Todd Rinehart arrived at the University of Denver in 1997 as an assistant men's basketball coach. When the coaching staff was fired in 2001, he made a pivot that changed everything: he stayed, moved into admissions, and discovered that recruiting athletes had quietly trained him for a career in recruiting students.
Twenty-nine years later, he's the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment at DU, where he's helped grow the applicant pool from 5,000 to over 22,000, increased diversity from 13% to 30%+ students of color, and navigated DU through test-optional admissions, the Matriculate partnership for demonstrated financial need, and one of the toughest enrollment environments in a generation.
Todd also served as President of NACAC (the National Association for College Admission Counseling), where he chaired the 29-person steering committee that spent 19 months rewriting the profession's code of ethics during a Department of Justice antitrust investigation. He's received three of the profession's top ethics awards for that work.
In this episode of The VineDown, Emily and Todd go deep on:
- the merit aid arms race and why private tuition is heading past $100K while schools discount 40-60%
- the "overnight shift" of students gravitating toward public flagship universities (and why Todd doesn't think the demographic cliff is the real story)
- what ethical admissions recruiting actually looks like when institutional survival is on the line
- how to build an enrollment team based on character and work ethic (not admissions experience)
- and how Denver and DU grew up together, and why location is a strategic asset most schools underuse.
If you work in enrollment management, admissions, financial aid, or higher ed leadership, this is episode of The Vinedown is a must-listen.
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