ATHLETICS ADMINISTRATION JARED BRUGGEMAN DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Jared Bruggeman was introduced as the new Director of Athletics at Missouri Southern State University on June 11, 2009. He becomes just the fifth director the school has seen and begins his sixth year as head of the Athletics Department at Southern. In his time at Southern, Bruggeman has helped to see an increase in fundraising, as well as a re-structuring in the Lionbacker Booster Club. The school has seen one of the most productive men’s basketball runs in the program’s history as the team has made it to three NCAA Tournaments, as well as racking up three 22-plus win seasons and an MIAA Championship in 2011, mixed in with the 2014 MIAA Tournament Championship. In 2011-12, the men’s basketball team went 26-5, and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The team followed that up with a 25-6 record in 13-14 and won the MIAA Tournament en route to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. During the 2013-14 athletic season, Southern had 140 MIAA academic honor roll members, seven named Academic All-MIAA and nine named MIAA Presidential Scholars. The department boasted 77 All-MIAA student-athletes, 28 were named All-Region and nine were All-American. The school also had five named Academic All-American. The women’s cross country team advanced to the national meet in 2010 and 2011, while the men finished eighth in 2012 and 19th in 2013 at the Championships. In the classroom, the Lions have more than 150 of the 325 student-athletes consistently earn at least a 3.0 GPA. Also, in his term as AD, the Lions have won three of the five Sonic Trophy’s, an annual competition between Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State that pitts the two programs up against each other to find out the top overall athletic program on the court or field of play. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 68 2014 Missouri Southern Football mssulions.com missourisouthernlions @mososports The Lions had both academic and athletic success in 2010 under Bruggeman’s leadership as the men’s and women’s cross country programs both won MIAA and NCAA Regional titles. The women’s team finished third nationally, while the women’s outdoor track and field team again won the MIAA title, and on the strength of those finishes, the Lions placed 38th nationally in the Division II Director’s Cup Standings. Bruggeman previously served as the Associate Director of Athletics at Northern Arizona University for four years, working as the school’s compliance director, as well as overseeing the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country programs and equipment room. He was also in charge of overall athletic game management and facilities. Prior to NAU, Bruggeman served as an Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance and Student Life at the University of North Dakota for four years. He also oversaw facilities and game management, as well as marketing and ticketing. He was the student-athlete Academic Coordinator as well as Director of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and during his time as Assistant AD, North Dakota was awarded seven NCAA postgraduate scholarships, two NCAA Division II Degree Completion Awards and the NCAA Walter Byers Post Graduate Scholarship. Bruggeman also served as an assistant track and field and cross country coach at UND from 1998-01. He assisted in the daily operations of both men’s and women’s programs and played a major role in the recruitment of student-athletes. Bruggeman was also a volunteer assistant volleyball coach. A three-time graduate of UND, Bruggeman was an All-American in the indoor 800 meters. Prior to his career in collegiate athletics, Bruggeman was a high school science teacher. He taught at Stephen Hempstead High School in Dubuque, Iowa and Red River High School in Grand Forks, N.D. Bruggeman also served as track and field and cross country coach at both schools. Bruggeman earned a bachelor of science in natural science and a bachelor of science in education with an emphasis in physics from the University of North Dakota in 1994. He went on to earn a master’s of education in educational leadership from UND. Bruggeman and his wife, Maria have three children, a son Micah (12), and daughters Logan (10), and Reese (6). JUSTIN MASKUS ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR Justin Maskus enters his ninth year as the Athletic Media Relations Director at Missouri Southern State University. At Southern, he is responsible for athletics publications, coordinates media relations for all 14 sports, compiles statistics, and maintains and designs the Missouri Southern athletics website. Maskus also provides color commentary assistance for basketball, as well as doing play-by-play for Southern baseball and softball games. He recently added sport supervisory duties for baseball and golf. Prior to Southern, Maskus spent three years as the Sports Information Director at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, and two years as the Assistant Sports Information Director at Southeast Missouri State University. He was the primary media relations contact for each of CBU’s 13 intercollegiate sports and served as the lead designer on the departmental web site. He also served as the lead statistician and was instrumental in the debut of the Buccaneer Sports Network, broadcasting basketball and baseball games live via the internet. At Southeast, Maskus was responsible for the media relations efforts of five Division I programs as well as development of media guides and the athletics website. He worked with baseball, women’s basketball, volleyball, golf and gymnastics while assisting with football and men’s basketball. He served a four-year term on the NCAA Division II Baseball Committee from 2008-2011, having served as the Chair of the South Central Region. Maskus earned a bachelor of science degree in public relations and graphic arts from the University of Central Missouri in 2001. He is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, the United States Basketball Writers Association and NACDA. The St. Louis, Mo. native was married to Julie Arnold, a special education teacher at Webb City High School in June of 2012. The couple reside in Joplin. RACHEL BURLESON ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATION/SWA Rachel Burleson is in her second year as Assistant Athletic Director for Administration and Compliance at Missouri Southern State University. She comes to Southern after eight months at Western State Colorado University. Before joining Western State, Burleson spent the previous four years at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, an NCAA Division II institution in Goodwell, Okla. There she was an assistant athletic director, as well as the head softball coach. She’s stepped in to represent the athletic director, who also shares coaching responsibilities, at conferences and conventions. She was the game management director for all home events and for Goodwell High School football and basketball. Burleson helped oversee all aspects of event administration, including ticketing, officials coordination, locker rooms, concessions and game setup and teardown. Burleson balanced full-time coaching responsibilities with softball and had four student-athletes earn All-Heartland Conference honors at OPSU. She managed the coaching, travel, recruiting, scheduling, budget, community service projects, camps, field maintenance, skill development, academic monitoring and eligibility for the Aggies. Burleson also taught a variety of courses in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation department. Burleson earned her master’s degree at Northwest Missouri State University and spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the Bearcat softball team. Northwest advanced to the NCAA regionals in her final season and she assisted the head coach in all aspects of the program. She also assisted with the scorebook for home basketball games and was a part of the event management for volleyball matches. Burleson was the assistant softball coach at Kenyon College for two seasons and the assistant volleyball coach at Kenyon for one season, and assisted both head coaches in a variety of tasks. She earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports from Tarleton State University.
2014 Missouri Southern Football
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