John Kietzmann - Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations, Sport Administrator: Men's Basketball - Staff Directory - University of Northern Colorado Athletics

Staff Directory

John Kietzmann

Title:
Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations, Sport Administrator: Men's Basketball
Email:
Phone:
970-351-3243

John Kietzmann joined Northern Colorado as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics for External Operations Dec. 16, 2024.

"I am really excited for John to join the UNC family," Dunn said. "John's college athletics experience, his skill set and his passion for supporting student-athletes are exactly what we need to further develop our external operations. I want to welcome John and his wife, Elise, to UNC Athletics."

Kietzmann comes to Northern Colorado with over 20 years of experience as an administrator in college athletics including stops at Colorado State, Black Hills State (NCAA Division II) and MSU Denver (NCAA Division II). His duties include oversight of the department's external operations and engaging our campus community and the Northern Colorado region. He will begin his duties with the Bears on December 16.

"I am excited to join the Northern Colorado staff and become a Bear," Kietzmann said. "I would like to thank Darren and the search committee for their time during this process. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my career and working with the student-athletes, coaches, university staff, and the community to continue to enhance the experience of being a part of UNC Athletics."

Kietzmann comes to Northern Colorado from MSU Denver where he spent the past 13 years as the Associate Director of Athletics for Marketing. In that role, he oversaw marketing, promotions and special events, along with media relations, and all public-facing aspects of MSU Denver Athletics.

Kietzmann served as MSU Denver's Interim Director of Athletics from January through July 2020, overseeing the program during its most challenging time, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the ultimate cancelation of spring sports seasons in March 2020. Kietzmann worked tirelessly to keep morale high while navigating the almost daily changes that affected intercollegiate athletics.

He also served on numerous NCAA and conference committees during his career. Kietzmann was named vice chairman of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics in June 2019 and presented the NCAA Woman of the Year Award that year.

Kietzmann had a critical role in developing the MSU Denver Athletics Department's relationship with the Colorado Rockies and the 50/50 raffle, which has served as the department's major outside fundraising operation since its inception. The program raises approximately $200,000 for MSU Denver every year.

Kietzmann's marketing efforts were instrumental in the men's basketball team setting its season attendance record in 2013-14, as well as securing $1 million naming rights for The Regency Athletic Complex at MSU Denver. He also designed the current floor at the Auraria Event Center, home to the Roadrunners basketball and volleyball teams.

He joined the Roadrunners during the fall of 2011 after six years in the athletics department at Black Hills State, where he spent his last two years as assistant athletic director. Kietzmann began his time at Black Hills State as the director of athletic development, supervising and coordinating all marketing promotions and creating innovative marketing strategies for the Yellow Jackets. He oversaw all aspects of fundraising for athletics at Black Hills State and continued the same responsibilities when accepting the position of assistant athletic director in 2009. After the promotion, he added the responsibilities of media relations, sports information and special event planning to his duties.

During Kietzmann's tenure at Black Hills State, the Yellow Jacket Foundation added over $700,000 to its scholarship endowment. Kietzmann was also heavily involved in the addition of the video board to the Young Center and the renovation of the Young Center bleachers to chair seating. He played a significant role in implementing the new athletics website, named the top website in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the category of "Outsourced Website" by the NAIA Sports Information Directors of America. He has also helped Black Hills State transition to NCAA Division II, as it joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2012-13.

Before his time at Black Hills State, Kietzmann spent eight years in the athletic department at Colorado State. He began as a sports information intern and became a full-time employee in 2001 in the media relations department.

He has experience as a sports broadcast producer, working for KIIX Sports Radio, overseeing live broadcasts of the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos and other professional, collegiate and high school athletic events.

Kietzmann graduated from Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins in 1997 and from Colorado State with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2001. He holds a master's degree in interdisciplinary leadership from Creighton. He and his wife, Elise, have one daughter, Emily, who graduated from Northern Colorado in 2024 with a degree in Nursing.