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Pete ThamelESPN
Boston College has targeted former Miami athletic director Blake James to be the school’s next AD, sources told ESPN.
An announcement of the hire is expected in the coming days.
James spent nearly 10 years as the athletic director at Miami before being dismissed in November as part of an overhaul that eventually included the firing of football coach Manny Diaz.
James would replace Pat Kraft, who left Boston College for Penn State in late April. Kraft’s departure rattled the school, as it meant that third-year football coach Jeff Hafley would be working with his third athletic director in three years.
James brings a background in fundraising and ties to the northeast after serving as the athletic director at Maine from 2003 to 2010. He also brings a strong reputation in the athletic director, administrative and academic communities that Boston College relied on in its search.
A big focus of Boston College’s search was finding a candidate with experience and staying power. James is highly regarded within ACC circles for his work pulling Miami through some difficult times, including the fallout from the Nevin Shapiro scandal. Boston College is also a private school in a league of primarily public schools, which gives the jobs some crossover.
Boston College is due $2.85 million for Kraft’s departure, an unprecedented amount for an athletic director’s buyout. The school also received a significant buyout when former athletic director Martin Jarmond left for UCLA in May 2020.
All candidates in the Boston College search were told that significant buyouts were going to be included, as Father William P. Leahy, the school’s president, valued continuity in the athletic department after the quick tenures of Kraft (two years) and Jarmond (three years).
In James, Boston College would get a steady force who is wise in the ways of the ACC and can bring some stability to build for the long term.