After more than 27 years as AD, Rasmussen will retire on Aug. 16, 2021.
A Career In Brief
After 50 years in education, including the last 41 at Creighton University, McCormick Endowed Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen has announced that he will be retiring, with his last day on August 16, 2021. Hired as Athletic Director on August 1, 1994, Rasmussen's impact on the Creighton and the Omaha community has been immense.
In his 27 years as athletic director, Creighton has risen to national prominence with its success inside and outside the lines of athletic competition. The Bluejays have won 43 regular-season conference titles and 43 conference tournament titles, graduated outstanding young women and men, built new facilities for nearly every sports program, and celebrated record-breaking fundraising campaigns.
Over the past 16 months, Bruce has been instrumental in guiding the athletic department through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its cancelations, postponements, and additional safety protocols. He established the Bluejays Persevere initiative, in which 50% of men's basketball season ticket holders donated all or a portion of the costs of their 2020-2021 season tickets to Creighton Athletics.
Rasmussen fostered Creighton's success in the Missouri Valley Conference, and he played a major role in Creighton's entrance into the BIG EAST Conference in March 2013.
Creighton's reputation as one of the nation's top academic institutions is reflected in the success the Bluejay student-athletes have had across the board in the classroom during Rasmussen's service as athletics director. Bluejay student-athletes have owned GPAs of 3.30 or above in 27 straight semesters entering the fall of 2021.
His work has been recognized nationally. In 2019, he became Division I's first four-time recipient of the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award (an honor he also received in 2004, 2010, and 2015), and he received the 2019 Gary Cunningham Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association. In addition, he served a five-year term on the highly-esteemed NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee, serving as its chairman in his final year in 2018.
Locally, Bruce served as a member of the College World Series of Omaha Inc. Executive Committee, playing a vital role in Creighton and the city of Omaha remaining as hosts of the College World Series. He was one of six individuals on the CWS Oversight Committee that helped select the location for the new downtown TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
The Coach
Bruce Rasmussen easily identified with Creighton coaches, and they with him. Afterall, Bruce was one of them.
In 12 years (1980-92) as Creighton’s women’s basketball coach, Bruce’s teams went 196-147. His final team went 28-4, won the Western Athletic Director (WAC) regular-season and tournament titles, and earned an NCAA Tournament victory in the program’s first trip to the Big Dance. His teams broke the school record for wins in five of his 12 seasons, including 28 triumphs in 1991-92, which remains an all-time mark.
In the past three decades, Bruce Rasmussen has mentored some of the Midwest’s most successful women’s basketball coaches, including Connie Yori, Jim Flanery, Kathy Halligan, Tony DiCecco, and Tanya Warren. He coached the three women at the top of Creighton’s all-time career scoring list, as well as eight of the top nine single-season scorers. There are 11 women’s basketball alumnae in the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame. Eight played for Bruce Rasmussen.
"Bruce Rasmussen is a self-made man who worked very hard in every role he's had at Creighton. He's smart, consistent, caring, wise, and has an incredible way with people," former Creighton coach Connie Yori told the Omaha World-Herald in July, when Rasmussen’s retirement was announced.
The Facilities
As the face of Creighton Athletics, Bruce Rasmussen exuded the kind of integrity and determination that made donors eager to partner in the growth and success of Creighton programs.
New and improved athletic facilities began to sprout from fertile soil. It started with Morrison Stadium and D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Wayne & Eileen Ryan Athletic Center, which were followed by city-owned CHI Health Center Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. All four venues have hosted NCAA tournament competition.
Next came the Rasmussen Fitness and Sports Center, named in his honor, the Championship Center and Ruth Scott Training Center.
But the true measure of the success of Creighton’s growing athletic program was found in the enthusiasm of its fans. At the outset of Rasmussen’s tenure, Creighton was averaging 2,792 fans per men’s basketball home game at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. By the 2019-2020 season, that number had jumped to 17,314 fans per game at CHI Health Center Omaha. “Creighton Basketball is how Omaha survives the winter,” one fan said.
Creighton’s premier athletic facilities have helped the Bluejays regularly finish in the top 11 schools nationally in average home attendance in men’s basketball, men’s soccer, baseball, and volleyball.
CHI Health Center Omaha - Completed in 2003.
The Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center and D. J. Sokol Arena - Completed in 2009.
Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium - Completed in 2003.
The Championship Center - Completed in 2014.
The Rasmussen Center - Completed in 2012.
TD Ameritrade Park Omaha – Completed in 2011.
