KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsUSD names new athletic director

USD names new athletic director

VERMILLION, SD (KTIV) -- The University of South Dakota just completed their second season of transitioning their athletic programs to the NCAA Division 1 level. After Joel Nielsen left for the athletic director's job at Kent State, the Coyotes have been looking for a new A.D., and that job was filled on Thursday.

USD President James Abbott introduced 40-year-old David Sayler as the school's 12th athletic director. Sayler has been at Rice since 2006, where he was recently the interim A.D. He also has division 1 stops in the athletic departments at Oregon State, Bowling Green, Houston, Georgia and Connecticut.

USD will join the Summit League in the fall of 2011 for all sports except football, and will become a full Division 1 member in 2012, so Sayler's first two years will be busy.

"The transition is the reason I'm here," said Sayler. "If it was not going to division one it's probably not something I would have done. I just really want to be a part of that process and helping the student athletes be able to compete at that level."

Tina Keller says, "We're looking at more scholarships, better budgets, all of the things it takes to compete at that highest level," said Tina Keller, the head of USD's search committee.

"I talked to the commissioner of the league before I took the job and he actually put this job in the top three jobs in the league and that made me feel really good that he feels that strongly about it," added Sayler.

Sayler is married with two young sons. He begins his official duties at USD August 2.