UVU hires Vince Otoupal as new athletic director

The Wolverines have found their man.

Utah Valley University on Thursday announced that Vincent Otoupal will succeed Michael Jacobsen as director of athletics to lead the Wolverines into the WAC era.

Otoupal will formally assume the position on July 15 as the Wolverines officially transition to the Western Athletic Conference. Otoupal was selected from an initial pool of 80 applicants from across the nation.

"UVU Athletics is at a critical crossroads," UVU President Matthew S. Holland said in a news release. "Vince Otoupal brings a dynamic blend of personal energy and extensive leadership experience from a variety of institutions with top-flight athletic and academic programs. Such a combination is just what UVU needs right now."

Otoupal's experience has largely been based in California.

Since 2008 he has been athletic director at California State University Monterey Bay, according to the release. He worked for three years as an athletics administrator at San Jose State University.

Otoupal also held multiple positions in Stanford University's department of athletics.

"President Holland's view for UVU and Wolverine Athletics impressed me, as did my conversations with the other UVU leadership, coaches, staff and student-athletes," Otoupal said in the release. "The attitude is right where it needs to be as the Wolverines enter the nationally renowned Western Athletic Conference."

A native of Seattle, Otoupal was an outside linebacker at Stanford under the tutelage of coaches such as Jack Elway, Dennis Green and Bill Walsh. He was a four-year letterman and was named Defensive Special Teams Player of the Year in 1990, 1991 and 1992. He also played rugby for the Stanford club team in 1991 and 1992.

After graduating, he was commissioned and subsequently promoted to captain in the Marine Corps with the Second Battalion Seventh Marines based in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif.

He joined Stanford's athletic department in 1998 as the assistant director of annual giving and later was promoted to become the director of the Buck-Cardinal Club. He rejoined Stanford's athletic department in 2002 — after earning a master's of business administration degree from the University of Oregon ­­— as director of major gifts, according to the release.

In 2005, Otoupal became associate athletic director for development at San Jose State University, which made him senior associate athletic director for external relations a year later.

In 2008 he became the director of athletics at California State University Monterey Bay.

With its athletic department becoming NCAA Division II certified in 2007, Otoupal played an important role in that transition. Cal State University Monterey Bay has won several championships since then, including an NCAA National Championship, and its student-athletes have earned a number of academic distinctions.

Otoupal also has worked as a member of NCAA regional committees and currently serves as a member of the executive board for NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics).