Purdue to hire Tommy McClelland from Rice as athletic director, AP source says

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Purdue plans to hire Tommy McClelland from Rice as the school's athletic director, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The person requested anonymity because school officials had not made an announcement.

McClelland replaces Mike Bobinski, who announced his retirement on June 3. The 68-year-old Bobinski has held the job since 2016 and plans to stay at the university until the end of December.

During McClelland's three-year tenure with Rice, the school added scholarships in several programs, brought back women's diving and added women's golf.

He also hired football coach Scott Abell, men's basketball coach Rob Lanier and Tasha Moser as associate athletic director for NIL.

From 2020-23, McClelland worked as a deputy athletic director at Vanderbilt, where he headed the $300 million Vandy United fundraising campaign — the largest in school history. The athletic department used the money to renovate and construct facilities on campus.

McClelland also worked as athletic director at Louisiana Tech from 2013-20 and at McNeese State from 2008-13. He took McNeese State job at age 26.

During Bobinski's tenure at Purdue, the Boilermakers reached their first men's basketball Final Four since 1980 and played for their first national championship since 1969. Purdue also played for the Big Ten title in football in 2022.

Bobinski was a pitcher at Notre Dame from 1976-79 before becoming an athletic department administrator. He worked as an associate athletic director at Navy from 1989-94 before taking his first AD job at Akron in 1994. Bobinski worked in the same capacity at Xavier from 1998-2013 and Georgia Tech from 2013-16 before landing at Purdue.

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