One face that was not seen last year at Creighton sporting events that was sorely missed by many was Mark Burgers.

"Butch", as his friends know him, was a student-athlete at Creighton from 1999 to 2003 as a member of the golf team. After graduation, Mark worked his way through the Creighton Athletic Department until he eventually landed the position of Director of Sales. I first met Mark in 2005 after my first year covering Creighton and I quickly understood why Butch had a reputation for hard work, integrity, and was seen as a young, emerging star on the collegiate scene.

It was bitter sweet for many but not a surprise when Burgers accepted a job at South Dakota St as Associate Athletic Director of External Affairs a year and half ago. While many understood that it was a great career move, losing such a talented Jay from the Athletic Department was seen as a blow.

As many know, Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen has become a very important figure to the NCAA and their heavy involvement with the city of Omaha. As the demands grow on Bruce's time with things like the College World Series and other NCAA events, an opportunity has opened to add another position to Creighton's Athletic Department.

Mark Burgers has been given the chance to come back to Omaha as Associate Athletic Director under Rasmussen. Bringing Mark back in such a capacity has lead some to see Burgers as a potential long term replacement for Ras, whenever he decides to step down as Athletic Director.

TheBluejaycafe.com caught up with Mark to find out his thoughts on coming back to his ala mater.

BJC: What are your thoughts on coming back to Creighton?

MB: It's the people that make up a place and the people of Creighton are just unbelievable. It starts at the top and works it's way down. Bruce Rasmussen is one of the best in the business and any time you are given the chance to work with one of the best - that's an honor.

It's a great opportunity to work with the staff that he has put together from Mike West (Director of Marketing) to Kevin Sarver (Associate Athletic Director) to the coaches - everyone has the common belief that they want to win but they want to win the right way and represent everything that is great about college athletics. It's also the community and the classrooms - it's easy to go to a place that does the right thing.

BJC: You were a student-athlete at Creighton, worked for a bunch of years after but then left for only 1 year after getting a chance to get some experience at a different school Did you think you would be back this fast?

No, I didn't think it would happen this fast. I've been gone for about 18 months now and I wanted to see another university outside of Creighton and work with some different people. You learn that there are a lot different ways to skin a cow I guess.

In my case, I wanted to go to a place that had football in order to see how much different a football school would be. I also went to a public university so I got to see how much different a public university would be so I would be a little bit more well rounded.

It's by luck or chance that I get to come back….I really don't know what it is but there are a lot good people still here at South Dakota which doesn't make it easy but looking at what the future holds for Creighton - that makes it quite a bit easier.

BJC: I know this might not be fully decided but do you know what your day to day duties will be?

Well, it's a neat position because the position doesn't exist currently. So it's not like I'm taking anything from anybody. It's a position that now does exist because Ras is so good at what he does. He is admired by a lot of people and the NCAA really wants his input on a lot of things. When they are looking at forming committees, his name is always coming up. So, as we've seen with the College World Series and other events - he doesn't always have enough time to do all the duties that he is assigned to.

As Creighton continues to grow with the number of season tickets and the projects that they have going on, the original idea is to have someone to interact with all the donors and take care of them to make sure they weren't feeling like they were getting ignored and to show our appreciation back to them.

Ras has been there 25 years and has all the connections for fundraising as we seen with the amazing job he did with the Ryan Center so he will shift into a larger role in fundraising. I will help in fundraising but on a different level than the donors he will deal with.

BJC: In laments terms, are you going to be dealing with the nuts and bolts of the Athletic Department and that will free Ras up to be a larger fundraiser and working with the NCAA?

Yeah, that's basically it.

BJC: Was it tough last year to not be at the Qwest Center for the Jays' basketball games?

Yeah, just like anybody who works for the university - you become a larger fan. It's a labor of love given the number of hours you donate to it. It was difficult to be away from it given the relationships you have with people, the donors or Coach Altman or the other great people on campus - Jays' games are just a fun atmosphere to be around. It's pretty special. I think people in Omaha - I don't want to say they are spoiled but I don't know if they realize maybe with what they have. I say that in a good way because it's really a special place.

Burgers will begin his new job at CU on September 28th.