Kyle Brennan named athletic director at Montana State University

 Makes transition from Utah

 Montana State University has hired Kyle Brennan, deputy athletic

director at the University of Utah, as its next athletic director, the

university announced today. Brennan will begin his duties no later than

July 1.

"Kyle¹s values of putting the student first, of aspiring for excellence

both on the field and in the classroom, his ambition, and the great

potential he sees in Bobcat Athletics are well aligned with what all of us

want for MSU. I look forward to working with him and seeing him lead

Bobcat Athletics to a new level of success," said MSU President Waded

Cruzado.

Brennan was selected after a national search that resulted in five

finalists visiting campus.

"When you come to Montana, one thing is evident right away ­ the passion

people have for Bobcat Athletics and for MSU. The program and the

university are well situated to move to the next level," Brennan said. "I

want to make sure MSU¹s student-athletes get a great education and also

have a great experience as competitors. I also want to engage the campus,

the local community, the state and MSU¹s alumni. By working together the

sky is the limit."

In his current position as deputy athletics director at the University of

Utah, Brennan is the supervising administrator for seven departments, is

the administrative liaison and supervisor for several sports, manages new

facility projects and oversees the athletic department's partnership with

Under Armour. He also represents Utah at various Pac-12 and NCAA meetings.

Brennan also oversees external relations and development, compliance,

facility operations, event management, equipment, human resources, and

football strength and conditioning. He is the sport liaison for the

football and men's basketball teams, and is the sport supervisor for the

men's and women's swimming and diving teams. He previously held the same

role with the women's basketball, men's golf and men's and women's tennis

teams.

As the chief administrator over new facility projects, Brennan chaired the

department's five-year strategic planning committee and played a key

supervisory role in the construction of the Spence and Cleone Eccles

Football Center, which opened in August 2013, as well as the Jon M. and

Karen Huntsman Basketball Facility and the outdoor tennis courts.

The Washington native was hired in 2008 as Utah's assistant athletics

director for compliance and was named associate athletic director for

compliance in 2009. In 2011, he was promoted to special assistant to the

athletics director, and in 2012, he was named senior associate athletic

director for administration. He was named the school's first deputy

athletics director in December of 2014.

Before joining the Utah athletics staff, Brennan was the director of

compliance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, 2005-06,

and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, 2006-08. He was an estate

planning attorney in Denver before entering the field of athletics

compliance as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois in 2004-05.

Brennan graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from

Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and earned his law degree from

the University of Denver in 2001.

He and his wife Beth--the academic coordinator for Utah's football

team--have three sons: Patrick, Mac and Murphy.