Buddie comes to Furman following a decade at Wake Forest University, where most recently he served as senior associate athletic director for administration/development.  He replaces Gary Clark, who announced his retirement in May following 15 years of service to the university, and becomes Furman’s 10th athletics director since 1960.

“We have a lot of connections at Wake Forest, and as we called around we heard the same things: Mike Buddie is experienced, intelligent, creative, funny, collaborative, and competitive,” said Davis.  “Mike’s experience as a student-athlete, professional baseball player, development officer, athletics administrator, and member of the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Committee afford him the expertise he needs to fulfill the aspiration articulated in Furman’s Vision 2020: become a national exemplar of how a strong Division I athletics program may be compatible with academic excellence.”

“This is an incredible opportunity for me and for my family,” said Buddie. “The deeper into the search I got, the more impressed I was with every aspect of Furman University.  I wanted the opportunity to be surrounded by exceptional people who would push me to become better and also support my efforts.  Every person I met during the search had obvious passion and love for Furman, which was very attractive to me.

“Having the chance to meet with a group of Furman student-athletes and coaches last week made my decision easy.  They are great representatives of all that is good about college athletics, and I can’t wait to get to know them and support them in every way possible.

“From our first meeting I was comfortable with Dr. Davis and am humbled to have been given this opportunity.  I can’t wait to jump in and help advance her vision for Furman.”

Buddie oversaw a number of different areas at Wake Forest, serving as the sport administrator for baseball, women’s soccer, and men’s golf squads while also working with the football and men’s basketball programs.  His varied duties included scheduling, travel, budget oversight, and tracking academic progress of student-athletes.  He also cultivated relationships with donors for major gift opportunities and oversaw construction, event management, multi-media, and auxiliary revenue units.  In addition, he was involved with contracts, conference issues, NCAA legislation, and capital projects.

Before moving to his current position, Buddie served as director of the Varsity Club, promoting and preserving the friendships and loyalties enjoyed by former student-athletes at Wake Forest.  He served as director of development for WFU’s Calloway School of Business & Accountancy for two years before beginning his career in athletic administration.

He earned a B.A. in communications in 1993 from Wake Forest, where he was a three-year letter winner as a pitcher on the Demon Deacon baseball team. He still holds the program’s single-season record for strikeouts with 138 in 1992.

Drafted by the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the 1992 MLB Draft, he spent five seasons in the major leagues, pitching in 87 games from 1998-2002. He was a member of the Yankees’ 1998 World Series championship squad and later spent three seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.

A Berea, Ohio, native, Buddie and his wife Traci have two children, Zachary and Zoe.