CSUN’s athletics director, Rick Mazzuto, has stepped down from his position effective immediately.

The announcement was made Wednesday by Tom McCarron, Vice President for Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer, who also appointed Ashlie Kite, Associate Athletic Director of Internal Operations at CSUN Athletics as the Administrator in Charge of Athletics while a search for a new director is conducted.

“I am appreciative of Rick’s commitment to the intercollegiate athletic program at Cal State Northridge and to the University during his six-year tenure,” said McCarron in an interview with Northridge Athletics.

Mazzuto was named Cal State Northridge Athletic Director on August 3, 2006, becoming the seventh athletic director in Matador history.

Mazzuto, 61, came over to Northridge from Longwood University in Farmville, Va., where he served as Athletics Director from 2002.

CSUN Athletics declined to comment