Since 2001, Mitrano has served as Commissioner of the Empire 8 as it has blossomed into a fledgling and vibrant formation which serves the best interests of its student-athletes while assuring that athletics plays a critical educational role in the mission of its member institutions.

Considered a national expert on sportsmanship and ethical behavior, Mitrano was named one of the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by the Institute of International Sport (IIS) in November of 2007. He joins the likes of NCAA President Myles Brand, Joe Paterno, Pat Summitt, Tiger Woods, Phil Jackson, John Wooden, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Andre Agassi to name a few. Under his leadership Empire 8 was also named an “All-American Sportsmanship Conference” by the IIS which will be formally celebrated on National Sportsmanship Day on March 4, 2008. This is the first time an athletic conference in any division or level has ever received this prestigious honor. Most recently he successfully lobbied the NCAA and its association-wide membership to host a ground-breaking Hazing Prevention Summit at the 2008 Convention in Nashville, TN. This is the first time the NCAA has ever hosted such an event and believed to be the first time that a member conference ever successfully lobbied for such a stand alone educational program. 

Mitrano serves on the NCAA's association-wide Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct (CSEC). The purpose of the committee is to establish policies and educational programs for sportsmanship and ethical conduct in intercollegiate athletics consistent with the educational mission and goals of the member institutions in all divisions, and educate, on a continuing basis, all constituencies about the policies in the NCAA Constitution. Mitrano founded and led an initiative to create a Division III Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, which focuses specifically on the issues facing the members of the NCAA's largest division. Mitrano was appointed chair of the committee, which is sponsored by the Division III Commissioner's Association.

He conducted research on fan conduct and game management policies in Division III in an effort to create a set of best practices for institutions to consider for their use. He has spoken and presented at many functions in recent years, including the national conventions for the NCAA, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics annual convention, the Association of College Administrative Professionals and Eastern College Athletic Conference. He has also presented and moderated discussions at the NCAA Leadership Conferences in Texas and New Jersey and speaks regularly to New York State High School coaches, administrators and student-athletes.

In the summer of 2003, he applied for and received a grant from the NCAA to track what he coined "conduct fouls" in nine Division III sports (men's and women's soccer, ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse and football). Conduct fouls are those penalties or fouls that are specifically noted as unsporting in each respective sport's playing rules. The effort is the only known mechanism in the country that provides tangible data relative to sporting behavior on the field of play. The ultimate goal is to raise the level of awareness relative to sporting behavior and ethical conduct, and encourage membership to be proactive in educating student-athletes, thus curbing the behavior.

The initiative received high praise from many educators and student-athletes across the country and has been featured in the USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The NCAA News, Referee Magazine, Athletics Administration Magazine, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and many other daily and weekly newspapers. The program has been adopted by Division III (more than 430 institutions and 41 conferences) as part of its strategic plan. Commissioner Mitrano has also worked closely with the NCAA Vice-President of Educational Services to cultivate Division I and II member conferences and institutions that will now use the program. In addition, various institutions and conferences have heard of Mitrano's work and contacted him to assist in establishing broad-based sportsmanship policies and educational programs.

As a result of his significant efforts and contributions to sportsmanship and ethical conduct within the sports industry, Commissioner Mitrano was named a Sports Ethics Fellow by the Institute for International Sport in 2004. The IIS founded and runs National Sportsmanship Day and past Fellows include Lance Armstrong, Mia Hamm, Grant Hill, Donna Lopiano, and Joe Paterno. He was also named the “Sport Manager of the Year” in 2005 by the St. John Fisher College Department of Sports Studies and was one of only 12 national experts chosen to participate in the NCAA Crowd Control Summit in 2006. He was also named one of the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by the IIS in November 2007 and was honored as a SUNY Brockport Gerry D’Agostino Memorial Lecturer as a result of his impact in athletics.   

The Empire 8 is leading the way nationally in sportsmanship education under Mitrano's leadership. Within his membership, he has implemented many wide-reaching sportsmanship initiatives. This includes proactive measures such as engaging the Student-Athlete Advisory Council on issues related to sportsmanship resulting in their development of a student-athlete pledge; tracking conduct fouls in all conference sports in real time in order to curb behavior and be more proactive if problems occur; organizing and hosting a sportsmanship seminar for all conference coaches and administrators; requiring members to sign a code of conduct; encouraging coaches to become more involved in the improvement of officiating, and visiting each campus to discuss issues relative to sportsmanship and the value of sporting behavior in the educational process of student-athletes. The conference has also implemented an ejection policy to provide some accountability for unsporting behavior. The Empire 8 was the only conference in the nation to have such a policy and two other conferences have recently adopted the legislation.

The conference's sportsmanship program included the development of an Empire 8 Sportsmanship logo and slogan, "Empire 8: Competing with Honor and Integrity." This logo is posted on all member websites, in all game programs and media guides. The conference also created large banners donning the new logo that are posted at the site of competition for all member contests. The program also includes honoring one student-athlete from each institution in each sport as an Empire 8 Sportsperson of the Year. Mitrano's goal is to provide the same significance to sporting behavior as we do to athletic prowess and help the conference's fans and general public realize how much Empire 8 values sporting behavior.

In addition to his many efforts with sportsmanship and ethical conduct, Mitrano also serves on the St. John Fisher College (NY) Sports Studies Advisory Board and speaks to Rochester (NY) area high school coaches and athletic directors about sportsmanship on an annual basis. Mitrano serves on the ECAC Football Committee and on the IIS Renaissance Games Advisory Board. A 1995 graduate of St. John Fisher College (NY), Mitrano was named one of St. John Fisher's 15 Most Prominent Alumni in 2004. In 2005, he was named the college's Sport Studies Department Sport Manager of the Year. He is also a member of National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NAD3AA) and Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA).

Mitrano began his career in athletics administration at age 21 in 1994, while still a senior in college, as the Sports Information Director at St. John Fisher College, the youngest in school history. From 1997-2000, Mitrano was the Sports Information Director at Rochester Institute of Technology (NY). In 2000, he was named Assistant Director of Athletics at RIT. The following year he was named commissioner of Empire 8, then the youngest commissioner in the nation at age 28.

Mitrano graduated from St. John Fisher College in 1995 with a BA in Communication/Journalism. He went on to earn his Masters in Education (Physical Education and Athletic Administration) from SUNY Brockport (NY) in 1999.

Mitrano resides in Rochester, NY with his wife and three sons.

Contact Email: cmitrano@Empire8.com