University of Toledo Vice President and Athletic Director Mike O’Brien was inducted into the Missouri Valley College Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony Saturday in Marshall, Mo.
O’Brien
O’Brien played two seasons of basketball at Missouri Valley College from 1973 to 1975. He was voted captain his senior season and graduated with honors in 1975 with a bachelor of science degree in education.
He also was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and involved in a number of other activities during his time at Missouri Valley.
“I am very grateful to the Missouri Valley College Athletic Hall of Fame induction committee for this tremendous honor,” O’Brien said. “I enjoyed my time at MVC and owe much of my success to the mentoring I received there. I am honored to join numerous great student-athletes, coaches and administrators in the MVC Athletic Hall of Fame.”
O’Brien is in his 13th year at UT, the second longest tenure among current Mid-American Conference athletic directors. During his time at Toledo, the Rockets have won or shared a combined 27 MAC Championships in nine difference sports.
In addition, he has overseen a number of renovation and construction projects to athletic facilities, including the $30 million Charles A. Sullivan Athletics Complex and Savage Arena, which opened in 2008.
O’Brien also has raised Toledo’s academic profile as Rocket student-athletes have produced an overall GPA above 3.1 over each of the past 11 semesters. UT also earned the MAC Institutional Academic Achievement Award in 2011-12 and 2012-13 as the conference school with the highest overall grade point average.
He was named the Football Bowl Subdivision Northeast Region Athletic Director of the Year in 2012. O’Brien has served as the chair of the MAC Athletic Directors Committee and is the conference’s athletic director representative to the College Football Playoff Committee.
