INDIANAPOLIS -- Xavier Associate Vice President and Athletic Director Mike Bobinski has been named chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for the 2012-13 season.
Following formal approval by the NCAA Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet, Bobinski's term as chair will begin in September 2012. He will succeed the Connecticut athletics director Jeff Hathaway, who will chair the committee in 2011-12.
"It is an exciting time to serve on the men's basketball committee, given the championship's recent expansion to 68 teams, the advent of the First Four, our new partnership with Turner and CBS and the overall excitement associated with NCAA basketball," said Bobinski, who will enter the fourth of a five-year term on the committee this fall.
"I've been fortunate to observe the great work of the chairs before me and I look forward to the opportunity to further contribute to the committee under Jeff Hathaway's leadership. It's a tremendous honor to serve the membership in this capacity."
Bobinski was hired as athletics director at Xavier in 1998 and remained in that role until 2004, when he was named the school's associate vice president for development. He returned to the athletics department in 2006. In 2001, Bobinski hired Thad Matta, who currently serves as the head coach at Ohio State University, and he was responsible for bringing current University of Arizona coach Sean Miller to campus as the associate head coach.
In 2009, Bobinski hired Chris Mack, who has continued the program's success. The Musketeers are one of only a dozen schools to make each of the past six NCAA tournaments, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Michigan St., Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Xavier advanced to the Elite Eight in 2004 and 2008, and was a Sweet 16 participant in 2009 and 2010.
A 1979 magna cum laude graduate of Notre Dame, Bobinski played baseball for the Irish while earning a degree in business administration. He worked in public accounting and for the Walt Disney Company before being hired as the associate business manager at his alma mater in 1984. He later served as the associate director of athletics at the United States Naval Academy and as athletics director at Akron before going to Xavier.
