Who the heck is Swarbrick, to be hired as ND's AD? That was my first reaction (actually, my first reaction was that his name made me think of Will Ferrel playing Alex Trebek and the dude playing Sean Connery taking "S-words" instead of swords -Sword is like Swar- and then "The Penis Mightier" instead of the pen is mightier...etc. HA.). Anyway, then I thought, who is Swarbrick?
Jack is a 4-star on Rivals and a 5-star on Scout. His measurables are somewhat questionable, with his 12.6 forty and 10 inch vertical....oh wait, nevermind. Wrong profile.
It turns out that Jack Swarbrick is a lawyer and a serious mover and shaker in sports, and the guy gets results. Big results. I'd do a big run-down of all of those things, but BGS has done such a great job that I'll just send you there.
Mr. Swarbrick has a solid biography on his company's web site (HT: BGS).
A few of the highlights:
- ND Class of 1976 - solid! Sounds like he might get it!
- Stanford Law Class of 1980 - okay, he's smart!
- Joseph Meehan Medal from ND - this is given for Literary Merit. He's smart and can write!
- Chairman of the Board, Indiana Sports Corporation - he knows sports!
- Sports Commissioner, 1982 Olympic Festival - he knows international sports!
- CEO of LMiV, LLC, a local web technology company HQ'd in Indianapolis - he's actually run an organization! (The business had no legs and had a flawed model, so take that with a grain of salt...)
- He's had athletes, coaches, sports organizations, team owners and sanctioning bodies as clients. He's had experience in Economic Development, Business, Government & Non-Profit and Life Sciences (?) experience - dude is well-rounded, I'll give him that!
All around, Jack seems like a really sharp guy, and a high quality hire. The only nit against him is that he hasn't served as an AD in the past. But really, all his experience in the sports arena has to be equal to any AD out there. He was almost the President of the NCAA, he brought the NCAA offices to Indy, he was key in getting the Super Bowl to Indy in 2012...in the end, the guy has gotten stuff done. I think his experience as a lawyer will satisfy DomerMQ's need for a guy that can negotiate, and he should be great in the Soul Management department since he's an alum.
Very much outside of the 'typical' ND names thrown around there by, ahem (looks around innocently), certain folks. But this shows me that school leaders had a thorough process in place, had certain criteria that needed to be met, and that they found those qualities in Mr. Swarbrick.
Of course, this isn't yet official, so the announcement is forthcoming sometime this week...
But, anyway, welcome back to ND Jack. Here's to your fixing everything that Kevin White screwed up!
And, just for kicks:
By domer.mq July 15, 2008 - 7:18 am
It’s an interesting hire. Given all that BGS laid out about the guy, I’m feeling optimistic. Also interesting that he’s the same class as Fr. Jenkins. Will be really interesting to see if he’s given full control of the Football program (as much as ever could be called “full control” at ND), or if he’s the new, rumored “non-Football AD.” I’m hoping for the former. One thing I like is his apparent history of identifying what he/his org wants, and then finding ways to get it rather than just going by whatever he/his org “understands” to be “the way it is.”
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