Mike O'Brien began his tenure as Toledo's athletic director in 2002. The Rockets have won 40 MAC titles during his tenure.
Q&A With Mike O'Brien
4/26/2022 8:27:00 AM | Athletics
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This Friday, April 29 will mark the final day in the office for Vice President and Athletic Director Mike O'Brien, who is retiring following 20 years at The University of Toledo.
O'Brien has helped shape the UToledo Athletics program into one of the very best in the Mid-American Conference. His tenure has seen unprecedented athletic and academic achievements of Rocket student-athletes, as well as numerous ambitious capital projects that have elevated Toledo's status as one of the top mid-major athletic programs in the country. His contributions to the University have extended beyond Athletics as he was chosen to serve as co-director of the Ready to Launch capital campaign in 2019.
During his tenure, O'Brien has led the Rockets to 40 Mid-American Conference titles in nine different sports. In addition, the Rockets have made 12 bowl appearances in football, five NIT appearances in men's basketball, an NCAA Tournament appearance in women's basketball in 2017, as well as eight WNIT appearances, including a WNIT championship crown in 2011. Toledo won the Jacoby Trophy as the MAC's top women's athletic program in 2011-12 and 2017-18.    Â
In the classroom, Toledo has produced overall department grade-point averages above a 3.3 in each of the past six semesters, including a school-record GPA of 3.527 in the spring of 2020. Toledo has won the Mid-American Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award, presented annually to the school with the highest grade point average, five times in the last nine years.Â
O'Brien has also been an instrumental force in initiating some of the most ambitious construction projects in school history. No fewer than six major projects have been completed during O'Brien's tenure, as well as numerous smaller ones. The major projects include the Charles A. Sullivan Athletic Complex and Savage Arena renovation project (2008); the Fetterman Training Center (2010); renovation of the Larimer Athletic Complex (2014); Savage Arena expansion and renovation (2016); and the construction of a new soccer field, Paul Hotmer Field, on the main campus (2019).
O'Brien, who recently completed his fourth and final season on the prestigious NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, recently talked with Associate Athletic Director for Communications Paul Helgren about his thoughts as his time as athletic director comes to an end.
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Q: Since this is your last week as athletic director, I'm sure you've had a chance to reflect on how things have changed for Rocket Athletics over the past 20 years.
O'Brien: When you come into a job, you want to feel that you left it better than when you arrived. I would like to think that occurred here. There have been a lot of people involved in so many of the changes that took place here, but I think the most important is the change in attitude about the importance of academics. When I first came here, we had academic issues in a variety of ways. Academics wasn't something that we bragged about.
I remember back in 2004 when I hired (Assistant AD for Academics) Mike Meade, who is now at Oklahoma, I told him, "You have a blank slate, let's make some changes here." He did that and our coaches really bought into it. They bought into bringing in the right student-athletes who can compete in their sport but also succeed in the classroom.
Today, I can say we have an incredibly strong culture of academic success. It's very competitive among our teams as to who is awarded the Academic Achievement Award for highest team grade point average. It's something that we take a lot of pride in, on campus and in our community. We get so much positive feedback about our academics. I hear about it around our community as well as on campus from our faculty and staff. I think Rocket Nation is very proud of what's happening here. I'm really proud.
Q: What has changed as far as expectations for the student-athletes who come to Toledo?
O'Brien: It's a given now that they're supposed to take care of business academically. We want to have our student-athletes graduate and then become successful alums. We do expect that. That's what we're here for. When I talk to prospects' moms and dads, I tell them it's expected that they graduate.
We are also proud of the fact that our student-athletes make the right decisions socially and in the community. You see a lot of stories around the country about student-athletes making bad decisions, but not here. That's all part of our culture that's been created here. The staff and the coaches have really locked arms to create that. There's been a lot of pride in what we're doing.
Q: You must be proud of the many new building or renovation projects during your tenure, starting with the renovation of Savage Arena back in 2008.
O'Brien: When I arrived here 20 years ago, Savage Hall, as it was called at the time, was clearly a facility that needed more than just a face lift. It wasn't very good, let's face it. It was simply not the type of first impression you want to represent a Division I university. That changed when we received a $5 million gift from Chuck Sullivan that set the tone for the renovation project and enabled us to get other significant gifts. The total for the renovation was $30 million and we couldn't have spent it any better.
When I walk around Savage Arena today, I say to myself, hey this place is still pretty nice. People have taken pride in it and have kept it clean. Our facility folks are awesome. Our staff in general knows this is a pretty special place and they are going to keep it that way. Even our fans take care of it.
We've made major improvements in most of our facilities. The Glass Bowl, the Larimer Building, the Fetterman indoor facility, our soccer field, the tennis courts, our track facility. There is still work to be done, but overall I'm very proud of what we've achieved with our facilities.
