What Are You Looking for in the new Purdue Athletic Director? Staff Roundtable

With the news this week that Mike Bobinski will be retiring at the end of the 2026 calendar year I wanted to reach out to the staff to see what they are looking for in the next hire.

Ledman:

First, they should hire me. I’m only half joking. I’ve worked in sports journalism for over a decade. I’m a lawyer. I worked as an intern in the Purdue athletic department. I worked as a graduate assistant in the marketing and promotions department of Purdue athletics. I spent a summer working for Special Olympics Minnesota working events dealing with big time donors. I’m as diehard a Purdue fan as you can hope to find. Why not me?

Second, I look at the job as AD as basically two jobs. First, there is the HR piece (conveniently enough I spent over five years in HR specifically focused on hiring). The next AD is going to have to make tough decisions on the women’s basketball coach, keep an eye on Barry Odom and the football program, and as much as I hate to admit it there’s likely going to need to be a replacement for Dave Shondell hired before too long (he’s 68 years old). Those are each going to be big decisions to either retain, fire, or replace those people. The person you hire shouldn’t shy away from making those choices. I know the way to do these things lately is to overpay a consulting firm but to me that’s not how it should go. The AD is hired to run a department, so run the department. Make the calls, shake the trees, find the right person for the job. The second job is basically a fundraising job (did I mention I worked with big donors, including former Minnesota Vikings players when I was working for Special Olympics Minnesota?). With NIL and other new forms of compensation implemented over the last decade or so the need for money is more important than ever. Teams are gobbling up money and if you want to stay competitive you’ve got to have the money to back it up. Purdue is struggling on the football field but if there’s one thing we learned from IU it’s that with the right amount of money and the right head coach anything is possible.

Third and finally, the next AD needs to be a strong advocate for guardrails from the NCAA, or any other governing body. I’ve long been a supporter of paying the players, but when things change each and every year it’s hard to know the rules of the road. Whoever comes into this job will be the AD at a prestigious university with one of the biggest megaphones in the country. They’ve got to use it to seek out some stability in the world of college sports.

Travis:

While we all love basketball and we know it will always be the top sport at Purdue, football pays the bills. Right now, Purdue football is probably the worst power 5 program in the country. It is also in the unenviable position of being near equidistant between one of the most storied programs in the sport and one of the new apparent superpowers. Purdue has a very, VERY long way to go just to make a bowl game, let alone compete at the highest levels. It’s also a multifaceted problem due to NIL. As a modern AD you have to be a fundraiser and an administrator. 

The new AD will have to come in and try to balance keeping the men’s basketball program among the elite while also trying to revive a football program that could be declared legally dead right now. Men’s basketball might be self-sustaining at this point. As long as Matt Painter is on the sideline Purdue is going to be a perrenial tournament team and Big Ten title contender. That part of the job is pretty easy right now. Reviving the football program in this day and age of college football? It might take a Cignetti-esque miracle because Purdue is so far behind the rest of the conference. We need someone willing to take that challenge, be innovative, and use the resources we do have (i.e., enormous media rights checks from the Big Ten) to turn things around in the toughest sport to break into the elite. 

Jed:

Well, this is a very different time in college athletics that comes with some very different circumstances. Purdue has always had problems competing with the big boys but that has been made even more difficult as some of our traditional competitors have some very deep pockets (I’m looking at you Indiana and Mark Cuban).

First and foremost, Purdue has got to find someone that can pull everyone’s mindset away from having an AD as a separate entity from the University. The two have got to find common ground and understand that an athletics department that has strong sports is one that benefits the university. I’m going to guess that Indiana is about to have some of their largest freshman classes because of the success of their football program.

Having the university’s full power and wealth behind the AD to upgrade facilities to a level they have never been at Purdue is priority number 1. Ross Ade is desperately needing renovated once again while the basketball programs could use more resources. Holloway could also be converted to a dedicated facility for men’s and women’s basketball rather than continuing to share a space with all other sports inside Mackey.

The new AD also needs to seriously look into naming rights for Ross Ade Stadium and Mackey Arena to generate a massive dose of help in this new era. We would potentially be looking at $45-$60 million in revenue from Ross Ade and Mackey could likely go for $25-$35 million. That would give the AD the necessary cash flow to expand facilities and put them on a more level playing field.

Most importantly, the AD should not go to anyone that is currently serving in any capacity with the department. I won’t name anyone in particular but let’s just say some in the department that continue to remain there today were intricate in the decision to hire Ryan Walters when exponentially better candidates were available (and made it well known they were).

Ryan:

I’m not exactly sure how this whole process is going to play out considering Purdue will need a new president as well but first and foremost, I want the new Purdue AD to be able to excel in this whole new world that is college athletics. NIL and profit sharing are the names of the game nowadays and there has to be an effective plan to help Purdue athletics be competitive amongst its peers. Yes, it’s great that Purdue is already enshrined into the big 2 conferences but being amongst the bottom (in football anyway) of the bigs is not what you want to strive for. 

Now, the Big Ten is coming off both a nation championship in football and basketball by clearly proving that money can buy championships. Purdue is already getting plenty of cash to use but let’s face it, they need more money and this brings me to my next trait of the new AD: connection to alums. Purdue alums have deep pockets but the new AD needs to be a salesperson to get them to give money to sports programs. All they need to do is find their Mark Cuban and Purdue will be shoveling money hand over fist to get the best coaches, recruits, and facilities. We need to steer fully into the skid and accept the state of college athletics for what it is: a business, and a lucrative one at that. You need to spend money to make it and Purdue needs to make it to spend it. Get a person at AD who can break the chain. Do I have high hopes for Purdue getting this person? Perhaps, but if we’re living in fantasy world, the new Purdue AD will be able to print money for the university through athletics. The foundation is there but the execution is the next step.