Richard J. Ensor, Esq. - Comissioner
MAAC Sports
Richard J. Ensor was named the
third Commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in August 1988.
In
the 23 years since his appointment, Ensor has
provided leadership to the conference in a period of transition and growth in
intercollegiate athletics and the MAAC. During his tenure the MAAC has secured
a stable membership base, expanded the number of championships conducted and
developed an extensive marketing program cemented with broadcast agreements
with ESPN, a web paged hosted by NeuLion/JumpTV Sports and partner championship
venues such as the MassMutual Center, Times Union Center, the USTA Tennis
Center, Waterfront Park and Disney Sports Attractions. The reconstituted
conference is a homogenous association of 10 private institutions of similar
size, which are committed to student-athlete excellence both on the playing
fields and in the classroom.
Under Ensor's direction, the MAAC
has focused efforts to showcase its member institutions in its annual men's and
women's basketball tournament. Since 1990 with the support of the MAAC Council
of Presidents and the league's athletic administrators and coaches the MAAC has
held its premier event in state of the art playing facilities such as the Times
Union Center in Albany, NY, the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY, the Sovereign Bank
Arena in Trenton, NJ and the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, CT. In
December, 2010 the MAAC Council of Presidents announced that the 2012-14
championships will held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts,
partnering with Basketball Hall of Fame.
This marks a return to a neutral site setting for the championship for
the first time in over 20 years as the league continues to set the standard for
a leader in mid major basketball circles.
Ensor has also been instrumental
in the expansion of MAAC sports offerings. In 1992 the MAAC added women's
soccer, in 1996 men's lacrosse, and in 1997 women's lacrosse, men's and women's
indoor track and rowing. In 1998, the MAAC added outdoor track and field and women's
golf, and in 2002-03 it added women's water polo. The league currently sponsors
25 sports and is awarded automatic or play-in bids to 11 NCAA championships.
(baseball, softball, tennis (m&w), golf, basketball (m&w), outdoor
track (m&w), lacrosse (m&w), soccer (m&w) water polo (w) and
volleyball (w).) Additionally, MAAC men's and women's cross country have access
to the NCAA championship through a regional qualifier race. Over half the MAAC sponsored sports now have
direct access to NCAA Championships for the first time in the history of the
conference. (Up from 13 sports and two automatic bids in 1988.)
In 2007 Ensor extended his
involvement with championship operations when was appointed to a 5-year term on
the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee. The committee is charged with annually
selecting teams, seeding, bracketing and operating the NCAA Women's Basketball
Championship including the Final Four which will be hosted in 2011 in
Indianapolis, IN.
To award its fans, arena partners
and membership, the MAAC during Ensor's tenure has been very aggressive in
seeking out opportunities to host NCAA Championships in various sports. With
member schools it has served as a co-host of the 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2007 NCAA
Men's Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds at the Times Union Center
and the HSBC Arena (most recently the host for the 2010 1st & 2nd rounds),
respectively, and the 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional at the Albany,
NY arena and the 2003 NCAA Men's Frozen Four at the Buffalo venue.
Additionally, the MAAC co-hosted the 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004 & 2006 NCAA
Northeast Cross Country Regional at Van Cortlandt Park - Bronx, NY. In 2002,
the MAAC was a co-host of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship at the
Times Union Center. All the NCAA men's championships the MAAC has hosted with
its arena partners have been sellouts. In 2006 the MAAC co-hosted for the first
time the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds at the Sun
National Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ. It
also hosted the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball East Regional at the Trenton
arena. This past March the MAAC hosted
the NCAA Wresting Championship again, this time at the Wells Fargo Center in
Philadelphia, PA, where it set a new overall attendance mark for the event of
104,238. In 2012 the league will host
for the first time the NCAA Rowing Championships at Mercer Lake, NJ.
Ensor, who spearheads the
league's marketing efforts, has sought to tie the conference's strong academic
image into its marketing campaign. The MAAC has carved a well-earned niche as
an athletic conference that balances quality academics and athletics. The
marketing efforts have been timely, as it has highlighted the conference's
continued rise in the basketball standings. Ensor has aggressively pushed the
MAAC into internet-based marketing through its award winning web page,
www.maacsports.com, and other technology driven initiatives. Community relations based programs have also
been central to the MAAC's enhanced outreach marketing. These have included the FYE Campus Tour,
Girls in the Game, the WBCA's "Think Pink" program, MAAC Gives Back and MAAC
Bus Brigade program.
In 1998 the MAAC under Ensor's
direction began a new marketing and championship initiative when it entered
into a multi-year agreement with Disney Sports Attractions to host on a
rotating basis at the Orlando, FL facility the conference's volleyball, men's
soccer, men's & women's cross country and women's soccer championships. In
2000 the MAAC began holding its annual men's and women's golf championship at
Disney. The current MAAC agreement with Disney runs through 2014.
