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Texas A&M University-Commerce director of athletics Tim McMurray has announced the hiring of Katelyn Rimmel as assistant athletics director for compliance.
Rimmel will directly manage NCAA compliance for the Lions’ athletics department and is also responsible for managing rules education for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators.
Rimmel has seven years of NCAA Division I compliance experience, ranging in level from extern to director. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Rimmel graduated from Texas A&M University in 2007 with a B.S. in sport management. She earned a J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law in 2010 and was sworn into the Ohio Bar on Nov. 8, 2010.
“When we launched our national search for the head of our athletics compliance unit, we had a definitive set of criteria,” McMurray explained. “We were very fortunate to attract Katelyn Rimmel to this position, as she checked all boxes for us. She is: committed to our ‘Best in Class’ mission, is service-oriented towards coaches and staff, and effectively maintains and cultivates collaborative relationships with campus partners. Her integrity came across as unwavering, and we are blessed to add her to our executive leadership team.”
“I would like to thank Tim McMurray and the entire staff at Texas A&M-Commerce for selecting me to lead the Lions compliance office,” Rimmel said. “I knew from the moment I walked onto campus that this was a great fit, both personally and professionally. I believe strongly in the commitment of providing a Best in Class experience for student-athletes, and I am excited to join the Lion family.”
Rimmel comes to Commerce having most recently served as the coordinator for athletics risk management and compliance services at The University of Texas at Austin since 2014. She participated in annual compliance audits conducted by Athletics Council members, coordinated comprehensive rules education program for athletics staff, university staff, boosters, and fans, and provided interpretations to various constituents across all aspects of compliance/risk management. She drafted and submitted Big 12 waivers, NCAA waivers, and violation self-reports, and collected and submitted data for the NCAA Sport Sponsorship and Demographics report
Over the course of her career, Rimmel has held responsibility for all NCAA Division I operating bylaws. She also coordinated rules education including tracking and creating educational efforts in various mediums for coaches, staff, and student-athletes. Other specific duties have included providing new hire orientation for sport-specific staff members, maintaining student-athlete rosters, and submitting waivers and violation reports.
Rimmel was director of compliance at the University of Utah from 2012-14, where she oversaw day-to-day compliance operations for 15 sports. She oversaw initial, transfer, and continuing eligibility for all teams, led the office in submitting waivers, self-reports, rules education, and providing interpretations and compiled, submitted, and reviewed APR data for all student-athletes in the applicable cohort. She served as a liaison to the Financial Aid department, and was a member of the Professional Sports Panel for student-athletes..
From 2010-12, Rimmel was compliance coordinator at the University of Houston, where she served as contact for all compliance issues for five sport programs, spanning all applicable bylaws. She evaluated prospective student-athletes’ academic records for international & domestic initial eligibility, monitored continuing eligibility and initial eligibility, reviewed financial aid packages with coaching staff, prepared and sent scholarship documents and non-renewal notifications to student-athletes, and provided NCAA rules interpretations for coaches, administrators, and student-athletes for all sports.
Rimmel was also assistant director of compliance at the University of Akron in 2010 after a graduate assistantship from 2009-10. She was also a compliance legal extern for the Mid-American Conference in the spring of 2009.
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