WEST LAFAYETTE — Mike Bobinski has headed collegiate athletic departments for nearly three decades, including the last eight years at Purdue.
Never has that role been more challenging.
Bobinski's arrival in West Lafayette came prior to the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era of college sports.
And now, there's the recent proposed settlement that NCAA and its five power conferences agree to pay nearly $2.8 billion in damages to current and former athletes dating back to 2016. It marks the first time in the history of collegiate sports that schools will directly pay student-athletes.
"It's more confusing and complicated than it's ever been for sure," Bobinski said. "There's just a ton of uncertainty."
Bobinski sat down with the Journal & Courier to discuss that and more.
Question: Recapping 2023-24, obviously men's basketball making the NCAA championship game was a high point. A lot of great things happened in Purdue athletics, but you're never going to have a 100% satisfaction rate. Where can you get better?
Answer: I thought it was a year of establishing foundation. We've had a fair amount of head coaching turnover in the last couple of years and I really like our group right now. I think we've got some really talented people, particularly our new coaches. Some of our new coaches have big upside and I am excited to see them build.
Q: One of those being women's soccer coach Richard Moodie. He seems very enthusiastic and innovative. What does he bring to that program?
A: He brings a tremendous soccer background. Varied experience internationally and domestically and a track record of building a successful program at South Alabama. His energy is undeniable. He and his staff have made a tremendous impression on our young ladies that were here.
More: New Purdue women's soccer coach Richard Moodie hopes to bring excitement to Boilermakers
Q: Women's basketball, with a different roster, took a step back from a season earlier this past year. But you gave head coach Katie Gearlds a contract extension after the season. I assume you see what she's building and have faith it's going in the right direction?
A: We have the benefit of being able to look behind the curtain a little bit and understand that this year was going to be a transition year. We had a roster composition of veteran players and young players and the meshing was not always perfect. I'm able to watch the building process day in and day out that Katie and her staff are in the midst of and I believe in the direction we're headed. We wanted to demonstrate that and let her know that we have great confidence in her ability to take our women's basketball program to competitive levels that we've seen in years gone by.
Q: For years, I think Purdue athletics was kind of like, that's where Drew Brees played in college. Drew is a legend and still very recognizable, but time has kind of passed to a new generation. In that regard, how valuable is Zach Edey to having that marquee athlete to link your university to?
A: Zach's profile the last two years, you can't quantify or really appreciate it until you step away from it. We had the consensus National Player of the Year for two consecutive years. It's easy to take it for granted when you're as close to it as we all are. That is a huge, huge deal. That will pay dividends I think for a long, long, long time.
More: He 'changed this program.' Zach Edey's Purdue basketball legacy is in rarified air
Q: Purdue has several ties to the Paris Olympics. How does that boost the profile of your athletics programs as a whole? For example, if someone is watching USA volleyball and it's mentioned that Annie Drews played at Purdue University, that's massive exposure.
A: We've talked a lot in college athletics in recent years about how important the pipeline that college athletics provides for our Olympic movement, not only in this country, but elsewhere. We have young people representing their home countries in some cases. It's just going to reinforce the profile of what we're able to do here at Purdue, prepare and develop young people that are able to compete at the very highest level.
Q: On that topic, diving coach Adam Soldati stepped down after his ALS diagnosis and you're transitioning to David Boudia taking over while also training several Olympic divers here. That wasn't ideal and Adam has done a lot for this university. I am sure you want to keep Adam in a role as long as he wants to have a role. How do you tiptoe through this sensitive situation for Adam and his family?
A: Obviously it is a challenging circ*mstance for Adam and his family. He is without a doubt one of the most uniquely talented individuals and coaches I've been around in my entire working life. He thinks and operates at a plain that's different than most. I always felt inadequate after a conversation with Adam. He and (Soldati's wife) Kumiko and their family have chosen to attack this, exactly like you'd think, with the most positive and optimistic outlook and approach you could possibly have. From our very first conversation (on the ALS diagnosis), I said we're going to take 100% your lead on this. We're going to want to provide every bit of support we can along the way, but you call the shots on how this is going to work. He's been balancing his desire to support the program and the young people he's coached, but also prepared himself and his family for the road ahead. He's really given us a roadmap and we've just tried to walk side by side with him.
