When Todd Stansbury learned that Mike Bobinski had resigned from his position as Georgia Tech athletic director this past August, his reaction was something like anguish. Coming back to his alma mater to run its athletic department was a dream job, but he didn’t feel it was one he could pursue only one year into his own tenure at Oregon State.
That hurdle was cleared when Tech initiated the conversation. But there was another matter. At that point, his contract with Oregon State had bound him tightly to the school. Were he to leave the school at that point, a little more than a year into a five-year contract, he would owe Oregon State in the neighborhood of $2.2 million.
“It wasn’t a moment of panic,” Stansbury told the AJC. “I think it really came down to Georgia Tech knowing what my situation was and whether they were even interested in continuing the conversation, and so I think that was really the first step of the conversation, like, Hey, I love my alma mater, but I’ve got this issue.”
As it turned out, Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson was still interested in Stansbury, and he was hired as Tech’s ninth athletic director in September. The contract and buyout arrangement between the two parties, obtained through an open records request, sends a clear message that both sides are committed to the relationship.
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