May 4, 2004
LAS VEGAS -
UNLV director of athletics Mike Hamrick announced two additions to the department's administration on Tuesday in the form of Mark Wharton and Brad Rothermel.
Wharton takes over as associate athletics director for development. He comes to Las Vegas from Asheville, North Carolina, where he served in the same role at UNC Asheville.
In his one year in the Bulldog athletics department, Wharton oversaw an area that increased ticket revenue by 30 percent, increased donations by 15 percent and increased marketing by four percent over the previous year.
Wharton was James Madison University's director of athletics development for three years prior to working at UNC Asheville. While at JMU, he increased the donor base by more than 30 percent and increased overall giving to the Duke Club by 108 percent. He also developed and implemented the school's first capital campaign to raise $10 million for an athletics performance building.
Previously he was assistant director of the East Carolina University Educational Foundation, responsible for developing 15 chapters within the Pirate Club's Annual Campaign Representative program in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
"I am very familiar with Mark Wharton's work from my days at East Carolina," Hamrick said. "He offers a diverse background and has proven to be an outstanding development person."
Wharton previously worked for three years with the Kinston Indians baseball club as director of regional marketing.
He is a 1993 graduate of East Carolina and has a master's degree from the University of Tennessee. Mark and his wife, Michelle, have a son, Thomas (2), and are expecting a daughter in June.
Rothermel rejoins UNLV as special advisor to the athletics director and will be involved in the program's external relations efforts.
"Brad Rothermel brings us a significant amount of knowledge along with a historical perspective of UNLV Athletics," said Hamrick, who worked for Rothermel at UNLV in 1981-82. "He was my first boss in this business and now he can help us in some important areas that fall under his expertise."
A member of the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame, Rothermel served as athletics director at the school from 1981-90. During his tenure, each of the 14 varsity programs reached NCAA postseason play and Rebel teams won 33 conference championships as well as the 1990 men's basketball team's national title. He then joined UNLV's faculty as an associate professor of education leadership for nine years before taking over the Las Vegas Bandits professional basketball franchise in 2000.
Rothermel earned his bachelor's degree in education from Northern Illinois in 1960, received his master's from Illinois in 1961 and then his doctorate in 1965. He and his wife, Suzanne, both Illinois natives, have two daughters, Beth Kristin and Christine Anne.
