Christopher Leaving BG

Breaking news from the Falcon Nation.  AD Greg Christopher is leaving BGSU to head to Xavier University as their Director of Athletics.

He walks into a pretty good situation.  No football program to worry about, and a basketball program that is heading into the "Catholic 7" Big East and is a premier mid-major program possibly about to be full-major, all-major, whatever.

Christopher certainly has had his detractors within the University, though I think he has a record of success.  He created significant progress with our facilities, including the Sebo Center, work on the Doyt and the Stroh Center.

This very prowess has led him to be labelled as only a fundraiser, especially those who are frustrated with progress in men's basketball.

I don't find that fair.  Yes, the Orr hire has not gone as well as we might have expected, but he appears to have hired a good football coach, a good hockey coach, and the early returns are good for the volleyball coach, the women's basketball coach the softball coach, the gymnastics coach and the swimming coach.  In the last two years (11-12 and 12-13) BG has won 4 MAC coach of the year honors with Christopher hired coaches...softball, women's basketball, swimming and gymnastics and the women's volleyball coach won the MAC in her first season.  Anyway, this fundraising-only charge does not stand up to the facts.

(Thanks to @jknavel for the help getting my facts right in paragraph above).

Anyway, it may be too soon to tell on many of those hires, but it is certainly too soon to tell that they didn't work, too.

For most of the last years, BG has languished among the lower teams in the MAC's all-sports standings, certainly a reflection of overall performance.

At the same time, the academic achievement appears to be pretty strong.

Currently, BG languishes among the lesser funded athletic programs in the MAC and is one of the few mid-majors in the country to have football, two basketball programs and an ice hockey program.

There will be more time for all of this.  For today, we wish Greg Christopher well.