College basketball has a new coordinator of officiating. The NCAA announced Tuesday that J.D. Collins, who has nearly a quarter-century’s worth of experience with college basketball officiating, has been named national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating, effective immediately. Collins replaces John Adams, who announced in July his retirement from the position he has held since 2008.
Here are the details, from the NCAA press release:
Collins now serves as coordinator of officials for the Mid-American Conference and Summit League. He also has served as a consultant to the Big Ten Conference men’s basketball officiating program, as well as commissioner of the NAIA’s Crossroads League. Collins will step down from those duties before the end of the month to provide national leadership for officials, as well as regional advisers, conference coordinators and coaches, to increase consistency with the enforcement of NCAA playing rules.
“I am humbled and honored to be selected to fill this position,” said Collins, who is a 1992 graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University. “Throughout my career I have had the privilege of working with and being trained by some of the best officials, coordinators and leaders in the sport. That experience has prepared me for this exciting opportunity.
“All of the stakeholders in our game are aware of the need for consistency with the application of the game’s rules and for greater accountability from officials. We’ll accomplish this by using the most advanced technology available to us while focusing on the basic mechanics that give officials the best opportunity to be in the right position to make the right calls as frequently as possible.”
Collins’ career in Division I officiating spanned two decades and includes assignments to a pair of Final Fours, one regional final and five regional semifinal games. Before suffering a career-ending injury, Collins worked games in seven different conferences: Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Horizon, Missouri Valley, Mid-American and Summit.
“J.D. emerged from a national search of strong candidates as the best choice, given the combination of his officiating and coordinator experience, a vision for a national program, and diverse skill sets,” said NCAA Vice President for Men’s Basketball Dan Gavitt. “He will lead change in officiating during this dynamic time of both challenge and opportunity in college basketball and intercollegiate athletics.”
Gavitt worked with a 10-member search committee to identify the national coordinator. That committee consisted of Mitch Barnhart, the director of athletics at the University of Kentucky; Mark Hollis, the director of athletics at Michigan State University; Craig Littlepage, the director of athletics at the University of Virginia; Judy MacLeod, the executive associate commissioner of Conference USA; Bernadette McGlade, the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference; Reggie Minton; the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches; Hank Nichols, a former NCAA national coordinator for men’s basketball officiating and a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame; John Underwood, the associate commissioner of the Big 12 Conference; Gary Williams, a former Division I head coach and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member; and Jamie Zaninovich, the deputy commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference.
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