NCAA Managing Director for Football and Baseball
Dennis Poppe, after a 39-year career with the NCAA staff, retired as vice president of championships and alliances in 2014. Poppe ran the College World Series from 1987 to 2013, with the tournament growing into a major national event. Poppe was responsible for all issues related to the sports of football and baseball, including but not limited to the administration of the baseball and football championships, coordination of playing rules with the respective rules committees, serving as staff liaison with the coaches associations, working with postseason football bowl certification, monitoring and coordinating legislative issues and addressing other issues that might impact either sports.
Poppe administered NCAA football championships since 1974 and served as the primary liaison with the Division I-AA Football Committee, the NCAA Football Issues Committee, the NCAA Football Study Oversight Committee and the NCAA Football Rules Committee. He also served as the liaison with the American Football Coaches Association.
His baseball responsibilities included serving as the primary liaison to the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee and serving as the tournament director for the Men's College World Series. In addition, he was the liaison to the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee, the American Baseball Coaches Association and USA Baseball.
Prior to joining the NCAA, Poppe served as a graduate assistant football coach and assistant director of athletics at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a three-year varsity football letter winner and played in the 1968 Gator Bowl and 1970 Orange Bowl. He was named to the 1969 All Big 8 football team as a defensive safety and the all-academic team.
Poppe and his wife Donna are the parents of four children, Jon, Carl, Lisa and Ryan, and reside in Indianapolis, Indiana.
