Career: Director, Men's Athletics, University of Minnesota

Rick was Director of Men's Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Minnesota from 1988 to 1991. 

During his three years at Minnesota, he won approval for a $41 million sports facilities improvement program.  He successfully resisted efforts by downtown businessmen to take Gophers’ basketball and ice hockey off campus in favor in upgrading the university’s own facilities.  As a result, the new UM Mariucci Hockey Arena, the new Women's Sports Pavilion and the renovation of Williams Arena (for men's basketball) were completed on the Minnesota campus a year after he left in 1992. 

At Minnesota, Rick was also a strong advocate of bringing Gophers’ football back to campus, and the university dedicated a new 55,000 seat on-campus football stadium in the fall 0f 2009. 

Rick was widely credited with restoring the credibility of the men’s athletics department which was hit with consecutive NCAA investigations just before he was hired.  He successfully saw the school through a serious infractions case with the NCAA.  He left the Gophers in the fall of 1991 after being recruited to become the new president of the Cleveland Indians.