AD Swarbrick to leave Irish; NBC’s Bevacqua in

• Jeff Borzello, ESPN

  • Staff WriterJun 8, 2023, 11:54 AM ET Close Basketball recruiting expert.
  • Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.Longtime Notre Dame

athletic director Jack Swarbrick is stepping down next year and will be changed by NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua, the school announced Thursday.Bevacqua will leave NBC Sports at the end of the month to start the transition at Notre Dame as special assistant to the president for sports, eventually changing Swarbrick in the very first quarter of 2024.”It has been my advantage to work together with Jack Swarbrick as he led Notre Dame to unmatched success over the past 15 years while offering such a prominent voice in college athletics, and I’m delighted that we have such a talented and knowledgeable leader in Pete Bevacqua to spend a long time learning under Jack prior to assuming new leadership in one of America’s most storied athletic programs,” university president John Jenkins said.”At this time of fantastic mayhem and disruption in college athletics, it will be important to have Pete join Jack and me in charting a future for Notre Dame sports. “Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Swarbrick has actually been Notre Dame’s athletic director considering that 2008, becoming one of the most prominent power brokers in college sports. He, in addition to 3 conference

commissioners, assisted craft the 12-team CFP model that has now been carried out for 2024. He directed the Combating Irish into the ACC in 2013, likewise landing the school’s hockey program in the Big 10 in 2017. Notre Dame’s football program has remained independent while playing five games per season against ACC opponents and having access to the College Football Playoff.Notre Dame won eight team championship games during his tenure.”It speaks volumes about Notre Dame and Father Jenkins ‘management that we can execute such a well-conceived succession plan and bring in somebody of Pete’s talent and experience,”Swarbrick said.” I have worked carefully with Pete throughout

his time at NBC, and based upon that experience, I believe he has the best skill set to help Notre Dame navigate the quickly changing landscape that is college athletics today and be a crucial national leader as we look to the future.”Bevacqua, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1993, became the third chairman in NBC Sports’history in 2020 after functioning as president the previous 2 years. He likewise spent 6 years as the CEO of the PGA of America.Last year, Bevacqua helped complete the new seven-year tv offer between NBC and the Big Ten.”

This is an unbelievable honor for me and a dream become a reality,”Bevacqua stated. “With the exception of my household, nothing suggests more to me than the University of Notre Dame. As a Notre Dame alum, I have an eager understanding and deep gratitude of the life time, transformational benefit our student-athletes get

in a Notre Dame education, one that is special and unlike any other institution on the planet.”