The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee will feature five new members for the 2021-22 season, thanks in part to the Division I Council’s approval in January of a proposal of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees to expand the basketball committees from 10 to 12. Butler Vice President/Director of Athletics Barry Collier is among the five new members.

Both committees consist of one member selected from each of the five autonomy conferences and three members selected from the seven highest-ranked nonautonomy conferences based on basketball success. The remaining four members are selected from the 20 other conferences. He will represent the BIG EAST Conference, which is one of the seven highest-ranked nonautonomy conferences.

“It’s an exceptional honor to be invited to serve on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee,” said Collier. “Having just hosted 16 games of March Madness at Hinkle Fieldhouse here at Butler University, I’m humbled to be involved with the tournament for the next five years. I’m excited to work alongside Dan Gavitt, his staff, and my fellow committee members during this significant time for college basketball and college athletics.”

Collier has led the athletics department at Butler since 2006. From 1989-2000, Collier served as the head coach at Butler, where he led the Bulldogs to six trips to the postseason, including in 1997, when the school made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 35 years. In 2000, Collier was named the head coach at Nebraska, where a six-year run ended with a 19-win campaign that included wins over a pair of nationally ranked teams. Collier then returned to Butler, from which he graduated in 1976. He currently serves on the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee and concluded a four-year term on the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Committee in 2019. Prior to becoming the head coach at Butler, Collier was an assistant coach at five institutions: Rose-Hulman, Seattle Central Community College, Idaho, Oregon and Stanford. He also holds a master’s degree from Indiana State.

The Big Ten’s representative will now be Mark Coyle, the Director of Athletics at Minnesota. The Pac-12 Conference will be represented by UCLA Athletics Director Martin Jarmond. The Southeastern Conference’s appointment is Greg Byrne, the Director of Athletics at Alabama. Other first-year committee members include Keith Gill, the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, and Collier.

The chair of the committee for the 2021-22 season is Tom Burnett, the commissioner of the Southland Conference. Other committee members include Bubba Cunningham, the director of athletics at North Carolina; Charles McClelland, the commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference; Bernadette McGlade, the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference; Mike O’Brien, the director of athletics at Toledo; Jamie Pollard, the director of athletics at Iowa State; and Chris Reynolds, the direct of athletics at Bradley.

Current chair Mitch Barnhart, the Director of Athletics at Kentucky, is completing a five-year term that began in the fall of 2016, while Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson is rotating off the committee after a four-year term that started in June 2017. The third person leaving the committee is Mike Bobinski, the Director of Athletics at Purdue. Bobinski, who served on the committee from 2008-13, rejoined the group in a temporary role after his Big Ten Conference colleague Jim Phillips left his position at Northwestern in January to become commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“We are eternally grateful for the dedication and service given to this committee by Mitch, Craig and Mike, who are all highly-respected leaders within the collegiate athletics community,” said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s Senior Vice President of Basketball. “Especially in recent years, the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee’s role has evolved into much more than just oversight of the championship, and that is as big a reason as any for this group to expand to 12 members. We are excited to have Barry, Greg, Keith, Mark and Martin join the committee as they bring a wealth of experience and leadership to the group.”

COURTESY THE BIG EAST CONFERENCE, NCAA & BUTLER ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS