Two weeks ago, shortly before the ACC announced that the Georgia Tech-Miami game would be moved back two days to accommodate a Hurricane Irma-related scheduling change, Mike Huff’s phone rang.
Huff is Tech’s football-operations director, a job that includes oversight of the team’s travel, lodging and meals, among many other tasks. The person on the other end of the line was athletic director Todd Stansbury.
He was calling, Huff said, to alert him to the change, acknowledge the work it was going to create for him and authorize him to do whatever needed to be done. He also asked what support he could offer.
“I think that personal touch, it means a lot,” Huff said. “And it’s not to say others wouldn’t (have done the same), because we’ve never had that situation. But, still, just the thought.”
It was a year ago Friday that Stansbury’s hire as Tech’s ninth athletic director from the same position at Oregon State became official. In the 12 months since, Huff is only one of many in Tech athletic circles to make note of the imprint Stansbury has made on the athletic department.
In interviews with the AJC, responses from several of them fell along similar lines, observations of his passion for Tech, his vision and his desire to serve Yellow Jackets athletes. Following Mike Bobinski’s departure for Purdue, those in and around the department attest to a reinvigoration.
“He brings a different energy that we haven’t had before,” Huff said.
Paul Johnson, Bill Curry and several others offered their own perspectives on Stansbury's first year at Tech. Read the complete story here.
