By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 5-4-09
GREENSBORO, NC – University of North Carolina at Greensboro Athletics Director Nelson E. Bobb announced his resignation today, after directing Spartan Athletics for more than a quarter of a century.
Chancellor Linda P. Brady and Bobb said that the university and Bobb have mutually decided to pursue different opportunities, and it is planned that Bobb’s last day on the job will be June 30. Brady said that an interim director of athletics and a search committee will be announced before June 1. A national search is planned.
Bobb, 60, met with coaches and athletics staff this morning. With 26 years at UNCG, Bobb has the longest tenure as an athletic director in the Southern Conference and also the University of North Carolina system. He is the only person to hold the position at UNCG on a full-time basis.
“Nelson Bobb's leadership of Spartan athletics for the past 26 years has been transformative,” Chancellor Linda P. Brady said. “In addition to moving the program from Division III to Division I in only five years, he has championed a commitment to the welfare of our student athletes that extends well beyond their performance on the field or court. That commitment remains a permanent part of our culture. His efforts over these many years have positioned UNCG to further enhance the visibility and competitiveness of Spartan athletics. I am grateful for his service and his many lasting contributions to this university.”
Bobb said, “In this era, 26 years is a long time to be associated with one institution and I am honored to have been able to serve this long at such a fine place. The time is right for me to step down and for Chancellor Brady to make changes that she feels will help UNCG athletics. I support her efforts.
“There are many folks that have been responsible for the successes we have achieved. I have to thank individuals past and present – chancellors, trustees, university faculty and staff and coaches – that have been so great over the last 26 seasons. I have been blessed to have great leadership above me in Chancellors Moran, Sullivan and now Brady. There have been fantastic coaches and administrators who worked tirelessly for our program’s betterment, and I want to thank them all.
“But most of all, there are the student-athletes that have played on our fields and courts,” said Bobb. “They are the ones who have had the greatest impact on my time here and I will be forever grateful for their efforts in the classroom and in competition. I have bled the blue and gold for the last 26 years, and I am a Spartan.”
Bobb joined UNCG in July of 1983 when eight teams competed in the NCAA’s Division III. Before his arrival, the department was led by a men’s and women’s coordinator of athletics. The university authorized the move to Division I in February 1987, and Bobb guided the program through the transition in competitive status in only five years, going from Division III to Division I, with a brief stint at Division II.
UNCG is one of only a dozen institutions to compete in all three NCAA divisions. However, no other institution has made the complete shift of all teams from Division III to Division I in such a short time.
Other changes included transition, as a new Division I member, into the Big South Conference and later to UNCG’s current membership the historic Southern Conference. In the midst of the Spartans making it to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in just their fifth year of Division I competition and winning the Big South Commissioner’s Cup in consecutive years (1994-95 and 1995-96), the Southern Conference offered membership to UNCG in December of 1995.
Under Bobb’s guidance, Spartan student-athletes have consistently graduated at a rate equal to or higher than the general student population at UNCG. Each of the last three academic years, more than 40 percent of UNCG’s student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or better. In the fall of 2008, 48 percent of the student-athletes had a 3.0 GPA for the semester and 47 percent had a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. UNCG’s 248 student-athletes had a combined GPA of 2.94 for the fall semester, making the fifth straight regular semester that UNCG student-athletes had a 2.9 or better.
On the field of competition, Bobb headed the program for four of the school’s five men’s national soccer titles at the Division III level, a men’s soccer national runner-up finish in Division II and a third-place finish for women’s basketball at Division III in 1988. During Bobb’s 26 years, women’s basketball appeared in the NCAA Tournament seven times, men’s basketball twice, men’s soccer 16 times – including trips to the round of 16 four of the last five years – women’s soccer eight times, volleyball three times, and baseball and softball once each.
UNCG teams have won 37 conference tournament titles, 28 as an NCAA Division I member. They have also won 67 conference regular season titles – 41 since moving to NCAA Division I.
Another highlight has been fundraising for scholarships through The Spartan Club. A total of 24 endowments and 19 annual scholarships have been established, with more endowments nearing completion.
Within the department, Bobb has overseen a staff that has grown to more than 60 today and has successfully guided the department through the NCAA Certification process twice.
Major construction or renovation project have upgraded the Spartans’ athletic facilities. Major improvements include:
“We have worked to provide some of the best venues in the region, if not the nation,” said Bobb. “That isn’t always easy, especially when you share a backyard with the Atlantic Coast Conference. But with our men’s basketball program moving to the Greensboro Coliseum next season and some other projects coming to fruition at this time, there is no question that our teams play in the finest facilities available to them.”
In addition to elevating the men’s basketball program in its move to the Greensboro Coliseum, projects under way are planning for a new baseball training center and locker room facility for the stadium, improvements to the auxiliary practice gym at the HHP building, and a complete renovation of the building’s locker room facilities. Groundbreaking for the baseball project will be this summer, with completion expected in fall of 2010. The locker room renovation is tentatively set for the 2010-11 season.
Bobb brought the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship to UNCG in 1997 and 1998, when UNCG Soccer Stadium was transformed into a venue for more than 10,000 fans. The site broke the record for championship game attendance with 9,460 in 1997 and 10,583 in 1998 – a number which still stands as the second-largest crowd to see a title game. UNCG also served as a training site for some Olympic teams prior to the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Bobb has held various conference and NCAA appointments, including serving on one of the first NCAA certification teams. He served on the Certification Team four times. Most recently, Bobb was a member of the Division I Men’s Soccer National Committee and also chaired the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee. He also served on NACDA’s I-AAA Executive Committee in 2007-08. On campus, Bobb is a member of the Chancellor’s Executive Staff and has been part of many governing bodies both inside and outside of athletics.
Bobb was inducted into UNCG’s Athletics Hall of Fame in February 2008. He was also named the Division I Southeast Region Athletic Director of the Year at the NACDA Convention last summer. He is one of the original members of the Greensboro Sports Commission, serving since 1989, and he has also been a member of the Greensboro Sports Council.
Before coming to UNCG, Bobb was an assistant athletic director at Cornell University for five years, where he also served as an assistant football coach for nine seasons. A native of Gahanna, Ohio, Bobb is a 1970 graduate of Kent State University, where he also earned a master’s degree in secondary education. As an undergraduate, he was a three-year letter winner on the football team as an offensive guard and earned All-Academic and all-conference recognition from the Mid-American Conference.
