July 16, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – John B. “Jack” Swarbrick Jr., a Notre Dame graduate who has risen to national prominence as a lawyer, consultant and executive in the collegiate and Olympic sports industries, was appointed today (July 16) as the University’s 12th director of athletics.
Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., introduced Swarbrick at a news conference on the top floor of the University’s Hesburgh Library. The appointment is effective immediately.
“As most of you know, the Notre Dame mission is a combined commitment to excellence in undergraduate education and in research, scholarship and creativity, all in concert with our unwavering commitment to Catholic values and teachings,” Father Jenkins said. “Added to that is our long tradition of success in intercollegiate athletics, both on and off the field. Finding an athletics director who fits with this multi-faceted mission is no easy task, but we were fortunate to have many outstanding candidates, both internal and external. We looked closely at some 30 potential candidates, and I am confident that Jack Swarbrick will be a superb athletics director for Notre Dame. I am delighted that he has accepted our offer and look forward to working closely with him.”
Raised in Yonkers, N.Y., and Bloomington, Ind., Swarbrick is a 1976 magna cum laude graduate of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Upon graduating from Stanford Law School in 1980, he returned to Indiana to accept a position as an associate in the Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels. He was made partner in 1987.
At the same time that Swarbrick began his career, the city of Indianapolis was beginning its effort to become a world-class center for amateur and professional athletics. An employment law specialist, Swarbrick soon shifted his focus to sports and quickly became active in the city’s initiatives.
As a member of the Indiana Sports Corp., including the chairmanship from 1992 to 2001, Swarbrick led many of the city’s successful proposals to a wide array of athletics organizations – from the NFL to the U.S. Olympic Committee to the Big Ten Conference. His leadership efforts have resulted in the city:
- Earning the bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl to Indianapolis
- Becoming the home of the NCAA national headquarters
- Hosting the 1987 Pan American Games
- Hosting the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships
- Hosting NCAA Final Fours and other college championship competitions and a wide array of national and world championships in the Olympic sports
- Securing rights to host the Big Ten Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for five consecutive years beginning in 2008
Swarbrick’s work has focused on the representation of owners of sports teams and organizations which sanction or conduct athletic competitions. He has served as general counsel for numerous national governing bodies of Olympic sports, including USA Gymnastics and USRowing, and as a consultant to the 1996 Olympic Games. He also served as president and chief executive officer of LMiV, an Internet-based network of radio stations.
In his work as an advisor to the NCAA, Swarbrick has:
- Coordinated the men’s College Basketball Partnership, an NCAA-led group that addresses the opportunities and challenges in the sport
- Worked with the NCAA’s Corporate Partners and Champions Program
- Served as a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Discussion Group
- Chaired the NCAA/USOC task force dedicated to developing proposals to expand sponsorship of Olympic sports among NCAA member institutions
- Developed the business plan for the new NBA/NCAA youth basketball enterprise
Before accepting the offer to lead his alma mater’s athletics department, Swarbrick had been a finalist for several high-profile positions in college athletics, including president of the NCAA and commissioner of the Big 12 Conference.
Swarbrick and his wife, Kimberly, are the parents of four children: Kate, a junior at Saint Louis University; Connor, a sophomore at Wake Forest University; Cal, a junior in high school; and Christopher, a high school sophomore.
— ND —
From: Dennis Brown, chief spokesman and assistant vice president for news and information