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Director of Athletics Brad Bates
Over the past three years, Bates has presided over a department that made back-to-back football bowl game appearances for the first time in nearly 30 years, while capturing conference championships in football, ice hockey, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and synchronized skating. This past year, Miami’s ice hockey team earned a No. 1 ranking nationally on the way to an NCAA Tournament berth, and its men’s basketball team made its second straight trip to the NIT. Miami also has won the Reese Trophy, an all-sport award presented annually to the MAC institution with the best all-around men’s sports programs, in three of his four seasons. In addition to the RedHawks’ athletic success during his tenure, Bates has spearheaded efforts to improve the “athletic classrooms” in which Miami’s student-athletes compete to rate among the best in the nation. Renovations to Yager Stadium continue, with plans for an indoor facility in the works. Already added to Yager are new stands on the east side, a state-of-the-art scoreboard, permanent lighting, Cradle of Coaches Plaza and a FieldTurf playing surface. Also due for completion by this fall are a brand new softball field, located to the southwest of Yager Stadium, a brand new ice hockey facility, slated to open this coming fall, and a renovated field hockey field that is being upgraded with a new artificial turf surface and press box. Paramount among Bates’ accomplishments has been the department’s success in graduating its student-athletes. Over the first two years of the NCAA’s Academic Performance Rate (APR), Miami has consistently ranked among the best Division I-A programs nationally, with a number of its individual programs posting the highest scores nationally. Bates, who came to Miami after 17 years at Vanderbilt University, achieved a doctorate in education at Vanderbilt in 1997. This followed the bachelor’s and master’s degrees he earned in education at the University of Michigan in 1981 and 1982. At Vanderbilt, along with overseeing the administration of all 15 sports, Bates, a Senior Associate A.D. when he departed, was highly involved in the department’s budgetary, marketing, development, licensing and Title IX compliance decision-making. Athletically, Bates was a walk-on defensive back for Michigan from 1977-81. He played for then-Wolverine head football coach Bo Schembechler, a 1951 Miami alumnus and member of Miami’s legendary Cradle of Coaches. In his four years as a player, the Wolverines won three Big Ten Championships, posted a record of 37-11-0 and played in three Rose Bowls and a Gator Bowl. The Bates File
Notes of Interest
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