Earlier this year, Western New England University announced the hire of Dino L. Pollock, Esq. as its Director of Athletics and Recreation.
Pollock holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an interdisciplinary minor in African American Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 1999). He also earned his M.S. in Sports Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 2001) and Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University School of Law (2008).
Pollock was also a Big Ten varsity football player and letterman for the University of Illinois football team from 1986-90 where he played wide receiver.
During his time at Valparaiso University School of Law, he graduated in the top half of his class. He also received a pro bono commendation with his degree for performing over 50 hours of free legal services to the community. During the 2007-2008 academic year, Pollock served as president of the VUSL chapter of the American Constitution Society. As president of ACS, Pollock co-hosted a student forum with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia during his visit to VUSL in October 2007. In April 2008, Pollock was one of three students awarded the Corpus Juris Secundum Award by the dean and faculty of the law school for the most significant overall contributions to the law school during their tenure as students. After graduation, Pollock served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert D. Rucker, Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of Indiana in Indianapolis for two years where he drafted majority opinions, legal memoranda and conducted legal research for Justice Rucker. Pollock was admitted to the practice of law on October 17, 2008, after passing the Indiana Bar Exam.
He spent the next seven years working in the public sector. In January 2015, he left the Indiana Attorney General’s Office to join the NCAA Office of the Committees on Infractions (“OCOI”) as an Associate Director at the NCAA National Office in Indianapolis. In his role at the NCAA, he drafted infractions decisions and appeals responses for the three divisional committees on infractions responsible for adjudicating major rules violations among the NCAA membership. Pollock also prepared bench memos for committee members to prepare them for infractions hearings and attended infractions hearings and appeals. While at the OCOI he spearheaded the Division I COI’s court technology improvement project which incorporated modern hearing technology into the NCAA administrative hearings. These improvements included dual monitors and docking stations for committee members, real-time transcription during the hearings, and a much-improved case management system. Pollock also started the OCOI legal externship program partnering with several Midwest law schools to recruit talented third year law students interested in sports law to serve as legal externs in the OCOI. These externs assisted OCOI staff review and approve institutional probation reports and assisted in proofreading infractions decisions. Pollock was also active in the People of Color Employee Resource Group and helped lead Black History Month efforts while at the national office, including an event with historic track and field athlete and 1968 Olympian John Carlos. He also was appointed to the President’s Award Committee responsible for selecting NCAA staff members at the national office who best exemplify the NCAA’s core values. In 2016 Pollock was selected to participate in the prestigious NCAA Charles Whitcomb Leadership Institute and the NCAA Campus Connect program in 2017.
In 2017, Pollock joined the leadership team of the University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs as an Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Eligibility.
Pollock is the Golden Bears’ first African American athletic director in the institution’s 103-year-old history.
