Page 223 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

224 THE UNIVERSITY

hletic Director

Mike O’Brien Vice-President and Athletic Director

Probably the best word to de-scribe Mike O’Brien is “builder.” Now in his 11th year as the athletic director at the University of Toledo, O’Brien has been an instru-mental force in initiating one of the most ambitious construction schedules in school history. No fewer than fve major projects have been completed during O’Brien’s reign, as well as numerous smaller ones. O’Brien, who has the second-longest tenure among Mid-American Conference athletic directors, has also been a builder in an even more important sense. He has guided the Rockets into position as one of the strongest programs in the Mid-American Conference, bothon the feld and in the classroom. The Rockets have won or shared 22 league titles in eight diferent sports under O’Brien’s watch. And in the classroom, O’Brien’s emphasis on academics has led to record-breaking report cards for the department.

O’Brien received national recognition for his ac-complishments from the National Association of Col-lege Directors of Athletics at the NACDA Convention in June of 2012 when he was named the Football Bowl Subdivision Northeast Region Athletic Director of the Year.

The building boom of capital projects under O’Br ien’s reign began shortly after his arrival at UT in 2002 and has never relented. He secured fund-ing for the renovation of the outdoor track, tennis courts and soccer field. The soccer field project was completed in the fall of 2004, while the ten-nis courts and track were completed in 2006. O’Brien secured sig-nificant funding for the Athletics capital campaign for the new Charles A. Sul-livan Athletics Complex and Savage Arena renova-tion project, including a $5 million gift from Chuck

and Jackie Sullivan.

The $30 million facility, which debuted on Dec. 3, 2008, can rightfully claim to be one of the premier facilities of its kind in the country. Changes to Savage Arena included a new seating confguration, improved fan amenities, new locker rooms and ofces, new suites and loges, as well as a newvideo scoreboard and sound system.

The Sullivan Athletics Complex features a beautiful glass atriumentrance to Savage Arena, a new ticket of-fce, theVarsity‘T’Hall of Fame and“The Rocket Shop,”a merchandise store devoted exclusively to sellingRocket gear and souvenirs.

The most recent addition to the Rockets’ building spree was the completion of the Fetterman Training Center in 2010. The Fetterman Training Center is a 90,400 square-foot indoor multi-sport practice facility that features a 100-yard Field Turf playing surface, a regulation basketball/volleyball court, sprinting lanes and a long jump pit for track, a golf practice area and new golf locker rooms. As part of the project, improve-ments were also made to the adjacent UT Outdoor Track, including new permanent bleacher seating, a press box and elevated viewing platforms.

O’Brien’s term as athletic director has been more than just bricks andmortar. Sincebecoming the school’s 13th athletic director on Jan. 22, 2002, the Rockets have won or shared 22 MAC division, regular-season and

Mike O’Brien was named the 2012 NCAA Division I-FBS Northeast Region Athletic Di-rector of the Year by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Here he accepts his award fromWalker Jones, director of sports marketing for UnderAr-mour at the NACDA Convention in June of 2012.