In 2006 the MAAC expanded its
partnership with Disney when it entered into a multi-year hosting agreement
with ESPN to sponsor the Old Spice Men's Basketball Classic in Orlando. The Old
Spice Classic is held annually on Thanksgiving weekend at the HP Field House at
Disney's Wide World of Sports. It includes 12 games in three days, and is
broadcasted on ESPN2 and ESPNU.
The MAAC's relationship with ESPN
was further strengthened in 2006 when Ensor negotiated a full partnership in
the well regarded ESPNU BracketBusters event.
Started in 2003, BracketBusters has become a major tool for evaluating
mid major teams in preparation for NCAA Championship selection three weeks
later. All ten MAAC men's basketball
teams participate in the 2012 event that will include 12 broadcast windows on
ESPN platforms the weekend of February 20.
A 1975 graduate of Saint Peter's
College, Ensor was named Assistant Director of the Recreation Life Center at
his alma mater shortly after graduation, a position he held until 1978. He was
then named Assistant Athletic Director at St. Louis University before returning
to Saint Peter's a year later. This time, Ensor held the position of Sports
Information Director, with a number of publications during his three-year
tenure, earning honors from the College Sports Information Directors of
America. In 1982, Ensor decided to return to school and earned his Master's
degree in sports management with honors from the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst. An attorney, Ensor graduated from Seton Hall University's School of
Law in 1987 and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in June of that year. Ensor
occasionally teaches a course on sports law at Seton Hall Law School. Ensor was
named Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Promotions at Seton Hall in
1985, before returning to Massachusetts as an Assistant Professor in the Sport
Management Department, where his concentration was on sports marketing and
sports law.
Ensor is a member of many
professional associations, including the American Bar Association. In addition,
Ensor is a member of sport-related associations such as the Sports Lawyers
Association, the New Jersey Bar Association Sports Law Committee, the American
Bar Association, Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, NACDA and
the CAANJ. His community work includes current stints as a board member of the
Mercer County Sports & Entertainment Commission and the Monsignor Donovan High
School Leadership Advisory Committee. He
has published in the areas of Sport Law, and Sport Marketing. In 1994 Ensor
served as chair of the New Jersey Bar Association Sport Law Committee.
A member of the Collegiate
Commissioner's Association (CCA), Ensor in 2009 completed a two-year elected
term as President of the association.
Ensor has been very involved in NCAA governance since 1999 when he began
a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Management Council, a segment of the
new national governing system for the intercollegiate sports association. He
has also served as a consultant to the NCAA Leadership Council on the LAC's
study of new Division I membership standards. Ensor had previously served on
the old NCAA Council including chairing the Council's Governance Subcommittee
for 6 years as it revised the Division I governance structure and in January
1996, he served as Chair of the Division I-AA NCAA Convention/Business Session.
In 1997 he began a two-year term on the NCAA Division I Championships Cabinet
where he chaired the exempted events sub committee. Ensor has also served on
the NCAA Division IAA Governance Committee and on NCAA committees dealing with
playing season exemptions, athletic certification, the regulatory culture of
the NCAA, governance restructuring and antitrust issues. Ensor was appointed in 1996 and 2003 to a
one-year terms as the chair of the IAA commissioners. From 1999-2003 he was
served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Ice Hockey Collegiate Commissioners
Association. In 2010 Ensor chaired a special CCA/NCAA basketball officiating
committee that developed and implemented a new LLC structure for regular season
and post season men's and women's basketball officiating.
Ensor currently serves on the
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee which is the sports committee
which operates the NCAA Women's Final Four.
He complete his five year term on the committee during the 2010-11 academic year. The committee oversees the selection, seeding
and operation of the championship. He serves
as chair of its strategic planning subcommittee.
In 2001 Ensor was named by the
American Football Foundation as its Commissioner of the Year and in 1999 he was
presented a Distinguished Service Award form the Metropolitan Basketball
Writers and in 1998 was inducted into the Saint Peter's College Hall of Fame.
In 1996, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Sport Management Program
named Ensor as the recipient of the VanderZwaag Distinguished Alumnus Award. In
1989, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities named Ensor as one of
the "Leaders of Service" in its Bicentennial Series publication. In 1993, Ensor
was honored by NACWA as a "Good Guy" for his efforts in regards to gender
equity.
Ensor and his wife Deirdre, who is a Registered
Nurse, are the parents of Kaitlin, Brendan, Kiernan, and Colleen. They reside
in Lanoka Harbor, NJ.