John B. “Jack” Swarbrick Jr., a University of Notre Dame graduate, serves as Athletic Director Emeritus. He served for 16 years as the Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics. During his tenure, he attached his signature to a variety of new initiatives including:
- Pushing Notre Dame to the forefront on issues related to student-athlete experience and the college athletics model - from leadership on the College Football Playoff Management Committee to expand the College Football Playoff to working with Congress to develop parameters to provide competitive equity across the collegiate sports landscape.
- Developing a plan for expanding Notre Dame Stadium in order to make it a year-round asset for the University, while also improving the gameday experience for student-athletes and fans.
- That initiative became reality with the 2014 announcement of the Campus Crossroads Project that added new structures to three sides of Notre Dame’s home football facility—creating new homes for student activities and recreation, career services, digital media, as well as academic disciplines anthropology, psychology, music and sacred music.
- Launching of Fighting Irish Media — a major enterprise that delivers better information about and access to Notre Dame and its athletic programs via expanded production and distribution of programming.
- Building the GLD (Grow. Lead. Do.) Center that houses student-athlete programs. This unit develops leadership skills, increases community service and provides mentoring and career services resources for the student-athlete population.
- Creating the STAND TOGETHER movement in conjunction with Notre Dame student-athletes, an equality initiative developed to create change locally and to be a catalyst for change nationally as it relates to social justice.
- Hosting of major events to generate revenue for the campus and community. Since 2018 Notre Dame has hosted two Garth Brooks concerts in Notre Dame Stadium (October 2018 & May 2022), the NHL Winter Classic in Notre Dame Stadium (January 2019), the 2019 U.S. Senior Open at the Warren Golf Course (June 2019) an international soccer match between Liverpool and Dortmund in Notre Dame Stadium (July 2019) and a Billy Joel concert (June 2022).
- Meeting the performance needs of Notre Dame student-athletes through establishment of a sports performance division to support and improve athletic performance through the application of science, medicine and technology.
- Creating systems and structures to maximize the impact of technical expertise, environments, technology and service delivery on an athlete’s ability to optimize performance.
- Innovative athletics partnership with Legends and JMI Sports -- two of the leading athletics marketing and hospitality companies in the country -- to oversee Notre Dame’s sales, marketing, hospitality, media rights and branding services on a local and national level. The University, through this 12-year agreement, seeks to create and implement unique programs and partnerships with an elite group of companies and brands -- delivering unprecedented levels of engagement, first-class hospitality experiences and recognition.
Over the past several years, Swarbrick played a major role in significant announcements that positively impacted Notre Dame on the national collegiate scene:
- The 2019 launch of the ACC Network on ESPN – a comprehensive linear and digital network that will give fans access to more than 600 exclusive live events from across the conference via a linear channel within the ESPN family of networks and a digital live-events channel - ACC Network Extra.
- Membership for Notre Dame’s men’s ice hockey program in the Big Ten Conference that began with the 2017-18 season. The Irish joined Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin to form a seven-team hockey conference. Notre Dame won Big Ten titles in each of its first two seasons in the league.
- Membership for Notre Dame’s athletic teams (other than football and hockey) in the Atlantic Coast Conference that began with the 2013-14 athletic seasons. In football, Notre Dame plays five games per year against ACC opponents and has full access to the league’s list of postseason bowl options.
- An extension of the University’s relationship with NBC Sports through the 2025 football season.
- The 2014 announcement of an unmatched 10-year relationship with Under Armour that provides performance footwear, apparel and equipment for Irish athletic programs. In addition to being a shareholder in Under Armour, Notre Dame collaborates with Under Armour in the areas of sport technology, product development and athlete performance.
- Creation by the Bowl Championship Series of the four-team College Football Playoff, which started with the 2014 season, with Notre Dame maintaining viable access into that system.
Swarbrick’s tenure has featured a variety of on-and off-the-field Notre Dame athletics successes:
- NCAA team championships on 10 occasions - 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 in fencing, 2023 in men’s lacrosse, 2018 in women’s basketball, 2013 in men’s soccer and 2010 in women’s soccer - the most of any athletic director at Notre Dame.
- A pair of College Football Playoff berths (2018 & 2020) and a BCS National Championship selection in 2012.
- NCAA runner-up team finishes in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019 in women’s basketball, 2010 and 2014 in men’s lacrosse, 2009 and 2013 in fencing, 2018 in men’s hockey and 2008 in women’s soccer.
- Notre Dame was honored with three NCAA Awards in 2023, the most any school has ever won at the yearly awards ceremony. Honorees included Muffet McGraw (Pat Summitt Award), Kate Markgraf (Silver Anniversary Award) and Dr. Carol Lally Shields (Theodore Roosevelt Award).
- Two Men’s Capital One Cup wins in 2014 & 2022 which prize includes a $250,000 donation to the University’s student-athlete scholarship fund.
Born in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Yonkers and Bloomington, Indiana, Swarbrick is a 1976 magna cum laude graduate of Notre Dame, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Upon graduating from Stanford University Law School in 1980, he accepted a position as an associate in the Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels. He was made partner in 1987 and spent 28 years with the firm. He and his wife, Kimberly, are the parents of four children (and grandparents to two): Kate, a 2010 graduate of Saint Louis University; Connor, a 2011 graduate of Wake Forest University; Cal, a 2014 graduate of TCU; and Christopher, a 2015 graduate of Notre Dame.