Q: The football team lost a few games that were winnable last year and went 4-8. But head coach Ryan Walters is a confident guy and he believes he's going to go out and win every single game. And you're selling lots of tickets and generating a buzz. I imagine that's one of the reasons he was hired?
A: We didn't get a favorable shake from the injury side of things last year. Not only was the number significant, it was at the absolute wrong positions. Even with a patched together offensive line at the end, we still ran for some incredible numbers. ... I think there's a lot of people sleeping on what's going with our football program. I see a lot of these rating groups, none of whom have actually stepped foot on campus to see or truly understand what's going on. That's OK by me. We don't need to win in the publications. We need to win on the field.
Q: You've dealt with this years ago, but there's a lot of hype for the EA Sports College Football 25 video game release.
A: You can probably expect this, but generationally that one has passed me by a little bit. I hope our student-athletes can benefit from it in a lot of ways and I am glad we're in it.
Q: But this is another chance to market Purdue. As far as traditions go, there are probably people playing this who don't know anything about Purdue or the World's Largest Drum of the Boilermaker Special traditions.
A: That is another spillover benefit. Because the distribution of those games I think will be wildly successful, people who probably don't know a whole lot about Purdue, or the other thing it has a chance to do is if you have some success, people are more likely to jump on and use Purdue as their team and learn more about it. I don't see any downside to it.
Q: Last thing. There's been a lot that has come down in the last month or two with a lawsuit settlement involving the NCAA and its Power Five conferences, which includes the Big Ten, approving a nearly $2.8 billion settlement to pay current and former athletes. What is the effect on Purdue's athletics department?
A: It's impossible to know what the impact will be on a day in, day out basis here for us. Of all the alternatives out there with lawsuits and other challenges brought to us by individual judges' rulings or state legislature passing rules and regulations specific to each school's state, none of that was headed in a good direction. Settling this lawsuit was the best of a bunch of challenging alternatives. Doesn't mean it's not challenging. It is challenging. And it will be different in a lot of ways. We won't know some of those actual mechanisms and details until this settlement actually is worked out through a full approval process.
Q: But where does that money come from on your end?
A: The damages piece will actually be withheld from NCAA distributions over a period of 10 years. That is the current working model from the Big Ten membership perspective. It means we will be reduced approximately $1.2, $1.3 million a year for the next 10 years. That provides a hole that we've got to fill somewhere, somehow. We've been accustomed to receiving those dollars.
Q: I saw a quote from Phil Knight about supplying Oregon unlimited NIL backing from Nike. It's still an uneven playing field in a lot of ways, but at the same time you've got a chance to compete for every recruit. It's just more about money than it used to be. But you still have to follow guidelines in place and remain an academics-based institution. Where's the balance?
A: The environment is an interesting one. I am going to steer clear of making a lot of pronouncements on that topic. Once the 2025-26 begins and the settlement guidelines are formalized, the NIL environment that exists today and exists through this year will change and is intended to change dramatically. I understand how and why we've arrived at this concept of a revenue share, but there's also a recognition that these are college athletes, not professionals. To presume that just going out and purchasing rosters, which has happened in some instances. And in some instances to no avail. I wonder how people who provided the resources in certain cases, and I am not going to name names, but significant dollars and got no return for it, how that feels. There's a little bit of, let's earn it. That is the approach we have chosen to adopt here at Purdue. I think it fits with the Purdue philosophy and approach. We attract folks that understand I've got to show something, have to prove it, before I am compensated in a significant way.
Q: When you discuss lost revenue because of the antitrust settlement, another dip in revenue probably comes from an expanded Big Ten meaning more money needed for travel, right?
A: Inflation is tough in the supermarket for sure and we all feel it. The travel environment is even worse. Feeding teams on the road. Flights. All of that accelerates at a really aggressive pace. We're always working to manage our travel situation the best we can, and then the addition of having to have the west coast trips has provided some additional expense that we had to build a plan for going forward. I think we're at a place where we feel we can manage that. It's a challenge, but it comes with the territory.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue AD Mike Bobinski discusses Zach Edey, NCAA settlement, more
