Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

Love the Lord your God w/ all your heart & with all your soul & w/ all your strength. Rethinking How Athletic Directors are Studied, Prepared, and Hired w/ HEA. higheredathletics.com Indianapolis, IN Joined August 2025

Tweets

899
Followers

293
Following

326
Likes

2K

D1.ticker @D1ticker

2 days ago

Via @HigherEdAD... 🎧 Sometimes it's important to take a different mindset when evaluating a coaching candidate for your department. For @FSAthletics + @KlassyDogs, it's thinking like a business owner: "Now, with the change of the House settlement, they have a dollar amount on the scholarships they pass out and that's determined on out-of-state, international, in-state kids. You have to be able to be a great budget manager." Plus, Klassy wants to maintain control over head coaching hires: "can't see myself ever giving up the responsibility of hiring head coaches. ... I don't feel like you can have a strong athletic department if it's just the AD holding people accountable. I need student-athletes holding us accountable." 📰: drvco.omeclk.com/portal/public/…

0 2 3 1K 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

3 days ago

@Camp4 What interview was this from so I can watch/read the whole thing? Solid advice for the niche audience I serve on my podcast.

0 0 1 252 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

4 days ago

@MattBrownEP I think NCAA HQ is going into a big cost saving season as their HQ job board now says it’s an internal job board only.

0 0 0 2K 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

4 days ago

@Genetics56 And create a lot leaner of an organization. NCAA here in Indy is huge with lots of overhead. I was always told the reason breakaway hasn’t happened is b/c the NCAA takes all the legal hits for the schools but feels like that’s changed

1 0 1 3K 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

4 days ago

@JoshPateCFB @finebaum Do you think people trust him less now because of the secrecy he dealt with OK and TX joining the league? I feel like it’ll always follow him now with leaders at other schools. And I’m not judging - he did his job

0 0 1 459 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

5 days ago

@Dan_Furman Memphis - easier to get attention there if you win. And I'm a Midwest guy that would never live in CA so candidates and their families gotta keep that stuff in mind! Plus FedEx is never running out of money

0 0 0 94 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@BoilersBeyond I nerd out on this stuff with my Higher Ed Athletics podcast interviewing ADs, but I go to 20+ Purdue football/basketball games each season so it’s a fun one for me to study.

0 0 1 115 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@BoilersBeyond I think Daniels will be trusted to do the search w/ board chair & input from Bobinski/Painter. Two Purdue ADs in the last 30+ years, so I think they’ll find the right person who will be there a while. Likely a sitting AD from Big 12/ACC or B1G/SEC Deputy.

1 0 1 431 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@johncanzanobft Wasn’t deputy at Ohio State. He was actually not even on the senior level administration team. But I think it shows how closely the president, search committee & search firm paid attention to candidates instead of relying simply on job titles. Kevin’s background fits well, IMO

0 0 8 881 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@D1ticker

0 0 1 99 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

More here on the announcement: news.oregonstate.edu/community-news…

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

Oregon State hires Ohio State Associate AD Kevin Griffin as their next Athletic Director

1 2 7 2K 0

1 0 0 492 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

news.oregonstate.edu/community-news…

0 0 0 99 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

Oregon State hires Ohio State Associate AD Kevin Griffin as their next Athletic Director

1 2 7 2K 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@StanHalen151984 @RickGoose2 @Genetics56 Ok Thanks for letting me know

0 0 0 54 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

@RickGoose2 @Genetics56 I always put short lists together for AD openings but I do it based on who I think a school/search firm will consider - I personally believe they’ll get a sitting AD as their next hire, but I can’t overlook someone when historically a deputy alum would always be on a short list.

1 0 0 99 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

The uniqueness of the Purdue AD retiring is that Mitch Daniels is returning as interim President and is the one that previously hired Bobinski back in 2016. Daniels will likely lead this search w/ Board Chair Gary Lehman. They used a non-traditional search firm last time.

0 0 0 408 0

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

6 days ago

With Purdue and Western Illinois announcements moments ago, we are now at 26 open D1 AD jobs, including 5 P4 jobs (UK, Miami, Wisconsin, VA Tech, Purdue) and 10 at the FCS level. Check out & bookmark my D1 AD Hiring Trends & Tracker higheredathletics.com/d1-athletic-di…

0 1 3 1K 2

View Details

Travis Smith @HigherEdAD

7 days ago

In the last 24 hours I’ve watched a Chronicle of Higher Education panel on college athletics changes, listened to a higher Ed podcast discussing the same thing, & now a senate panel. My opinion? People outside of college athletics, even Chronicle, don’t understand it at all.