Houston, TX (My Sportsbook) - Rice University has named Rick Greenspan as its new athletics director.

Greenspan takes over for Chris Del Conte, who left in October to become athletics director at TCU. Rice's senior executive athletics director David Sayler had been serving as interim director.

From 2004-08, Greenspan served as athletics director at Indiana University, overseeing a 24-sport NCAA Division IA intercollegiate athletics program that captured eight individual or team national titles on his watch.

In addition, he organized the university's first comprehensive capital campaign, which increased annual giving by 41 percent, and led the construction of numerous new athletics structures and refurbished outdated facilities.

The Greenbelt, Maryland native spent the previous five years as director of intercollegiate athletics at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His overhaul of the annual giving program resulted in a 300 percent increase in gifts and a doubling of the average gift.

"Athletics at Rice comes with a set of values and expectations that is both rewarding and challenging. Rick Greenspan shares those expectations and values, and he brings a broad and ambitious vision for intercollegiate athletics to Rice," university president David Leebron said in announcing Friday's hire.

Greenspan has also served as director of intercollegiate athletics at Illinois State University (1993-99), senior associate athletics director at University of Miami (1992-93) and associate athletics director at University of California-Berkeley (1983-91).