Mike Lynch Position: Asst. VP & Director of Athletics

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Terrier Athletics continues to reach new heights under the leadership of Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael P. Lynch.

The 2008-09 academic year, the fifth in Lynch's tenure as AD, was arguably the most successful in the school's rich athletic history. The men's ice hockey team, ranked No. 1 for most of the season, captured BU's fifth national championship in dramatic fashion and then celebrated with even greater theatrics.

After scoring two goals in the final minute of regulation to win the championship game in overtime, the Terriers returned to campus for a traditional "rolling rally" parade befitting Beantown's newest sports champions. The team rode triumphantly on Boston's famous Duck Boats, along campus on Commonwealth Avenue, disembarking at Marsh Chapel before a roaring, standing-room-only crowd of over five-thousand BU students, fans and alumni, plus Boston Mayor Tom Menino.

Lynch has heightened expectations for the Terriers, and many teams have risen to the challenge. A program-tying eight teams -- men's ice hockey, women's indoor track and field, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving and women's tennis -- won their respective conference championships in 2008-09.

Under Lynch the past five years, BU has secured a staggering 32 conference championships, including 30 in the America East Conference, whose eight other current member institutions have combined to win just 59 in that time span. In that same span, the Terriers also have won two Hockey East crowns and four Beanpots. Thanks to its seven conference crowns, four regular-season titles and four runner-up finishes, BU captured in 2008-09 its fourth consecutive Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner's Cup, recognizing the America East's best overall athletic department. In receiving this award for the seventh time in the last eight years, the Terriers earned the highest point total of any school in the four years under the current scoring system.

Success was hardly limited to just the conference level. In fact, BU claimed the top spot among all Division I schools in Massachusetts -- including Beanpot rivals Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern, plus Holy Cross and UMass -- and was second in New England (to UConn) in the 2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. With nine teams earning points by qualifying for NCAA postseason competition, the Terriers' 68th-place finish in these prestigious national rankings was its best in 12 years, tops among America East institutions and third among similarly structured Division I athletic departments (those in the subdivision formerly known as I-AAA).

All of these achievements are in lockstep with the ambitious long-term goals Lynch unveiled for the department in September 2008. Titled Terrier Pride: The Strategic Vision for the Boston University Department of Athletics, this strategic-planning document serves as a blueprint, detailing goals and benchmarks to achieve six primary objectives: Athletic Excellence, Academic Excellence, Student-Athlete Growth and Development, Community Relations, Fiscal Management and Resource Development, and an Equitable and Diverse Environment.

Since being named Director of Athletics in April 2004, Lynch has overseen a pattern of unparalleled success for all of Boston University's varsity teams and outreach initiatives.

Under Lynch, BU is extending its reach by hosting national championships and other high-profile events. In 2006 the 25th NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship was held before a then-record attendance at Nickerson Field. Agganis Arena served as the site of the 2009 Women's Ice Hockey Frozen Four, a mere four years after BU launched women's ice hockey as a varsity program.

Perhaps the signature event of Lynch's tenure, however, occurred outside of Boston. On Nov. 24, 2007, BU renewed its men's ice hockey rivalry with Cornell at Madison Square Garden in New York City with a 6-3 victory. Two years in the making and planning, "Red Hot Hockey" sold out all 18,200 seats available in the World's Most Famous Arena, capturing unprecedented regional attention in the nation's largest media market for the department's flagship program.

Due to the success of that contest, the Terriers were asked to return to MSG in November 2009 for a Red Hot Rematch. Thanks to Lynch's persistent negotiating, the team will compete six weeks later in yet another of the world's most famous sports venues when they play the first college hockey game at Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox that borders BU's campus, in January 2010.

Developing and offering a comprehensive multimedia presentation for BU Athletics has always been at the top of Lynch's to-do list. He and his team launched a new official website, GoTerriers.com, on which all home games for seven teams (a total of 80 webcasts) are streamed live. The Department of Athletics has extended its partnership with the nationally recognized industry leader, CBS College Sports, to host its website and enhance its online, multimedia and streaming capabilities.

Television exposure has remained an increasing priority, with more than 50 Terrier contests airing over the past two years. Under Lynch, both men's ice hockey and men's basketball games aired on the same flagship radio station for the first time, as "The Zone," WWZN-AM 1510, a 50,000-watt signal in Boston, carried all regular-season and postseason games for both teams as well as a weekly magazine-style coaches' show, "BU All-Access," to highlight the accomplishments of all 23 varsity teams.

BU is not tied to just traditional media outlets, as Lynch has made sure his department remains on the technological forefront. BU was the first school to offer podcasts, and was quick to adopt social-networking applications such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook in order to continue connecting online with its key constituents.

True to its core mission of "Excellence in Athletics, Academics and Community," the athletic department has excelled not just in competition but in the classroom and greater Boston area as well. More "Points of Terrier Pride" include the student-athlete GPA eclipsing 3.0 for the first time in over a decade. The Terriers also fare impressively according to the NCAA's academic-based metrics, as 10 teams this year earned perfect Graduation Success Rates, and two -- field hockey and women's golf -- again earned distinction for their perfect scores in the Academic Progress Rate.

Student-athletes, coaches and staff contributed hundreds of hours volunteering at local schools, fundraising for charities and offering free clinics to underprivileged youth. The Terriers committed to an extensive mentoring partnership with students from nearby Jackson-Mann School as part of their relationship with College for Every Student, a non-profit organization raising the academic aspirations and performance of underserved youth so that they can prepare for, gain access to and succeed in college. Lynch recently was appointed to the National Task Force for CFES.

At the core of Lynch's efforts is the desire to provide better opportunities for BU's more than 500 student-athletes. By maintaining a focus during his tenure as Director of Athletics on the branding of Terrier Pride for athletic development, Lynch has more than doubled the number of donor-endowed athletic scholarships while also seeing more than 200-percent growth in annual support. A skilled fundraiser, Lynch is credited with spearheading highly successful capital campaigns totaling over $100 million in gift income at three different institutions.

In addition to his leadership role at Boston University, where he still holds the title of Assistant Vice President, Lynch takes a leadership role at the conference level, recently completing his one-year appointment as chairman of the America East Executive Committee. He also serves as an active member of the Hockey East Executive, Beanpot, America East Strategic Planning and Hockey East Marketing committees.

Before becoming Director of Athletics, Lynch served BU as its Assistant Vice President of Development for Athletics and Student Life from 2000 to 2004, during which time he increased annual support for Athletics by greater than 200 percent, to more than $9 million, and helped generate nearly $60 million in capital commitments to fund the building of the John Hancock Student Villages, which encompasses Agganis Arena and the Fitness and Recreation Center, and the Track and Tennis Center, amongst other facilities.

Prior to BU, Lynch served for three years as an Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Miami, where he participated in two capital fundraising campaigns. He previously worked at Union College on the baseball coaching staff and worked in the development and alumni relations office.

Lynch graduated from Rollins College in 1990 with a B.A. in Political Science. A collegiate All-American, he led the Tars to the 1989 and 1990 NCAA South Region Tournaments and to the 1989 College World Series. After Rollins, he played professionally in the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox organizations before earning an M.S. in Educational Administration from the University at Albany.

A Binghamton, N.Y., native, Lynch's baseball career earned him selection into both the Section IV Hall of Fame in his hometown and the Athletic Hall of Fame at his alma mater.