administration) from Idaho State University.

Ron and his wife Helen reside in southwest Calgary with their two children, Jack (10) and Katie (8).

The University of Calgary Dinos have captured 43 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championships and 129 Canada West conference titles since their inaugural season in 1964. The Dinos are reigning CIS champions in men's and women's swimming, and the varsity program is widely recognized as among the best in Canada. In 2010-11, the University of Alberta's student newspaper declared the Dinos as the top athletics department in CIS for the third consecutive season.

University of Calgary
DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS
Dr. Dennis Kadatz (1964-84)
Dr. Robert Corran (1985-96)
Don Wilson (1998-2007)
Kevin Boyles (2008-10)
Ron Wuotila (2011-)

-UC-