Some notes from an interview with Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson regarding the resignation of athletic director Dan Radakovich:
1. His reaction – “Mixed reaction. It’s a loss for us, but it’s a great opportunity for him.”
2. Peterson said shortly after the Clemson-Tech game, Clemson president James Barker called him out of courtesy to tell him the school wanted to talk to Radakovich, who called Peterson later to tell him of the interest and his intention to pursue it. Radakovich called again Sunday night to tell him that the Clemson board needed to approve the hiring Monday morning and that he was going to take the job.
3. Radakovich’s last official day is Nov. 30, but his last day on campus will be Nov. 15, after which he’ll take a two-week vacation before starting at Clemson. Until the 15th, Radakovich and senior associate athletic director Paul Griffin will be spending time together working on a transition.
Peterson: “I have a lot of confidence in Paul Griffin. He’s been around for a while and knows what he’s doing. He’s been kind of leading the effort on the construction projects we have. This’ll be an additional task for him, but I have great confidence in Paul and his ability to lead this group.”
Peterson said that “the good news is we’ve got a spectacular staff. The athletics department has some really great people. They’ve worked hard. They’ll continue to work hard and I have every confidence that they’ll be successful.”
Peterson called the job “a great position” and said he’s excited about finding a successor. “We’ll probably interview a couple of search firms, establish a search committee and get started on the process,” he said.
4. On whether he’ll be on the committee: “I haven’t thought through that yet. Certainly, whether I’ll actually be on the committee or ask the committee to make a recommendation to me, I’m not sure exactly how we’ll do that. We haven’t quite formalized the committee structure and who would be on it. It won’t be a large committee, though. It’ll be a fairly small committee. There were five or six people last time when they did the search for Dan. That’s how these things go.”
5. On priorities for the replacement: “We’ve done a lot of construction, so we’ve got some challenges in terms of funding and fundraising. Certainly looking for somebody with absolutely the highest integrity possible.”
6. On if having worked at Tech or being an alumnus is a factor: “I don’t know that it has to be somebody that has been here or is an alum. They have to understand Georgia Tech. This place is a little different than some places. It’s a great institution, but it is a little different. … Our academic requirements are pretty difficult and challenging, so it’s going to take an athletic director that understands Georgia Tech. I think I’ve tried to do that and I’m not a Tech alum, so I’ve got a high degree of confidence we can find somebody. It’d be great if we could find somebody that knew a lot about Georgia Tech, was a Tech alum, had three degrees, four degrees, four kids that went here, but we’ll see what happens.”
7. On Radakovich’s legacy: “Well again when I think you look at the facilities and what we’ve done with facilities, it’s just been a spectacular run. We’ve just had tremendous support from our alumni that has facilitated that growth of facilities. The John and Mary Brock Football Practice Facility, McCamish Pavilion – I think you’ve probably been there – just looks spectacular, the Ken Byers Tennis Center, the new softball field. A real focus on the financial aspects, fundraising. He’s done a great job fundraising. The improvement he’s made to the facilities has really raised our game and our ability to attract coaches, players, staff and will be a great asset in attracting the next athletics director.”
8. On Radakovich being linked to jobs in the past: “Dan has kept me fully apprised. He and I have a great relationship, I’ve never had to wonder. Somebody asked me if I knew he was being considered about a week ago, a week and a half ago, and I said, Yeah, he had told me because they knew somebody that knew somebody. I said yeah he had told me and he’s kept me fully apprised. It doesn’t make much sense for me to go into that.”
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