Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick to Step Down in 2024
Notre Dame will have a new athletic director in 2024 as Jack Swarbrick will step down next year per Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
Pete Bevacqua, a Notre Dame alum and chairman of NBC Sports Group will be his successor per a release from the university.
July 1st will mark the start of Bevacqua’s tenure at Notre Dame as he’ll begin his role as Special Assistant to the President for Athletics, which will allow him to learn from Swarbrick before taking over full-time as athletic director “sometime in the first quarter of 2024,” per Notre Dame’s release.
“It has been my privilege to work alongside Jack Swarbrick as he led Notre Dame to unprecedented success over the past 15 years while providing such an influential voice in college athletics, and I’m excited that we have such a talented and experienced leader in Pete Bevacqua to spend some time learning under Jack before assuming new leadership in one of America’s most storied athletic programs,” Father John Jenkins said in a statement. “At this time of great chaos and disruption in college athletics, it will be invaluable to have Pete join Jack and me in charting a future for Notre Dame athletics that allows our student-athletes to play at the highest level, enjoy a full student experience and earn a Notre Dame degree. Having come to know Pete over the years in his work at NBC Sports, I’m looking forward to welcoming him, his wife, Tiffany, and their children — Samantha, Arthur and Jake — to our campus community.”
Swarbrick will continue to handle his athletic director roles with Bevacqua by his side until his tenure is complete.
“It speaks volumes about Notre Dame and Father Jenkins' leadership that we can implement such a well-conceived succession plan and attract someone of Pete’s talent and experience,” Swarbrick said. in the statement. “I have worked closely with Pete throughout his time at NBC and based on that experience, I believe he has the perfect skill set to help Notre Dame navigate the rapidly changing landscape that is college athletics today, and be an important national leader as we look to the future. I look forward to helping Notre Dame's student-athletes and coaches achieve their goals in the months ahead while also helping Pete prepare for his tenure as athletics director.”
Bevacqua grew up in New York and attended Brunswick School (Conn.) before walking on to Lou Holtz’s Fighting Irish squad as a punter. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Notre Dame and then earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown in 1997.
He was then a legal associate at Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP in New York City before joining the United States Golf Association (USGA) in 2001 and was promoted to the first-ever managing director of the US Open two years later.
Bevacqua also worked for CAA as the Global Head of Gold before being named CEO of the PGA in 2012. in 2020, Bevacqua was named the third chairman of NBC Sports where he oversaw NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, Golf Channel, NBC Regional Sports Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital.
“This is an unbelievable honor for me and a dream come true. With the exception of my family, nothing means more to me than the University of Notre Dame,” Bevacqua stated. “As a Notre Dame alum, I have a keen understanding and deep appreciation of the lifetime, transformational benefit our student-athletes receive in a Notre Dame education, one that is unique and unlike any other institution in the world. I am so grateful to Father Jenkins, the Board of Trustees and, of course, Jack Swarbrick. Jack has become a true friend over the course of the past several years and I am looking forward to working alongside him and learning as much as I can from the person I admire and respect the most in college athletics.”
It’s definitely worth noting Bevacqua complete the rights agreement between the Big Ten and NBC last August and has been the chief steward in NBC’s broadcast agreement with Notre Dame football.
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