Georgia Tech Alumni Association

In Focus

As senior associate athletics director at Louisiana State University, Dan Radakovich was responsible for the day-to-day operation of a $50 million athletics program in 20 sports with more than 450 student athletes.

Now Radakovich has become Georgia Tech's seventh athletics director, succeeding Dave Braine, who retired due to health problems after nearly nine years at the helm. Radakovich joins a century-long list of legendary names including John Heisman, William Alexander, Bobby Dodd and Homer Rice.

With 20 years of management experience in collegiate athletics, Radakovich "is passionate about college athletics and brings a full appreciation for the challenges facing these great young people as they try to compete at the highest levels of athletics and academics," says Tech President Wayne Clough.

Radakovich was instrumental in developing LSU's football ticket donation program that netted more than $9 million in new annual revenue. He also participated in an ambitious capital improvement initiative that raised $90 million to renovate the football stadium.

Radakovich doesn't plan any sudden changes. The football program went to bowls every season under Braine, the men's basketball program played in the NCAA title game two years ago and the baseball, tennis, golf and softball programs have played in recent NCAA postseason tournaments.

"As administrators, we have to make sure that we give our student athletes all the tools possible to make their time at Georgia Tech successful," Radakovich says. "This Institute creates not only great student athletes but great leaders and we want to continue to turn out the leaders that are CEOs and COOs of major companies. But we are a college athletics program and that means we need to strive for competitive excellence.

"It's also a big business. We have to be good stewards of the resources given us by the alums and fans and we pledge to do that.