Thoughts on Mike Thomas

Mike Thomas alienated a lot of people when he took over as the UC athletic director in 2005. Part of the reason was that he didn’t have the folksy personality of his predecessor, Bob Goin. To add to his problems, he was hired by Nancy Zimpher, which was a strike against him from the outset in the eyes of many UC fans. He then turned over much of the athletic department staff and was criticized for hiring Mick Cronin to coach the basketball team instead of fan favorite Andy Kennedy. We’ll never know what kind of job Kennedy would have done if he had stayed, but it’s clear that Cronin has the program on the right track in a very short period of time. Thomas also deserves credit for hiring Brian Kelly to coach the football program, for helping to sell out Nippert Stadium three times last fall and for acting to sign Kelly to a five-year contract extension.

He still has much work to do, though. In an era of financial belt tightening at UC, he has to find the money to pay for the practice fields and indoor bubble that are part of Kelly’s new contract, even while Varsity Village hasn’t been totally paid for. Further down the road, he must decide how to enlarge Nippert Stadium to squeeze more revenue out of it and improve or replace Fifth Third Arena. If Goin was judged on getting UC into the Big East and getting Varsity Village built, Thomas’ legacy at UC could very well be tied to what happens with Nippert Stadium and Fifth Third Arena.