Danny White - UB Director Of Athletics

Program:

This week’s speaker is Daniel J. "Danny" White who was named University at Buffalo Director of Athletics by U.B. President Satish K. Tripathi on May 8, 2012.   With an aggressive plan for the athletics program, Danny immediately laid the blueprint to capitalize on the unlimited potential of UB Athletics as the largest public institution in the state of New York and the flagship of the SUNY system.

Since his arrival at SUNY- Buffalo, Danny addressed coaching changes adding experience and depth through recent hires Felisha Legette-Jack (women’s basketball), Sandy Calfo (rowing), Stu Riddle (men’s soccer), Bobby Hurley (men’s basketball), John Stutzman (wrestling) and Trena Peel (softball).

Through a collective effort of athletics senior administration, coaches and staff, Danny recently introduced a comprehensive strategic plan that outlines a path for success in the coming years. Most notably the vision is to build America’s next big time college athletics brand.

Danny is overseeing a number of capital projects that will create new as well as upgraded facilities on the athletics blueprint. These include the recently dedicated $1-million Murchie Family Football Center and soon to break ground, a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art Ortman Tennis Center. Also in the works is a transformational capital project, the first in the 20-year history of UB Stadium to include a sport medicine

He has also been active on the external front most notably initiating a new 3-year radio broadcast partnership deal with CBS Sports Radio THE FAN 1270 AM. With an aggressive mission to expand coverage into the metropolitan New York area where a significant alumni base resides, Danny also introduced plans for Bulls radio broadcast deals with both WFAN and Bloomberg.

Prior to Buffalo, Danny served as Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Mississippi from 2009-12. From 2007-09, Danny was Associate Athletic Director for Development at California State University-Fresno. He was Assistant Athletic Director for Development at Northern Illinois University from 2006-07. Danny began his career in athletic administration as a Development Associate for the UMAA Foundation at Mississippi in 2005.

A collegiate basketball player at Towson University and the University of Notre Dame, Danny was Director of Basketball Operations for men’s basketball at Ohio University for the 2003-04 seasons before being promoted to Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach for the 2004-05 campaign.

Danny is a 2002 graduate of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He earned master’s degrees in both business administration and sports administration from Ohio University. He is working to complete a doctorate in higher education from Mississippi.   He and his wife, Shawn, have four children: Aidan, Molly, Caitlin and James.

Highlights of Danny’s remarks included:

·         UB has great potential, but needs coaching

·         College football has become a media giant

·         UB is largest and most comprehensive university in NY

·         UB is a member of 62 AAU institutions

·         Overall, UB’s academic programs rank in the Top 100 in the US

·         UB has over 220,000 alumni

·         UB is located in a big area—WNY—not a small college town

·         UB is within 500 miles of the Top 50 markets in the US

·         UB football has had a record attendance at home games