Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson is not blind to the dropping attendance at McCamish Pavilion, and he is undoubtedly aware of the enduring difficulties that the football team has had filling 55,000-seat Bobby Dodd Stadium.
That will be part of the challenge handed to Tech’s new athletic director, Peterson told the AJC on Thursday.
“We need to work hard to get our student body more engaged and get our fan base more engaged,” he said. “I think that’s an area where we can do better, and that’s not throwing stones at anybody. I can do better in that area and we can do better as an institution.”
Peterson made his comments after he had met with athletic department staff in the wake of athletic director Mike Bobinski’s resignation Tuesday to take the same position at Purdue. At the meeting, Peterson informed the staff that former athletic department administrator Paul Griffin will serve as the interim AD and that he has appointed a search committee that will be chaired by Al Trujillo, a Tech grad who is the president of the Georgia Tech Foundation and a former chairman of the school’s alumni association.
Peterson said he was surprised, disappointed and understanding of Bobinski’s decision. He said he first learned of Bobinski’s interest in the opening when he informed him Monday morning that he was going up to West Lafayette, Ind., to interview. Peterson said that Bobinski told him he didn’t know how many candidates were in the running. They spoke again Tuesday morning when Bobinski told him he was taking the job.
Peterson said he didn’t have a problem with not knowing earlier about Bobinski’s candidacy.
“This isn’t something he’d been working on,” Peterson said. “I think it happened (as fast) for him just as fast as it happened for us.”
Peterson praised Bobinski’s work in leading the department’s development of a strategic plan, which involved about 65 members of the department, including athletes, and was completed in June. Bobinski also strengthened the department’s compliance efforts, critical after the school went on NCAA probation in 2011 and had it extended in 2014, both for avoidable and scarcely beneficial malfeasance.
Regarding recent characterizations of Bobinski that he was distant and not a good fit for Tech, Peterson said that “different people have different opinions. I think Mike did a good job. He made a lot of improvements. I was pleased to have him as athletic director.”
Regarding Bobinski’s successor, Peterson mentioned standard attributes — integrity, experience, fundraising acumen and an understanding that Tech is, in his words, “a different place.” Peterson also acknowledged that college athletics is at a critical juncture — among other things, the Power Five conferences formed their own autonomous rule-making group a year and a half ago, the NCAA is paying increasing attention to athletes’ welfare and media rights fees are skyrocketing. The ACC’s own network will launch in 2019. Peterson is particularly sensitive to the changes, having recently been elected to serve as chair of the NCAA’s board of governors.
“It seems to me that this is a time that there’s a lot going on in college athletics,” he said.
Peterson said he would entertain a candidate coming from outside the world of college athletics. He noted that it has become a trend among hires for university presidents, and it has become more popular among athletic directors, as well.
“I think you’re seeing that certainly happening in other places and I certainly wouldn’t rule it out here,” he said. “And it’s probably healthy bringing in people with a different perspective.”
Griffin previously served in the Tech athletic department as senior associate athletic director to Dave Braine and Dan Radakovich and was the interim before Bobinski’s hire. He will begin Aug. 29. Peterson said the school will hire a search firm to assist in the process.
The seven other members of the search committee are:
- Jen Abrams, Tech student, former student government association president and former member of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association (GTAA) board.
- Mary Brock, member of Tech's Alexander-Tharpe Fund board, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream.
- Reginald DesRoches, chair of the civil and environmental engineering department and faculty-athletics representative.
- Lynn Durham, Tech assistant vice president and Peterson's chief of staff.
- Mac Nease, GTAA board member, former Tech baseball player, president of Nease, Lagana, Eden and Culley, Inc..
- Nathan Rakitt, Former tennis team member, chair of student-athlete advisory board.
- Steve Swant, Tech executive vice president for administration and finance.
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