University of North Texas Athletics
Baker Named to NIT Basketball Committee
12/17/2019 2:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DENTON – North Texas Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker was named to the 2020 National Invitation Tournament basketball committee, the NCAA announced Tuesday.
Baker and West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez are the two new appointees to the eight-person committee who are responsible for the selection, seeding and bracketing of the 32-team postseason championship.
"I'm excited to join a group of people I admire and respect on the NIT committee," Baker said. "I love college basketball and I'm very much looking forward to serving as a member of the committee. I'm honored to have the opportunity."
The NCAA also announced Tuesday that the NIT and Madison Square Garden have reached an extension that will keep the tournament in New York City through the 2021 championship.
The 2020 NIT Committee will be chaired by Mike Montgomery. Montgomery was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 after serving as the head men's basketball coach at California, Stanford and Montana.
In addition to Montgomery, Baker and Nevarez, the 2020 NIT Committee members are:
· Dave Odom – Former men's basketball head coach at East Carolina, Wake Forest and South Carolina.
· Oliver Purnell – Former men's basketball head coach at Radford, Old Dominion, Dayton, Clemson and DePaul.
· Judy Rose – Former director of athletics and women's basketball head coach at Charlotte and the first woman to serve as a member of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee.
· Gary Walters – Former director of athletics at Princeton and former men's basketball head coach at Middlebury, Union (New York), Dartmouth and Providence. Walters served as a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee from 2002-07 and chaired the committee in 2006-07.
· Vaughn Williams – Senior associate director of athletics at Boston College.
Beginning in 2015-16, NIT Committee members were appointed to serve a maximum four-year term, and the committee features a mix of current athletic administrators who are actively working at NCAA institutions or conferences, former collegiate head men's basketball coaches and former athletics administrators.
The 2020 National Invitation Tournament starts Tuesday, March 17, at campus sites. The NIT semifinals and championship game will be March 31 and April 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"Wren Baker will be a tremendous addition to the NIT Committee," Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said. "His basketball background and acumen combined with his preparation and thoughtful approach will serve both him and the Committee well."
