Meet Ed McLaughlin, VCU’s new Athletic Director

Introducing Ed McLaughlin: he’s a twitter personality, he makes fun of his hair, he wants Virginia Commonwealth University to win national championships, and he’s the new VCU Director of Athletics.

July 24, 2012; 11:05 AM • by RVANews staff

Update #2 – July 24th, 2:25 PM

Introducing Ed McLaughlin: he’s a twitter personality, he makes fun of his hair, he wants Virginia Commonwealth University to win national championships, and he’s the new VCU Director of Athletics.

Tuesday morning, President Michael Rao introduced McLaughlin at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. A graduate of Boston College with a B.A. (communications, political science) and a master’s degree from American University (health promotion management), he has spent the past six years as the athletics director at Niagara University. During those six years, the Purple Eagles won more conference titles than in the previous 75 years combined. Moreover, 70% of Niagara’s student-athletes boast a GPA of 3.0 or higher (56.8% of VCU’s student-athletes have a 3.0 or higher).

McLaughlin will start his new position on August 13th, and his first responsibility will be filling senior leadership positions. McLaughlin is a welcome new face in the void left by the departures of Norwood Teague, David Benedict, and Mike Ellis to the University of Minnesota.

McLaughlin will immediately take the reigns of VCU’s transition from the CAA to the Atlantic 10. Additionally, facilities will be one of his early priorities. VCU has yet to break ground on a proposed $9 million basketball training facility that would take the place of the un-airconditioned Franklin Street Gym. A new facility would undoubtedly help Shaka Smart with player development and help him as he recruits higher ranked players like Marcus Lee, Kameron Williams, and Josh Hart.

McLaughlin joins VCU at an exciting time. In an era obsessed with wins, he values helping people transform from teenagers to adults and he sees the importance of the “student-athlete experience.”

At 39 years-old, McLaughlin appears to be the perfect combination of work ethic and charisma with a touch of that young energy that VCU and RVA love so much. Welcome Ed McLaughlin and go Rams!

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Update #1 – July 24th, 11:06 AM

Today, VCU introduced its new Athletic Director, Ed McLaughlin. McLaughlin previously held the AD role at the University of Niagara, home of the Purple Eagles. From the press release:

“The future is bright for VCU athletics with the high-energy, dynamic leadership of Ed McLaughlin,” Rao said. “Ed’s vision and passion for our athletic programs, his understanding of VCU’s mission to be a premier public research university and the search committee’s strong endorsement made him the clear choice to be our director of athletics. He is the right person for us at the right time.”

You can follow Ed McLaughlin on twitter @GoVCURamsAD, where he’s been posting anonymously as he prepares to meet Ram Nation.

What a beautiful day in the city of Richmond! Looking fwd 2 a fun day. twitter.com/GoVCURamsAD/st…

— Ed McLaughlin (@GoVCURamsAD) July 24, 2012

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Original – July 23rd, 4:19pm

Tomorrow, VCU president Michael Rao will announce the university’s new Director of Athletics at an 11:00 AM news conference inside the Siegel Center. VCU has been without an athletic director since April when the predecessor, Norwood Teague, left for the University of Minnesota after being with VCU since 2006.

Related

• VCU Athletic Director Norwood Teague accepts new job at University of Minnesota; RVANews

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July 24, 2012 11:05 AM 2