By Jason Caesar Consolacion
Sports Editor

The UH Intercollegiate Athletics Department announced the hiring of two new associate athletics directors and three assistant athletics directors last week.

Chris Bahl and Chris Burkhalter have become UH's new associate athletics directors for external relations and sports information/media relations, respectively. Ron Dick has been named assistant athletics director for ticket operations, David Sayler has become the new assistant athletics director for business operations, and Dan Vooletich was appointed as the department's assistant athletics director for marketing and promotions.

"We are very fortunate to have attracted this young, energetic, personable and highly intelligent group of professionals to the university," UH Athletics Director Chet Gladchuk said.

"Service to our fans, efficiency in operations and productive thinking will, I am sure, reflect their impact on the department and community," Gladchuk said. "I am especially pleased that the reorganization of the Athletics administration is now complete."

Bahl served five years with the University of Nebraska athletics department, including the last three years as the director of athletic licensing and sales. At UH, Bahl will oversee Athletics' external relations, including marketing, promotions, licensing and corporate sales.

Bahl arrived at Nebraska as the school's first licensing director in 1995. He also worked as a graduate assistant in the Wichita State University athletics department before receiving his master's degree in sports administration in 1994. Bahl received his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in 1992.

Burkhalter, a native Houstonian, arrives in his hometown from a stint as the assistant athletics director at the University of Texas at El Paso. As the new assistant athletics director for sports information/media relations, Burkhalter will oversee all the Athletics Department's media relations, including sports information and broadcast services.

Before UTEP, Burkhalter began his administrative career at Indiana State University. There, he was in charge of sports information, as well as both men's and women's tennis programs as an assistant athletics director.

Burkhalter also served as the sports information director at Northern Arizona University for three years, spent one season as an assistant at the University of Wyoming and began his career as a graduate assistant in the sports information office at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

He graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 1989 and received his master's from USL in 1992.

Philadelphia native Dick was hired to provide marketing strategies and improved fan relations. He comes to Houston after serving as the director of athletics and assistant dean for student athletic programs at Marian College in Wisconsin for the 1998-99 season.

Before that, Dick was the director of sport and recreation management program at Marian, serving as a professor and advisor.

Dick also served as the director of sales with the NBA's New Jersey Nets for one season and was the director of group sales for the Philadelphia 76ers for 10 years.

Dick worked in a variety of other roles with the 76ers and also coached the United States Basketball League's Philadelphia Spirits for three seasons. He attained both his bachelor's and master's degrees from St. Joseph's University.

Sayler is the former assistant athletics director for business and finance at the University of Hartford. He went to Hartford after he served as the promotions director for women's sports at the University of Georgia from 1996 to 1998.

The Greenwich, Conn., native worked for two years as a marketing assistant at the University of Connecticut. He was a member of the men's basketball team at Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in 1991. He later earned a master's degree in sports management from UConn.

Sayler is expected to assist Adrianne Peck, UH's associate athletics director for business services, in the management of the Athletics Department's overall budget.

Finally, Vooletich returns to UH after a two-year hiatus to fulfill the responsibilities of marketing and promotions of Cougar athletics. Vooletich spent the last two years working as a team sales representative for Reebok International from April 1997 until March 1998.

Also during that time, he served as the director of U.S. marketing and promotions with Sports Belle Inc. Most recently, Vooletich was the development director for the American Heart Association.

Vooletich was UH's director of football operations from 1994 to 1997 and was an assistant to the athletics director before that. He came to Houston after serving as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at his Pioneer High School, his alma mater, in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Vooletich was a starting safety at the University of North Carolina from 1986 to 1988 before receiving his bachelor's degree in journalism in 1989.

All five of the department's new employees have already begun their services at UH.