Sunday, June 09, 2013

Blade Reports New AD to be Named

He does look like a guy
you don't mess with.
The Blade is online today with the news that BG's new athletic director will be Chris Kingston, who is the Executive senior associate director of athletics.

You can take a look at his NC State bio here....I think Falcon fans will be pleased with this section...
Kingston is directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the football and men's basketball programs. Additionally, he oversees external initiatives, athletic branding and multimedia rights. Other areas of supervision include NCAA compliance, student services and media relations. He serves as the athletics department's liaison to the Wolfpack Club and serves on the Intercollegiate Athletics Cabinet.
I say that because of his focus on main sports and the fact that he is not primarily a fundraiser, a criticism (if unfair) of Greg Christopher.  Having said that, he did serve a significant role in athletic fundraising at West Point.

Like it or not, the Athletic Director has to be able to raise money in this environment.

He got his undergraduate degree at Central Florida, but we're going to look past that for now.  He was only at NC State for about 2.5 years, as well.

Looking around the BGSU sports environment, I would say the two biggest opportunities for improvement are men's basketball and hockey.  You'd like to think he has the background in the former...Falcon hockey fans may be nervous about his lack of background in the latter.

But, who are you going to find who is an expert in everything already?  If he's good, he will figure it out.

He has some tough hurdles to overcome.  BG's athletics lag behind other teams in terms of funding, and beyond women's basketball, none of the major revenue programs have had significant conference-title success in a long time.  That's a good thing from the perspective of an opportunity to show your stuff, but it isn't going to be easy.

You never know on these things.  On paper, he looks like a very promising candidate, and I look forward to hearing what his priorities are when he is introduced on campus.

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