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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Longtime Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick is stepping down next year and will be replaced by NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua, the school announced Thursday.
Bevacqua will leave NBC Sports at the end of the month to begin the transition at Notre Dame as special assistant to the president for athletics, ultimately replacing Swarbrick in the first quarter of 2024.
“It has been my privilege to work alongside Jack Swarbrick as he led Notre Dame to unprecedented success over the past 15 years while providing such an influential voice in college athletics, and I’m excited that we have such a talented and experienced leader in Pete Bevacqua to spend some time learning under Jack before assuming new leadership in one of America’s most storied athletic programs,” university president John Jenkins said.
“At this time of great chaos and disruption in college athletics, it will be invaluable to have Pete join Jack and me in charting a future for Notre Dame athletics.”
Swarbrick has been Notre Dame’s athletic director since 2008, becoming one of the most influential power brokers in college sports. He, along with three conference commissioners, helped craft the 12-team CFP model that has now been implemented for 2024.
He guided the Fighting Irish into the ACC in 2013, also landing the school’s hockey program in the Big Ten 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 national championships during his tenure.
“It speaks volumes about Notre Dame and Father Jenkins’ leadership that we can implement such a well-conceived succession plan and attract someone of Pete’s talent and experience,” Swarbrick said. “I have worked closely with Pete throughout his time at NBC, and based on that experience, I believe he has the perfect skill set to help Notre Dame navigate the rapidly changing landscape that is college athletics today and be an important 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 serving as president the previous two years. He also spent six years as the CEO of the PGA of America.
Last year, Bevacqua helped complete the new seven-year television deal between NBC and the Big Ten.
“This is an unbelievable honor for me and a dream come true,” Bevacqua said. “With the exception of my family, nothing means more to me than the University of Notre Dame. As a Notre Dame alum, I have a keen understanding and deep appreciation of the lifetime, transformational benefit our student-athletes receive in a Notre Dame education, one that is unique and unlike any other institution in the world.”
