A 40-year veteran of intercollegiate athletics administration, including 37 years in NCAA Division I conference offices, Bret Gilliland serves as the Mountain West Conference Deputy Commissioner. He was one of the original staff members, as Associate Commissioner, when the Mountain West began operations in 1999, and was promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2005.
As Chief of Staff, Gilliland guides, coordinates and facilitates the day-to-day operations of the various departments in the league office. He also focuses on the development and execution of strategic initiatives for the future direction of the Conference in a number of identified priority areas – which have included integral participation in the negotiation and management of numerous media rights agreements, navigating conference realignment on multiple occasions and coordinating the strategy to return the Mountain West to competition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilliland helps administer the activities of the MW Board of Directors and organizes the endeavors of the MW Directors of Athletics, while also overseeing the Conference’s sportsmanship and competition environment efforts.
During the course of his nearly 24-year tenure at the Mountain West, Gilliland has been instrumental in cultivating all elements of the Conference’s football enterprise and infrastructure. In 2013, he helped manage the implementation of the inaugural MW Football Championship Game and has helped secure and annually execute multiple bowl agreements. This included a key role in launching the new Arizona Bowl in 2015.
Gilliland’s football leadership has also extended to the national level. After serving an interim two-year term (2015-17), he was re-appointed to the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee and served through June 30, 2021, including being named to the FOC’s Administrative Committee during the group’s efforts to manage issues related to the pandemic. This followed previous stints on the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee in 2003-07 and 2011-14. Gilliland worked as a member of the BCS Standings/Selections Subcommittee (2009-11) and was appointed to the Collegiate Commissioners Association Subcommittee on the Standardization of the Administration of Instant Replay (2007). He is a past president of the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, and a former member of the organization’s Board of Directors. He is also a past chair of the NCAA Honors Committee.
Gilliland came to Colorado from Indianapolis where he served in various capacities with the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) from 1986-99, concluding his tenure there as the senior associate commissioner. In that role, he was responsible for television, corporate sponsorship and day-to-day staff guidance. During his 12 1/2 years on the MCC staff, Gilliland held positions in all facets of league activities, including communications, compliance, championships and marketing.
During his time in Indianapolis, Gilliland played major roles in the administration of several NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship events, including six first-/second-round tournaments and three Final Fours. After moving to the West, he has participated in the management of the 2004, 2008 & 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball first- and second-round tournaments in Denver and served as the practice coordinator for the 2012 NCAA Women’s Final Four at the Pepsi Center. In addition, Gilliland has been involved in NCAA baseball, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball championships; hundreds of conference championship events; numerous bowl games; and the 1987 Pan American Games over the course of his career.
A 1984 alumnus of Iowa State University, Gilliland earned his B.S. in Journalism and Mass Communication (public relations emphasis), graduating with distinction and starting his career as a student assistant in the Iowa State sports information office. Prior to joining the MCC office as the director of communications in 1986, Gilliland served as an assistant sports information director at Kansas State University (1985-86). He continued his studies with The Sports Management Institute Executive Program, graduating as part of the second class in 1992 from the curriculum conducted jointly by the University of North Carolina, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Southern California on their respective campuses.
A native of Adel, Iowa, Gilliland now resides in the Briargate section of Colorado Springs with his wife Leah, also an Iowa State graduate. The couple has three children – daughters Morgan (Colorado State ’17) and Macy (Iowa State ’20), and son Brock (TCU ’23).