If you haven’t already heard, Boston College has hired it’s new Athletic Director, Martin Jarmond. Now, for those who don’t know who that is or why this is important let me explain. Martin Jarmond was the deputy athletic director at Ohio State University. More importantly Jarmond was in charge of football scheduling and fundraising.
Why is this important? Well, look at it this way. Jarmond is known as a major fundraiser. In 2013 according to Cleveland.com Ohio State athletics raised $28.2 million in donations alone. Boston College has a fundraising problem, Jarmond fixes this problem. It’s not like Boston College lacks for big time alumni, (i.e. Bob Ryan Boston Globe sports writer, John Kerry former Senator and Sec of State, Philip Schiller VP of Worldwide Marketing at Apple Inc) who can afford to donate back to the school.
The other big thing that Martin Jarmond did under Gene Smith is football scheduling. Jarmond in his years in charge of football scheduling is scheduling home and home series with other big time programs. In the upcoming years Ohio State plays Oklahoma, TCU, Notre Dame, and Oregon. Boston College might not be able to get home and homes yet, but what this does show is the willingness to go out and play teams and when they get those important home games, the amount of revenue generated is crucial.
To be honest, I was hoping that this is the kind of hire that NC State would have made. Gene Smith at Ohio State gets it. College sports is a big time business and needs to be run as such. The amount of revenue that an athletic department can bring in raises the profile of the school. Jarmond has to get it as well and has the experience at one of the biggest and most successful athletic departments in the country. In my opinion Boston College got themselves a winner, and let’s see if Martin Jarmond turns things around at Boston College.
