(10-06-2023 08:09 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote: What's wrong with Bobinski?
The implication seems to be that Bobinski ran the GT Athletics Dept into the ground. I don't follow GT or Purdue at all. However, looking at the success he's had at Purdue, I'd have to say that it seems more likely that GT's higher up Administration should shoulder the majority of the blame for their recent struggles, or perhaps their boosters? Maybe both? I do know that GT's Athletic revenues are typically at or near the bottom of the ACC. They've been last or next to last every year for the past 5 years (trading off with NC St, who has also been last or next to last in the ACC in revenues every year for the past 5 years).
https://www.sportico.com/business/commer...234646029/
I just looked Bobinski up, he was AD at GT from 2013 to 2016, and he's been at Purdue ever since. Last year his Football team won the B1G West, and his basketball team got a #1 seed in the NCAAT. So, that's got me wondering what he could have done at GT over a 4 year period about a decade that was so terrible. I decided to do some digging, and this is what I found:
This from a column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution soon after he left GT, doesn't leave much in doubt:
Morale in the Edge Athletics Center reportedly is at an all-time low. Tech president Bud Peterson and whatever search committee he hires had better realize that because they screwed up the last time they hired an AD.
Tech’s athletic department has been like a rudderless ship, with a revolving door of employees, many leaving voluntarily. Multiple senior staff positions, like those in facilities and operations and the sports information department, have turned over more than once under Bobinski.
Good employees left or were fired. Poor replacements were hired and fired or, worse, held positions and made decisions like those involving the Ireland trip.
From one athletic department donor: “The culture has changed. It became more of a me-first place as opposed to the student-athletes coming first, or as opposed to, ‘We’re all in this together.’ If a guy like Bill Curry had been hired, when you think about his personality and his leadership style, that’s what’s missing right now. An inspirational leader.”
Of course, here's another exerpt from the article I found here:
https://saturdaytradition.com/purdue-foo...-bobinski/
Schultz wrote that Georgia Tech was happy to see Bobinski leave for Purdue. The Boilermakers, on the other hand, feel that they landed a guy plenty capable of filling Burke’s shoes.
Only time will tell if Bobinski, who won’t officially take over until Burke retires in June 2017, was the right hire. Purdue can only hope that Schultz’s column wasn’t a precursor for what lies ahead.
As an uninterested 3rd party, I have to say that the hit piece in the AJC looks like sour grapes in retrospect, considering that Bobinski had pretty good success at his other 3 stops. Clearly, GT has not improved their fortunes since he left, while Purdue is doing very well with him running the show.
As an aside, that "Bill Curry" reference in the AJC article is kind of humorous, considering that he went 31-43-4 at GT and 93-128-4 overall across a few decades of coaching. Maybe he's a great guy, maybe he's inspirational as all get out, but he wasn't a very successful coach.
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Purdue reloads, shoots foot again
