Dartmouth's Athletic Department announced the hirings of two new administrators last week. Rick Bender was named Dartmouth's director of varsity athletics communications and Richard Whitmore was selected as the new associate athletics director for operations and facilities.
Bender, who served as the sports information director at Davidson College for seven years, will direct communications for Dartmouth's 34 varsity sports teams. He will supervise public relations operations, including the management of publications, such as press releases and game reports, information on the department's official website, communication with athletes and media relations.
Bender will also be responsible for providing the department's coverage for a handful of varsity sports. He will also be a member of the Dartmouth athletics senior management team.
"I think Rick is going to be a great addition to our office," Dara Ely, Dartmouth's assistant director of varsity athletics communication, said. "We obviously haven't had a boss for a few months now, and so we're looking forward to having someone with new ideas. He has a great reputation in the business, and I think he is going to fit in very well."
Brian Austin, senior associate director of athletics for the College, said he believes Bender's experience at Davidson will help him acclimate to Dartmouth quickly.
"We were excited by his experience working at an institution that was very academically oriented and has had great success with their athletic program," Austin said. "Those are the kinds of things that we're trying to achieve and publicize."
Whitmore, the former associate director of athletics at Wesleyan College, will lead the management and development of Dartmouth's sports facilities. Whitmore will supervise the operation of athletic facilities and the scheduling of facility space between varsity, club, intramural and non-Dartmouth sports groups.
"One of the challenges in that role is that you're dealing with a lot of different constituencies in terms of people who have access to our facilities," Austin said. "The varsity athlete population is a big part of that, but it's also clubs, intramurals, it's the Dartmouth community and it's even programs outside of the Dartmouth community. It takes a lot of skill and tact to balance all that."
Both Bender and Whitmore have had significant experience in their respective fields.
Bender served Davidson's athletic department for eleven years. As director of sports information he was responsible for supervising all communication for Davidson's 21 varsity teams. In 2005, Bender was media coordinator for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
"He has a great background at Davidson, which is obviously also a very high caliber academic school like Dartmouth," Ely said. "They have a great athletic program, and I think his experiences there will translate here very well."
Bender graduated from Davidson in 1993, where he was a member of the varsity baseball team. After graduation, he served as an assistant coach for Davidson's baseball team from 1993 to 1996. He also played professional baseball in the Texas-Louisiana and Frontier Leagues for four seasons.
Whitmore comes to Dartmouth after eight years at Wesleyan University. He began his career at Wesleyan as the athletic facility manager and was promoted to assistant director of athletics in 2001. In 2006, Whitmore became the associate director of athletics, and was responsible for managing all athletic facilities.
Whitmore played on Brown University's varsity basketball team until his graduation in 1990.
