Meet the Men’s NCAA Tournament Selection Committee
The 10-member NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Committee is responsible for selecting and seeding the NCAA Tournament field every year. Committee members serve five-year terms, with two old members rotating out and two new members rotating in every year. The Committee is balanced geographically, with no fewer than two members representing the East, Midwest, South, and West regions at any one time.
Committee Members
Thomas J. O'Connor (2007-2008 Chair)
Colonial Athletic Association
Term Expires September 2009
Named the athletic director at George Mason in November 1994, Tom O'Connor was also named the university's assistant vice president in 1999. O'Connor previously served as athletic director at Loyola (MD) College (1976-86), at Santa Clara University (1986-92), and at St. Bonaventure University (1992-94). He was also the head basketball coach at Dartmouth College (1972-74) and at Loyola (1974-76), and his age of 25 when he became head coach at Dartmouth ranks him as the sixth-youngest head coach to ever take over a NCAA Division I program. O'Connor is a member of the Assumption (MA) College Hall of Fame, where he lettered in basketball for four years and graduated in 1968.
Michael L. Slive (2008-2009 Chair)
Term Expires September 2009
Prior to joining the SEC in 2002, Slive had been the commissioner of Conference USA since 1995. He served as commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference since its formation in 1991, and played a pivotal role in the success of the Great Midwest during the 1990's. His previous athletic administrative experiences include: assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth College (1968-69), assistant Executive Director of the Pacific-10 Conference (1979-81), and Director of Athletics at Cornell University (1981-83). Slive has an extensive legal background, and holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth, a JD from the University of Virginia Law School and an LLM from Georgetown.
Jonathan B. LeCrone
Term Expires September 2008
Jonathan LeCrone was named the Horizon League's fifth commissioner in May 1992. LeCrone was named to a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee in 2003, largely due to the success of Horizon League teams in the NCAA Tournament. LeCrone spent nine years as assistant commissioner at the Atlantic Coast Conference, where he was responsible for conference projects in television, marketing, and public relations. Prior to joining the ACC, LeCrone was Assistant Athletics Director at Wake Forest, his alma mater, for four years. He also spent a year in the Chicago Cubs baseball organization as the business manager for its AAA team in Wichita.
LeCrone graduated from Wake Forest in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in English. He also earned a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University in 1978. LeCrone was a member of the Demon Deacons' basketball team.
Christopher Hill
Mountain West Conference
Term Expires September 2009
Dr. Chris Hill has served as Utah's Athletic Director since October 1987. As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, Hill lettered three years and was co-captain of the 1971-72 basketball team. His earned his bachelor's degree in math education (1972). He also has a master's in education (Utah, 1974), and a Ph.D. in educational administration (Utah, 1982). Hill taught in the University's special education department from 1983-85. He coached boys basketball at Granger High (Utah) from 1975-79, and was named 4A coach of the year his first year.
Daniel G. Guerrero
Pacific-10 Conference
Term Expires September 2010
Daniel Guerrero was named UCLA's Athletics Director in April 2002. UCLA teams have won 11 National Championships in Guerrero's 3+ years at the helm. He has been named by Sports Illustrated as one of the most influential minorities in sports. Guerrero had been UC-Irvine's AD for ten years prior to his move to Westwood. Guerrero graduated from UCLA in 1974 and was an all-star baseball player. He was born in Tucson.
Laing E. Kennedy
Mid-American Conference
Term Expires September 2010
Laing Kennedy was named the Athletic Director of Kent State in 1994. A native of Ontario, Kennedy earned All-American honors as a goaltender for Cornell University in Ice Hockey, and was named Cornell's Outstanding Athlete in 1963. He was named the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics' Regional Director of the year in 2002 and 2006. Kennedy is just the second MAC AD to be named to the Selection Committee.
Stanley M. Morrison
Big West Conference
Term Expires September 2011
Stanley Morrison played center for the University of California's 1959 National Championship and 1960 Runner-Up teams, and returned to college basketball soon after, coaching the Pacific Tigers from 1972-1979, the USC Trojans from 1979-1986, and the San Jose State Spartans from 1989-1998. He also served as the Athletic Director at UC-Santa Barbara from 1986-1989. He began his current appointment at UC-Riverside in 1999, guiding the school through its transition into Division I. Morrison serves on the Board of Directors of a number of Southern California charities.
Eugene Smith
Big Ten Conference
Term Expires September 2011
Eugene "Gene" Smith took over the Ohio State mantle from Andy Geiger in March of 2005, coming to the Buckeyes after stints as the AD at Arizona State, Iowa State, and Eastern Michigan. A Cleveland, Ohio, native, Smith attended Notre Dame and won a national championship as a defensive end on the Fighting Irish Football team. He also served as an assistant coach on the Irish's 1977 championship team.
Smith and former Committee member Craig Littlepage have both been named as two of the "50 most powerful African-Americans in sports."
Jeffrey A. Hathaway
Big East Conference
Term Expires September 2012
After serving as an Associate AD from 1990 - 2001, Jeffrey Hathaway was named UConn's Athletics Director in June of 2003. In the intervening stretch, he served as the AD at Colorado State. Hathaway was responsible for securing long-term contract extensions for Jim Calhoun, Geno Auriemma and football coach Randy Edsall in 2004-05. Many observers credit him as a key player in UConn football's impressive rise to national awareness.
The Sporting News named Hathaway to its “Power 100 List” in 2004, and has chaired a number of Big East Committees prior to his selection to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. He is a Maryland native, attended the University of Maryland, and served in a number of administrative roles within the Terps' Athletics Department before moving onto UConn.
Lynn Hickey
Southland Conference
Term Expires September 2012
Lynn Hickey is only the second woman ever to serve on the Men's Selection Committee (UNC-Charlotte AD Judy Rose was the first, from 1999-2003). She's a true asset to the Committee, having been an All-American at Ouachita Baptist University and a member of the US National Team in 1973. She also served as the head women's basketball coach at Kansas State (where she was elected as a member of the Athletics Hall of Fame) and Texas A&M, amassing a career record of 279-167 in 15 years of coaching. After leading the Aggies to a Sweet 16 appearance in 1994, Hickey was promoted to Associate AD in College Station.
Hickey has been instrumental in securing an incredible number of NCAA Championship events for UTSA (13 in all from 1999 - 2010), including the 2006 Women’s South Regional, the 2007 Men’s South Regional, the 2008 Men’s Final Four, and the 2010 Women’s Final Four. She served as President of the Southland Conference from 2002-04 was named the 2006 West Region Athletics Director of the Year by NACDA.