Northeastern University Athletics Director Peter Roby has been appointed to the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball committee. The 10-member committee is responsible for selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament field each season.

“It is a tremendous honor to be the newest member of this high-profile committee,” said Roby, who will replace Stanford University Athletic Director Bernard Muir. “I hope my service on the committee will bring pride and satisfaction to the Northeastern community.”

Roby will attend his first committee meeting in November in Dallas. He may be asked to familiarize himself with teams in a particular conference in preparation for selecting the best 68 squads to compete in the NCAA tournament in March — meaning he will have no choice but to start watching a lot of college basketball on TV.

“It’s a tough duty,” he quipped, “but someone has to do it.”

Roby has a long and distinguished history of success in the sport of college basketball as both a player and a coach. Following his playing days as a co-captain of the Dartmouth College Big Green, Roby served as the assistant coach of a quartet of colleges and universities including Harvard, for which he later became head coach for six seasons.

Mike Bobinski, committee chair and athletic director of Xavier University, noted that Roby is well prepared for his new role. “Peter brings a wealth of basketball experience to the committee, having been a Division I student-athlete, a coach and now an administrator,” Bobinski said in a statement released by the NCAA on Wednesday afternoon. “We look forward to his contributions to our group.”

Roby was named Northeastern’s ninth athletics director in June 2007. He oversees Northeastern’s 18-sport, NCAA Division I athletics department, which competes in the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Association, Hockey East Association and Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. In addition, he oversees Northeastern Campus Recreation, which offers more than 40 club sports, intramural sports and physical education opportunities for Northeastern students.

“Peter Roby knows what makes student athletes successful both in the game and in the classroom,” said Northeastern president Joseph E. Aoun. “He understands how their accomplishments are as important to the university as the university’s support is for their successes both on and off the field.”