Mike Bobinski is entering the second year of his second stint as Xavier's Director for Athletics.

This is a return engagement for Bobinski, who came to Xavier in 1998 as athletic director and served in that position until his move to the development office in June 2004. As associate vice president for development from 2004-06, Bobinski oversaw all fund-raising efforts for Xavier University including annual and planned giving, major gifts, grant services and internal operations.

During Bobinski's seven years as Athletic Director, including his previous six-year tenure, Xavier's athletic teams have won 10 Atlantic 10 Championships and competed in 21 NCAA tournament events. He hired Thad Matta as the men's basketball coach in 2001 and Sean Miller as Xavier's first associate head coach. Matta is now head coach at Ohio State University and Miller is head coach at Xavier. Bobinski also hired women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff and oversaw the opening of the Cintas Center. He served on the NCAA Division I Management Council and as president of the Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Association in 2002-2003.

In men's basketball, Xavier has averaged 24.3 wins over those seven years, while winning three Atlantic 10 Regular Season Championships and two Atlantic 10 Tournament Championships. XU made five NCAA Tournament appearances in men's basketball, including the 2004 NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" run and last season's NCAA Second Round appearance as well as two NIT appearances, including a third-place finish in 1999. Women's basketball made a run to the NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" in 2001.

The NCAA recently recognized eight Xavier athletic programs with Public Recognition Awards for the academic excellence of their student-athletes. The award is given to the top 10 percent of teams in each sport based on the NCAA Academic Progress rate. The APR is a term-by-term measure of progress for every student-athlete in Division I athletics.

Xavier programs receiving acknowledgment included: men's basketball, baseball, men's indoor track, men's swimming, women's cross country, women's indoor track, women's outdoor track and women's tennis.

"Intercollegiate athletics remains a passion for me," said Bobinski. "This is an exciting time to be a part of the Xavier athletic program. With the continued support of the University community and our loyal alumni and fans, there's much to be accomplished in the years ahead."

Bobinski has called himself a non-traditional athletic director who came to intercollegiate athletics more than 20 years ago from the business world, not the playing field or coaching arena. Before coming to Xavier he was the athletic director at the University of Akron, and prior to that, he was the associate director of athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy. There he oversaw all business operations, capital projects, fund raising and daily operations of the football and basketball programs.

Before moving to the Naval Academy, Bobinski, 50, was associate and assistant business manager at the University of Notre Dame from 1984 to 1989. A native of Yaphank on Long Island, N.Y., Bobinski received his bachelor of business administration from Notre Dame in 1979, graduating magna cum laude.

As a licensed certified public accountant, he first went into accounting with Arthur Young & Company and Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. He also worked for the Walt Disney Company in Orlando before moving into college athletics. As associate vice president for development, Bobinski oversees all fund-raising efforts for Xavier University including planned giving, annual giving, major gifts, capital campaigns, grant services and internal operations.

Bobinski and his wife, Sil, have two children, Melissa, 20, who is in her junior year at Xavier, and Brian, 18, a freshman on the baseball team at XU. They live in Mason, Ohio.