Q: Talk about the athletic success the Rockets have enjoyed during your 20 years. It's been very diverse, with championships in a lot of different sports.
O'Brien: What we've done in football and both basketballs get so much of the attention and publicity. It's no different here than at other places. But our Olympic sports have also done very well. You can compare Toledo to many places, and what we've done here competitively has been very solid.
Q: Any memories stand out, any particular games?
O'Brien: There's been so many. Of course, we beat Michigan in football, along with wins vs. some big name teams in that sport. Not only have we been competitive, but we've brought some great games to the Glass Bowl, Power Five teams that had never been here before. We competed and beat some of them. Cincinnati came here ranked in the top 25 and we beat them. We beat Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, BYU and Navy in overtime in the Glass Bowl. We had a 10-game winning streak against Bowling Green, and won MAC titles in 2004 and 2017. So there's lots to be proud of.
In basketball, we've had so many great teams. This past year, for the first time for any school in MAC history, we had two regular-season champions in both men's and women's basketball. Our men's team has won back-to-back titles and gone 32-7 in MAC play in the past two seasons. I'm not sure everyone appreciates what an impressive run that is.
Going back a few years, I've said this many times that I don't think I ever saw the Toledo community and our campus come together like we did with the 2011 WNIT run by our women's team. That was amazing. There were packed houses and electricity, not only in Savage Arena, but in the community. I'll never forget that.
There have been so many other great teams. Men's golf went to the national championship one year. Women's cross country won numerous MAC titles. Now I think we're really a national name in that sport. Men's cross country is getting better. Softball won it in '19. Women's soccer has won several titles. Women's swimming too. Both tennis programs right now are really good. We haven't talked about baseball too much around here, but now we're third in our league and fighting for a MAC title. I'm sure I forgot some, but overall I'm proud of the fact that we've been pretty good in a lot of different sports.
Mike O'Brien celebrates the 2005 GMAC Bowl
victory in Mobile, Ala. with quarterback Bruce
Gradkowski and son Jack.
Q: One of the perks of your job is traveling with the teams and getting to know the coaches and student-athletes. I'm sure you have lots of great memories there.
O'Brien: The best part of this job is the interaction with the student-athletes and seeing how special they are. Watching them grow from their freshman year to when they're juniors and seniors, it's just unreal. They come here, maybe some come here very shy. Then later when we ask them to come and speak at our Downtown Coaches luncheons in front of folks and they're so polished, it's amazing. Being on the road with the teams, you get to talk to the student-athletes somewhat. That's been a lot of fun. You just don't forget some of those trips.
 Q: Another unique experience you've had has been your term on the NCAA Men's Basketball committee.
O'Brien: It was an incredible four years on that committee. Everyone was clearly on that group to better the sport that we love. They were so committed and worked so hard to make it right. There obviously are some teams that don't get into the tournament or are seeded differently than they thought, but we don't go into that room with any preconceived notions that Team X is going to be here. We go in there based on the data and our conversations. Everyone has a certain conference they monitor and they're an expert on that conference. The things I've been able to do, the people I've met along the way, the coaches, the players I've been able to interact with at practices, those are memories I will never forget.
 Q: You had pretty good seats for the Final Four, too.
O'Brien: Before I was named and before I was in the room, Dan Gavitt, who is the vice president for basketball at the NCAA, said "You're going to pinch yourself." He was so right. I told that to the group at my last meeting on Championship Monday. The pinching myself part, for me, was to be with the room with all those people on the committee. They are all pros. What an experience, and I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my career. It was a pretty special tournament this year.
 Q: What are the next steps for you professionally and personally?
O'Brien: First, I just want to thank everyone. I've told this to some folks that have reached out and been nice to me personally, and to (wife) Michelle and (son) Jack. We have some incredible supporters of this University. I couldn't ask for anything more. I leave here with lifetime friends -- a lot of them. I'm really lucky. As far as next steps, my son Jack is a student at TCU in Fort Worth, so in time, Michelle and I will move to be a little bit closer to him and get to a warmer climate.
 Q: What will you miss most about being athletic director?
O'Brien: There's going to be a lot to miss. Just the job itself. Not everything was easy and it's not the same day after day after day. That's what I liked about the job, actually. It's the staff, coaches, student-athletes, donors, fans -- it's just a variety of things that keeps an administrator on his or her toes. At the same time, it's been a lot of fun. I've told people, and I tell prospective student-athletes this when we meet, we can talk about our facilities being really nice, which they are. The bricks and mortar here are wonderful. However, the reason so many people have stayed here, and the reason I've stayed, is because of the people in the department, on campus, and in the community, and the interaction with the student-athletes. That's why it's been so wonderful to stay here.
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