On the October day that Dan Radakovich left Georgia Tech to become athletic director at Clemson, Mike Bobinski received a text message from his closest friend in the business, North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
“He sent me a text that day that said, ‘Georgia Tech’ with a question mark,” Bobinski said.
Three months later, there was no need for question marks. Bobinski, formerly the Xavier AD, was at Tech’s athletic offices Friday meeting Yellow Jackets coaches, staff and boosters and speaking with news media. He invoked Tech legends John Heisman, Bobby Dodd, Homer Rice and Bobby Cremins.
To follow in their path, he said, is “something that I’m not sure I ever anticipated at any point in my career, but I’m so thankful to have that opportunity, and I will not let any of you down in fulfilling that.”
Bobinski will not begin until April 1. He has business to complete at Xavier and is also the chair of the NCAA men’s basketball committee, which oversees the NCAA tournament, an event that concludes with the Final Four in Atlanta April 6-8. Friday was a day for introducing himself and sharing his vision – aligning the athletic department with the mission and vision of the school, maintaining the highest level of integrity, having athletes and coaches represent the school well and, of course, winning.
“You’ll find this out about me in a big hurry,” he said. “I much prefer winning to the alternative.”
He was the champion of a search process begun in November, starting with about 70 qualified candidates, narrowing down to 15 and then five finalists, believed to be Bobinski, James Madison AD Jeff Bourne, Stony Brook AD Jim Fiore, Eastern Michigan AD Derrick Gragg and Tech senior associate AD Paul Griffin. After interviewing the finalists, all seven search committee members plus school president G.P. “Bud” Peterson ranked Bobinski first, search committee chair Steve Zelnak said.
Despite Cunningham’s encouragement, Bobinski said he did not pursue the opening, though Zelnak said he was recommended by various people. After speaking by phone with Zelnak and search consultant Bill Carr, Bobinski was won over in a phone interview around New Year’s with members of the search committee.
“That was the one where I was, like, I like the vibe,” he said. “Again, that passion thing about the place, the depth of their feeling for Georgia Tech and their belief in what was possible, what could get done.”
Bobinski cited the potential to mix elite academics with athletic success as a draw, but also the chance to be a part of college football, as Xavier does not field a team. He said that the only way he would have considered leaving Xavier was for a school with football.
He said he was proud of what he accomplished at Xavier and its future, “but, professionally for me, this was in an arena that I wanted to return to.”
Football was a matter of no small concern to the search committee, which grilled him on the topic.
“What he had to do was convince us that he understood the football equation, and he did that readily,” said Zelnak, a Tech graduate and major donor. “As he talked about up here (at the podium), he tracks it, he follows it, he’s totally into it.”
Bobinski met Friday with coach Paul Johnson, with whom they share mutual friends through their separate stays at Navy.
“I’m sure he understands how all that works,” Johnson said. “He wouldn’t be in the position he’s in today if he didn’t have a pretty good working idea of all that.”
Bobinski didn’t offer specifics for his plan, saying he wanted to understand “who we are and why we are who we are.” Regarding football, he said that the team’s 16 consecutive bowl games is “not a bad place to start, but there’s always a chance to move things to a higher level, and I think that’ll be our goal each and every day.”
