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WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SEARCH
Candidate Grant worked his way up at WSU
Associate AD is the youngest finalist for the top job, but has plenty of WSU experience.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
FAIRBORN — In the mid-1980s, while he was still an undergrad at Wright State, Bob Grant applied to be an intern for Major League Baseball in New York.
"I was a finalist for an internship with Bart Giamatti's office, and during the interview process I interviewed with Bob Quinn, who was then the general manager of the Reds," Grant recalled.
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"He gave me the best advice ever. He said, 'Hey, Bob, you know if you get this internship, you'll be living in New York City for 10 months of the year, making peanuts. If you really want sports, you've got to concentrate on college athletics. You've got a great foothold there at Wright State.' "
Taking Quinn's advice, Grant graduated from WSU, obtained an MBA in marketing and joined the school's athletics staff. A West Carrollton native, he has never left.
Grant — who started as a volunteer in the sports information office — has become an associate athletic director and this month will be interviewed as one of the four finalists for the athletic director's chair, being vacated by retiring Mike Cusack. Grant is the only in-house candidate and, at 43, the youngest.
"I've worked in every part of this department," Grant said. "This is the one job I've waited for, that I've had my eye on for the better part of a decade. It's not just longevity. Plenty of people can stay 10-20 years at a place. I've stayed here because I've loved this place.
"I don't just want to be an athletics director. I want to be the athletics director at Wright State."
Grant said working with the school's administration and coaches — most of whom he helped hire — is the best part of the job.
"I've helped fundraise for bricks-and-mortar projects," Grant said. "Those things are far easier to do even at our stage in our lifecycle than finding good people."
What can Wright State become?
"I look at Xavier just down the road of a perfect model of something we can be," said Grant, pointing out X's athletic success, particularly in basketball.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Athletic director candidate profile
Name: Bob Grant
Age: 43
Education: Bachelor of Science/Business Administration, WSU, 1988; MBA/Marketing, WSU, 2000.
Experience: Senior WSU athletics development officer, 1992-1995; WSU assistant athletic director, 1996-2002; WSU associate athletic director 2003-present.
Highlights: Supervises men's basketball, baseball, men's soccer and golf; responsible for approximately $10 million in gifts/pledges since 1996; supervised marketing director and department 1997-2000; oversaw business manager and $8 million athletics budget in 2007.
