New Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury flashed one of his three championship rings at his introductory news conference Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He joked that he wore it because it matched his black-and-gold tie. He earned the ring in 1990 while at Georgia Tech, and he said the jewelry was a beacon for how he wants to run the athletics department at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great illustration of a program that did it the right way, and we were still able to win at the highest level,\u201d Stansbury said. \u201cThere is cynicism that says being a great student-athlete and being able to compete at the highest level are mutually exclusive. But I don\u2019t believe that at all.<\/p>\n
Stansbury\u2019s positive attitude and commitment to running the athletics department with integrity appealed to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ administrators.<\/p>\n
He comes to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ from Oregon State University, where he has supervised business operations, including a $56 million budget and ticket sales, since 2003. He also has earned two more national championship rings, courtesy of the Beavers\u2019 baseball team.<\/p>\n
More than half of Oregon State\u2019s student-athletes boast grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. The Beavers\u2019 athletics annual fund has grown 155 percent since 2003, and ticket sales have grown 80 percent.<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ President John C. Hitt said about 80 people applied for the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ AD job, demonstrating the university\u2019s vast appeal nationwide. He praised Stansbury as a \u201cdynamic leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe began this search with the promise that we would hire a director of athletics who would lead us in a manner consistent with our responsibilities as members of the NCAA and follow our own high standards of conduct and performance,\u201d Dr. Hitt said. \u201cWe\u2019re keeping that promise. Todd is an innovative leader who stresses the importance of character and integrity to his coaches, staff and student-athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd will lead our athletics program on a path of success on the field and in the classroom and in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ interim Director of Athletics Admiral Al Harms, who took over the program on Nov. 8, was impressed with Stansbury\u2019s enthusiasm and commitment to integrity. Harms will continue to oversee Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Athletics until Stansbury takes over on March 1, and he\u2019s looking forward to working with Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s new AD.<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd has spoken passionately about doing things the right way \u2026 and I\u2019m excited about being on this team and watching him deliver on that promise,\u201d Admiral Harms said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve met a guy in a long time who is as genuine and authentic as Todd Stansbury, and that shines through in every word and every action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to his time at Oregon State, Stansbury \u2013 an Oakville, Ontario native \u2013 established some deep roots in the Southeast and became quite familiar with Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. He was the director of athletics at East Tennessee State University from 2000-03 and associate director of athletics at the University of Houston from 1997-2000. He played linebacker at Georgia Tech and then worked in the athletics department there from 1988-1995.<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ head football coach George O\u2019Leary worked with Stansbury when both were at Georgia Tech. O\u2019Leary said he believes Stansbury is the right man to lead Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ into the next generation of athletics success.<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd\u2019s a very sincere person. It\u2019s a very good hire by Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ from what I know of Todd and know of the job he will do here,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cWe are busy right now recruiting, and hopefully he gets back quickly enough so I can introduce him to some of our recruits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stansbury said he is impressed with the progress Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s athletics program has made in such a short time and with the surrounding community, which he said has \u201cso much going for it.\u201d He said he plans to meet with university and community leaders, as well as students, soon after his arrival.<\/p>\n
Stansbury also said Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s appeal was heightened by the school\u2019s pending entry into the BIG EAST in 2013-14. He said he will spend the coming months studying what Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ needs to do to best be prepared for the conference move.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into the BIG EAST is an incredible opportunity, and we\u2019ve got to be ready to compete at that level right away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury flashed one of his three championship rings at his introductory news conference Tuesday.","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[151,1939,2510,6628,4857],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-31795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-al-harms","tag-george-oleary","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-todd-stansbury","tag-ucf-athletics"],"yoast_head":"\n