WEST LAFAYETTE — As Purdue University seeks a new President, it will also begin the search for a new leader for its athletics department.
Mike Bobinski plans to retire on Dec. 31, IndyStar has confirmed. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the development.
Bobinski is one of the longest-tenured athletic directors in the Big Ten. He has overseen Purdue’s transition into the revenue share era of college sports while also helping guide it to new heights in men’s basketball.
Purdue has not yet announced plans or a timeline for the search to replace Bobinski.
Men’s basketball continued its ascent to a national power under Bobinski, reaching the Final Four in 2024. However, a major part of his legacy revolves around football.
Purdue hired Bobinski from Georgia Tech 2016 to succeed longtime AD Morgan Burke. Also the former athletic director at Xavier, he was hired with a primary mission of returning the football program to a level of competitiveness within the Big Ten. He fired Darrell Hazel midway through the fourth year of a tenure which included only eight or nine wins.
Bobinski had to work to keep Jeff Brohm after each of his first two seasons. But that tenure ultimately goes down as one of the more successful in recent Purdue history. The Boilermakers went to bowl games after all but one of his non-pandemic seasons. They also advanced to the 2022 Big Ten championship game, the only such appearance in program history.
Brohm’s eventual departure to his alma mater, Louisville, was considered to be an inevitability. The search Bobinsky conducted in the winter of 2023 led him to Ryan Walters, a young, first-time head coach who had risen in the industry due to his work as a defensive coordinator at Missouri and Illinois. It was a somewhat bold move, especially considering Walters did not have an offensive background for a program who’s most successful years had come under Brohm and Joe Tiller’s offenses.
Bobisnki fired Walters after two seasons and hired Barry Odom from UNLV. He went 2-10 in his first season.
While football will ultimately be the sport for which Bobinski’s tenure is judged, there have been successes in other sports. Men’s basketball reached the Final four for the first time since 1980 in 2024, one year after being a No. 1 seed. Women’s volleyball continues to compete at a top 10 national level.
The other defining hire of Bobinsky’s era remains at work in progress. Purdue parted ways with women’s basketball coach Sharon Versyp amid an investigation into treatment of players. For her successor, Bobinsky chose former Boilermaker star Katie Geralds, who had achieved NAIA success with Marian University. The women’s program has not yet returned to place of prominence within the Big Ten.
Purdue President Mung Chiang resigned earlier this month to take the same position at Northwestern. Former President and Indiana governorm Mitch Daniels was named the interim president in his place.
Nathan Baird and Sam King have the best Purdue sports coverage, and sign up for IndyStar’s Boilermakers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski to retire at year’s end