Mike Bobinski
Mike Bobinski

Position:
Assoc. V.P./Athletic Director

Experience:
11th Year

Alma Mater:
Notre Dame '79


01/12/2012

Mike Bobinski Event

Fans in Hawaii were treated to a special event hosted by Xavier's All For One club. Athletic Director Mike Bobinski joined fans and supporters to talk about the State of Xavier Athletics.

10/15/2011

Mike Bobinski

Comments from Xavier Athletic Director Mike Bobinski on the TV schedule for the men's basketball, which was released earlier this week.

Associate Vice President Mike Bobinski is completing his 11th year as Xavier's Director for Athletics, another year that was filled with tremendous accomplishments and progress for Xavier's broad-based athletic program of 18 NCAA Division I sports. Bobinski has plenty of reasons to smile about the success stories in the department.

It's not a coincidence that Bobinski's passion for success has rubbed off on the Xavier athletic program. It has shown up in impressive results in competition and in the classroom. Xavier's latest graduation success rate is an impressive 94 percent. XU had 83 student-athletes honored on the Atlantic 10 Conference Academic Honor Roll in the spring of 2010 and followed that up by having 83 student-athletes honored again on the Atlantic 10 Conference Academic Honor Roll in the fall of 2010.

The NCAA recognized eight Xavier athletic programs with Public Recognition Awards for the academic excellence of their student-athletes this past year, including men's basketball, baseball, men's tennis, women's golf, women's swimming, women's tennis, women's indoor track and women's outdoor track. The award is given to the top 10 percent of the teams in each sport based on the NCAA Academic Progress Rate.

During Bobinski's tenure as athletic director, nine Xavier teams have earned 37 team or individual spots in NCAA Championship competition, including the baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's golf, rifle, men's tennis, women's soccer and women's volleyball teams. In addition, Xavier has sent individual standouts to NCAA Championship competition in track and field. In the same time span, Xavier teams have captured 24 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. Men's basketball made its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and women's basketball made its fifth straight appearance in March.

During Bobinski's 11 years as Athletic Director, Xavier basketball has enjoyed tremendous national success. In men's basketball, Xavier has averaged 25 wins over those 11 years while making the 2004 and 2008 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and the 2009 and 2010 Sweet 16. Men's basketball had one of its student-athletes earn All-America honors for the second straight season, while in May the program is on target to extend its streak to 83 straight seniors that have graduated. Women's basketball made runs to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2001 and again in 2010. This past season, women's basketball had two student-athletes earn All-America status and achieved its highest national ranking in program history at No. 4.

This past fall, Bobinski ushered in a new era for its entire fall Olympic sports lineup by hiring a new slate of coaches that delivered immediate progress. In terms of winning percentage, men's soccer had the best turnaround in the country going from worst to first, winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship to make its first-ever NCAA appearance. Volleyball won 20 matches and was A-10 runner-up, women's soccer won its most games since 2006, and men's cross country achieved its best finish in school history at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

Bobinski, who just completed the third year of a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, came to Xavier in 1998 as Athletic Director and served in that position until moving to the development office in June of 2004. As associate vice president for development from 2004-06, Bobinski oversaw all fund-raising efforts for Xavier including annual and planned giving, major gifts, grant services and internal operations. Bobinski returned to athletics in 2006.

In 2009, Bobinski hired Chris Mack as men's basketball head coach. He also hired Thad Matta as head men's basketball coach in 2001 and Sean Miller as Xavier's first associate head coach. Matta is now head coach at Ohio State and Miller has since taken over as head coach at Arizona. Bobinski also hired former women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff, who spent nine years at Xavier before leaving for Washington earlier this year. He also oversaw the opening of Cintas Center.

Bobinski came to intercollegiate athletics more than 25 years ago from the business world, not the playing field or coaching arena. Before coming to Xavier he was the athletic director at the University of Akron, and prior to that, was the associate director of athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Before moving to the Naval Academy, Bobinski, 52, was associate and assistant business manager at the University of Notre Dame from 1984 to 1989. A native of Yaphank on Long Island, N.Y., Bobinski received his bachelor of business administration from Notre Dame in 1979, graduating magna cum laude, while playing four years for the Fighting Irish baseball team.

As a licensed certified public accountant, he first went into accounting with Deloitte, Haskins and Sell and Arthur Young & Company from 1979-82. He also worked for the Walt Disney Company in Orlando from 1982-84 before moving into college athletics at UND in 1984.

Bobinski has two children, Melissa, 24, a 2009 Xavier graduate, and Brian, 22, who is a junior at Ohio State.

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