The Ruth Scott Training Center - Completed in 2019.
The Hires
Bruce Rasmussen has displayed an uncanny ability to identify and hire top coaches – ones known for developing players individually and as members of teams. In fact, Bruce has hired the “winningest” coaches in Creighton history in men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s soccer, baseball, tennis, golf, rowing and volleyball.
Many he hired from within the Creighton family. Of the 12 current head coaches, six attended Creighton as undergraduates. A tribute to Bruce’s leadership, Creighton coaches have amassed an impressive track record of retention—a key to their success. The average length of tenure among Creighton’s 12 head coaches is 16 years. Seven of the 12 have been at Creighton for 19 years or more. Creighton coaches have won 50 conference, regional, or national coaching honors since Rasmussen became athletic director.
Certainly, three of Rasmussen’s most transformational hires have been head men’s basketball coaches Dana Altman (1994-2010), current coach Greg McDermott and current volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. Altman coached at Creighton for 16 seasons, finishing his tenure with the Bluejays with a 327-176 record. He was inducted in the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame on August 25, 2018. McDermott was named Creighton’s 16th head men’s basketball coach in 2010 and owns a 252-125 record after his first 11 seasons. He is credited with successfully transitioning the Bluejays to the BIG EAST Conference while also achieving consistent national rankings and NCAA Tournament appearances. McDermott’s 2019-20 team won the BIG EAST Conference Championship and his 2020-21 team advanced to the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance since 1974. Booth has been recognized three times as National Coach of the Year and her program has appeared in the AVCA’s Top 25 poll each of the last eight years, reached nine of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments including a 2016 run to the Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen trips in 2015 and 2016 and an unprecedented seven straight outright BIG EAST regular-season titles.
National Acclaim
The move to the BIG EAST Conference on July 1, 2013, brought unprecedented national attention to Creighton, as the Bluejays boldly rose to new challenges and seized opportunities that once seemed unattainable. Rasmussen pressed for a more robust athletic scholarship program and overall philanthropic support. The generosity of donors began to empower the success of nearly 300 student-athletes annually.
Fast forward nine years, and Creighton is now well-established in the BIG EAST. During the 2020-21 season, groundbreaking accomplishments were achieved on both the conference and national level.
Men’s basketball achieved unprecedented success in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams. Volleyball earned the regular-season crown in the Midwest Division, the BIG EAST Tournament Championship, and its ninth-straight NCAA Tournament bid. Baseball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer each finished second in the BIG EAST regular season. Women’s golf and rowing finished an unprecedented third at their conference meets.
In 2019, Bruce was named Division I’s first four-time recipient of the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award. He received the 2019 Gary Cunningham Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association. He also served a five-year term on the highly esteemed NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Selection Committee, serving as chairman in 2018.
In 2018, alumni Mary Pat McCormick, ’62, and Dick McCormick, Grad’62, HON'88, endowed the athletic director position at Creighton, in recognition of Bruce’s accomplishments and the esteem in which the University community holds him.
In announcing the retirement of Bruce Rasmussen, Creighton President the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, S.J., Ph.D. said, “Bruce has been participating in the lives of student-athletes, in one capacity or another, for a half a century – creating an incredible legacy of success, revealed in the lives of those he has touched.”
Community Impact
It’s not easy to be a Division I athlete anywhere, but the demands of BIG EAST competition are unrelenting. Bruce Rasmussen emphasized the “student” in “student-athlete,” supporting and championing them in academic achievement, sportsmanship, and personal development, as integral to the overall experience.
Bruce kept his players and coaches balanced, focused, and grateful for the opportunity to serve the community. He was clear about the expectation that Creighton’s program would cultivate and model character and leadership.
The Grade Point Average across 14 teams remained high. After the spring of 2021, Bluejays had owned GPAs of 3.30 or above for 27 straight semesters. It was not unusual for two dozen or more student-athletes to achieve perfect 4.0 averages. The Jays’ graduation rate continues to top 95 percent.
Every Bluejay knew that if they took advantage of the resources provided to them, they would be expected to give back. They responded by contributing more than 5,000 service hours a year to local schools, businesses, and non-profits. They raised awareness and funds to fight homelessness, sexual violence, catastrophic diseases, and more. Under Rasmussen, Creighton Athletics’ charitable contributions to the community have topped more than $7 million. Thanks to Bruce Rasmussen’s vision and leadership, the Bluejays embraced Omaha, and Omaha embraced them.