June 30, 2004

Mark Warkentien, Director of Player Personnel for the Portland Trail Blazers, resigned today to pursue other opportunities. The 51-year-old spent nine seasons with the Trail Blazers in various capacities.

“Today we accepted Mark’s resignation as Director of Player Personnel of the Trail Blazers,” said Portland General Manager John Nash. “Mark made significant contributions to the sustained success of this franchise. We appreciate his efforts on behalf of the organization for the past nine years. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

As Director of Player Personnel, Warkentien oversaw player personnel matters and directed the Trail Blazers domestic, collegiate and international scouting efforts.

He came to Portland in 1995 as Director of Scouting and developed into one of the NBA’s top talent evaluators. In 1998 Warkentien was named Assistant General Manager and he took over as Director of Player Personnel prior to last season.

"It's been a great run,” said Warkentien. “A decade without a losing season, nine-consecutive playoff appearances before missing this year and two trips to the Western Conference Finals. I thank everyone involved, but most of all Paul Allen. It all starts at the top; Portland has thrived and will continue to prosper because Paul is a world-class owner.”

During an 11-year tenure at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, he served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator as well as assistant athletic director. Warkentien began his coaching career at Riverside City College and at Saddleback College before serving as head women’s basketball coach for one season at UC-Riverside.

His first NCAA Division I coaching post was as an assistant to Bobby Dye at his alma mater, California State-Fullerton. He then moved to UC-Irvine before joining Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV.