BENTLEY PROMOTED TO ASSOCIATE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Assistant Rewarded For Outstanding Work In Publicizing Ferris State Athletics

"Rob is well deserving of this promotion," said Gorby. "He has done an outstanding job publicizing and promoting Ferris State Athletics since his arrival. Rob is a credit to our (sports information) profession and we all are appreciative of his many contributions to Ferris State University."

Bentley, a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), was recently honored as the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) 2007 Division II Great Lakes Region Women's Volleyball SID of the Year for his role promoting the Bulldog volleyball program. His 2007-08 men's and women's basketball poster received a "Silver Award" from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) in the organization's annual nationwide awards program.

Bentley's various responsibilities at Ferris State include publicizing the school's 15 intercollegiate sports, maintaining and developing the athletics department's web site (www.ferris.edu/sports) along with designing and editing department publications. He also serves as the radio play-by-play voice for the FSU men's and women's basketball teams on local radio station WBRN (1460 AM) when the Bulldogs hit the road. Bentley is a member of the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA).

During his tenure at FSU, Bentley has been recognized numerous times by CoSIDA for excellence in publications and earned national "Best Cover" honors for his women's basketball yearbook two consecutive years (2000-2002).

Prior to his arrival at Ferris, Bentley was an assistant men's basketball coach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney for three years. While coaching at Nebraska-Kearney, Bentley helped the Lopers compile a 65-25 overall record and an NCAA Division II Sweet 16 finish in 1999. He also served as the boys basketball camp and clinic director and previously was a student assistant in the men's basketball program for five years. In all, he worked in the UNK Basketball program for eight seasons in which the squad made four consecutive trips to the NCAA-II North Central Regional Tournament from 1995-99 and claimed the 1997-98 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championship.

Besides being involved in the Loper basketball program, Bentley was an administrative and game operations assistant at Mr. Basketball, Inc., based in Kearney. While with Mr. Basketball, Bentley was involved with the organization and administration of two national high school tournaments and five youth basketball tournaments a year. He was also the media relations contact for Mr. Basketball.

During his career at Nebraska-Kearney, Bentley served as a sports information assistant in the UNK Media Relations Office. Previously, he worked as a sports writer for the Kearney Hub and Grand Island (Neb.) Independent newspapers along with interning for the McCook (Neb.) Daily Gazette. He served as the managing editor and sports editor of the UNK Antelope newspaper while in college. Bentley also spent time working as a disc jockey and sports announcer for radio station KICK-KBRL in McCook.

A native of McCook, Neb., Bentley graduated from Nebraska-Kearney with a bachelor's degree in journalism/mass communications in 1997. He received a master's degree in education (sports administration) from UNK in 1999.

A 1992 graduate of McCook High School, Bentley also has held membership in the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. His wife, Jenny, is a special education teacher at Big Rapids High School. They reside in Big Rapids along with their two daughters, Addison and Ava.

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Transaction
Ferris State University - Named Rob Bentley associate athletics communications director.