The Big West Conference announced on May 4 the hiring of new commissioner Dan Butterly.
Butterly will begin his tenure on June 1, while his predecessor, Dennis Farrell who has served as commissioner for 28 years, transitions away from the role by July 1.
“He is visionary, highly respected and experienced, and his strong commitment to academic and athletic success makes him a great match with our conference’s values,” President Jane Close Conoley stated in a press release.
Butterly spent the last 21 years as the senior associate commissioner of the Mountain West Conference.
“I am honored to be selected by the Big West Conference leadership to serve as its next commissioner,” Butterly stated in the release. “My family and I are excited to represent the Big West and its elite member institutions. The member institutions in the Big West reside in the most innovative cities in the nation, and I want to help foster innovation and research into our approach.”
One of Butterly’s first priorities is to “boost the availability” of the Big West’s broadcasts so fans may watch live games once the academic school year begins in the event that fan attendance is still not allowed.
“One of my key goals is to have all of our sports be broadcasted on BigWest.tv. There’s going to be investment in that,” Butterly said via Zoom May 5. “That will be a conversation I will be looking to have with our conference office and the membership in the months ahead.”
Butterly plans to implement a similar “blueprint” that he used in his tenure with the Mountain West among the Big West institutions, centered around funding and scheduling techniques to boost revenue, stating some schools are “going to need to be bought.”
“They’re going to need to go to major power institutions and potentially play games to help fund their programs,” Butterly said. “There’s ways to do that with the potential to win those games as well.”