Chris Rastatter, who has 27 years of experience with college basketball officiating, has been named the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating, to be effective Thursday. Rastatter replaces J.D. Collins, who will be retiring in October from the position he has held since 2015.
Rastatter has worked as a men’s basketball official primarily in the western part of the country since 1995. During his career, he has worked 19 NCAA tournaments, which include Men’s Final Four assignments in 2019, where he was an alternate, and 2021, when he worked the national semifinal between Baylor and Houston. Rastatter also worked the NCAA Division II men’s basketball final in 2003.
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From 1996 to 2019, Rastatter was the director of the Southern Arizona Officials Camp, where he was responsible for all creation, video content and instruction for the camp’s mechanics and fundamentals presentations.
He also coordinated camp schedules and officiating assignments. Each summer, nearly 100 officials nationwide, of all skill levels and experience, attended the camp.
In 2018, Rastatter established the Tucson Youth Officiating Program to teach young men and women the life skills, tools and values to promote self-confidence and growth through basketball officiating.
These experiences are why Rastatter was interested in being in a national leadership role.
“I am passionate about officiating and have a love for teaching and the developing of referees,” said Rastatter, who has also worked 13 conference championship games in his career. “I believe that I can make a difference, not only in the officiating program but how referees are perceived by those outside the officiating world.”
Rastatter’s short-term priorities will include sharing his officiating philosophies with the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, conference coordinators, coaches and other stakeholders throughout the sport. He also wants to initiate a comprehensive training program to increase call accuracy during the regular season and the NCAA tournament by focusing on mechanics and positioning.
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Rastatter will work closely with Collins over the next two months to ensure a smooth transition in the national coordinator role before the start of the college basketball season. In the long term, Rastetter said identifying and developing the next generation of NCAA basketball officials will be a key initiative.
“Chris distinguished himself as the best overall candidate after a national search,” NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said. “He has had a highly successful career as an elite official over nearly three decades on the court. Chris has earned the respect of his referee peers and coaches as an effective communicator and rules expert. I’m confident that he will build on the excellent work of retiring national coordinator J.D. Collins. Chris will provide collaborative leadership of national men’s basketball officiating in education, teaching and development, as well as evaluation and assigning for the national championship.”
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Gavitt worked with seven other members of a search committee to identify the national coordinator. The committee consisted of Penny Davis, NCAA women’s basketball coordinator of officials; Dan Leibovitz, Southeastern Conference associate commissioner for men’s basketball (Division I Men’s Basketball Competition Committee); Charles McClelland, commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (Division I Men’s Basketball Committee); Jeff O’Malley, director of athletics at Lamar University and NCAA men’s basketball secretary-rules editor; Matt Painter, Purdue coach (Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee); Nate Pomeday, associate executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches; and Brad Taylor, NCAA assistant director of men’s basketball.