Appointed as Interim Director of Athletics and Recreation at Babson College in July 2016 and elevated to the position of Pamela P. and Brian M. Barefoot Senior Director of Athletics and Athletics Development in April 2017, Mike Lynch was promoted to Associate Vice President for athletics in December 2022.
Since his arrival in Babson Park, championships have become the norm for the Beavers, with 18 of Babson’s 22 varsity programs having earned a national tournament berth. Under his direction, a number of notable firsts have occurred within the program signaling Babson’s arrival as a nationally prominent program. Men’s basketball won the school’s first national championship since 1984 in 2017, field hockey became the first women’s program to reach the national semifinals in 2016, and women’s volleyball followed up its regional final appearance in 2017 with the program's first trip to the national quarterfinals in 2018.
Additionally, the baseball program followed up two straight NCAA regional final appearances in 2017 and 2018 by reaching the Division III College World Series for the first time in 2019. Softball advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in program history in 2017, men’s lacrosse earned its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1979 in the spring of 2021 and the men’s cross country program sent its first runner to the national championship meet back in 2021. The men’s golf team also has continued its meteoric rise up the national rankings, cracking the top-10 for the first time in school history during the 2021-22 campaign.
Along with the department’s national success, which includes finishing in the top 5% of all Division III programs in the 2017 Director’s Cup, the Beavers have won 30 NEWMAC regular season titles and 20 conference tournament championships since the fall of 2016.
Off the field, Babson completed a $52 million facility-enhancement project, highlighted by the opening of the Babson Recreation and Athletics Complex (BRAC) last September. In addition to the new eight-court lighted tennis facility and upgrades within the Webster Center, the BRAC project includes a new 75,000-square foot addition that features a state-of-the-art two-story fitness center, recreational and multi-purpose space, and new locker rooms.
In addition to directing the fundraising initiative for BRAC, Lynch also oversees all fundraising and revenue generation for athletics, achieving record highs in both annual and campaign-related totals each year. As part of his growth mindset and vision for Babson Athletics, the program has authored a strategic plan, focused around the student-athlete experience, promoting an inclusive campus environment, staff development and a sustained commitment to operational excellence. This has included adding a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion council, retooling the department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council as a leadership organization, creating an innovative speaker series highlighting leaders in the sports world, and the addition of a sports psychologist and nutritionist to the department to better address the changing needs of the student-athlete population.
Lynch continues to push innovative strategies to enhance the student-athlete and fan experiences. In conjunction with its new streaming video provider BlueFrame Technology, Babson is now offering its home broadcasts through the OTT app on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku devices. Babson partnered with Keemotion in 2018 for the production of men’s and women’s basketball and recently began collaborating with WePlayed to enhance the department’s robust video highlight offerings.
Along with the video upgrades, Babson launched a new offering to provide a voice for student-athletes direct to fans in 2018. “Inside the Lodge” is modeled after Derek Jeter’s product, The Players' Tribune, and is aimed at forming a direct channel between players and fans. Babson also developed a landmark program, Project Team, which blends student and college leadership perspectives to educate students on the dangers of alcohol and drug use. Funded by the NCAA Choices Grant, Project Team is a model the College hopes to push out to other like-minded schools in years to come.
Finally, service to the greater community has become a hallmark of the Babson athletics experience, with an ever-growing number of teams, student-athletes, coaches and administrators making a difference working alongside organizations such as the Special Olympics, Team IMPACT, Coaches vs. Cancer, Play 4 a Cure and the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
A veteran administrator with more than two decades of experience in intercollegiate athletics, Lynch comes to Babson after a highly successful 14-year tenure at Boston University that included 10 years as Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics preceded by four years as Assistant Vice President of Development for Athletics & Student Life. Under his leadership, BU had arguably the most successful decade in the history of the storied athletics program. Under Lynch, BU successfully completed over $300 million in new and renovated campus facility construction, including the building of Agganis Arena and the John Hancock Student Village. Lynch also added nearly 40 endowed scholarships and sport program endowments, and started the Bloom Family Leadership Academy at BU to support student-athletes. Lynch also engineered the Terriers transition from the America East Conference to the Patriot League.
Lynch overhauled the organization of the department to better serve the changing needs of student-athletes. Included among those changes were a heightened focus on the student-athlete experience and the hiring of talented administrators and coaches. Some of the more notable hires of his tenure included Hockey Coach David Quinn (NY Rangers, 2022 US Olympic Team), Basketball Coaches Joe Jones (PL Coach of the Year) and Patrick Chambers (Penn State University, LaSalle University), Track coach Robyne Johnson (Cal Berkeley) and veteran Northwestern administrator Nancy Lyons.
During Lynch's tenure, the Terriers won more than 50 conference championships and claimed the America East Conference all-sports trophy as the most successful program in the league. BU won the 2009 men's ice hockey national championship, the women's ice hockey program reached the national final on two occasions, and the Terriers' basketball teams developed into two of the most respected in the country, combining for 13 postseason appearances in a 10-year span.
Among the highlights of his off-the-field work to revolutionize the BU Athletics program, Lynch created the “Red Hot Hockey” franchise that brings BU hockey to Madison Square Garden to sold out audiences. He also partnered with the Boston Red Sox to bring outdoor college hockey to New England. BU defeated BC in the inaugural event that drew 40,000 fans to Fenway Park in 2010.
A 2011 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year recipient, Lynch chaired both the America East and Hockey East Executive Committees during his time at BU. He also served on the Patriot League Marketing Committee, America East Strategic Planning and Hockey East Marketing and Television Committees in addition to being a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Rules Committee.
Prior to his time at Boston University, Lynch spent two years as the Director of Athletics Development and another as Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Miami, where he played a key role in two capital fundraising campaigns that included the development of an on-campus basketball arena. Lynch also worked in the development office and as an assistant baseball coach at Union College from 1993-97.
A 1990 graduate of Rollins College with a bachelor's degree in political science, Lynch was a four-year member of the baseball team. He was a three-time American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-South Region selection and a 1990 All-America selection. Lynch, who was inducted into the Tars' Hall of Fame in 2008, led the program to the Division II College World Series in 1989 before playing professionally in the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers organizations.
updated 12/19/22
