On Wednesday, Institute President G.P. “Bud” Peterson announced the appointment of Mike Bobinski, Associate Vice President of Development and Director of Athletics at Xavier University, as the new Athletic Director (AD) at Tech. Bobinski will be starting his duties April 1, replacing the interim athletic director spot held since November 2012 by Paul Griffin.
“We are very pleased to welcome Mike Bobinski to Georgia Tech as our new director of athletics,” said Peterson. “Mike’s proven record of success and his diverse background in sports, finance and development, as well as his unwavering commitment to student-athletes, make him the ideal person to lead our athletic program.”
A national, three month search was conducted after Dan Radakovich, the former Tech AD, left abruptly in November 2012 for Clemson University. The search committee was chaired by Stephen P. Zelnak Jr., Roderick “Roddy” Jones and Steven Swant.
“I want to thank Stephen and the search committee for their outstanding work in evaluating and recommending candidates,” Peterson said. “I am also personally grateful for the leadership of Paul Griffin, who has overseen our athletics program during this interim period, a period that included the grand opening of McCamish Pavilion, our Sun Bowl victory in El Paso and the dedication of our newest facility, the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. I know that he will continue to be a valuable asset to the program during this transition.”
Bobinski has had a variety of experiences as athletic director at multiple universities, including twelve years at Xavier University and four years at Akron University. As well as this, Bobinksi is the current chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, in which he is tasked the responsibility of setting up the entire NCAA tournament.
Before landing an AD spot at a university, Bobinski was the associate director of athletics at U.S. Naval Academy for five years, as well as the associate and assistant business manager at Notre Dame, his alma mater, for five years.
In addition, Bobinski has achieved multiple awards. In June, he was awarded the Under Armour Division I Northeast Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics.
Under this tenure, 40 individual or team spots were claimed by Xavier University’s athletic teams in the championship competitions, including men’s basketball, which reached the Sweet 16 playoff round of the NCAA Tournament in four out of the last five seasons.