BATON ROUGE — Dan Radakovich, who most recently served as Director of Athletics at American University in Washington D.C., has been named Senior Associate Athletic Director at LSU, interim Athletic Director Jerry Baudin and Skip Bertman announced on Wednesday.
“We feel very fortunate to have someone with Dan’s experience join the LSU Athletic Department,” said Bertman, who will take over as LSU’s Athletic Director on July 1. “This is a new position within the athletic department and we’re excited about what Dan brings to LSU. He’s been an athletic director and he also spent six years as an associate athletic director at South Carolina so we are very lucky to hire Dan.”
As Senior Associate Athletic Director, Radakovich will oversee the daily operations of the LSU Athletic Department and he will serve as Bertman’s chief assistant. Radakovich will assume his LSU duties on May 29.
“We’re delighted to have Dan join our staff,” Baudin said. “After a three-month nationwide search, we found that he’s the right person for the job. He brings a great deal of excitement, enthusiasm and experience to the department. He’s an outstanding communicator and he has a super personality that will blend well with the athletic department staff.
“Both Coach Bertman and I, as well as a number of coaches and staff members, were involved in this process and we feel like Dan is the perfect fit for LSU.”
“I’m extremely honored by the opportunity given to me by Chancellor Emmert, coach Bertman and Dr. Baudin,” Radakovich said. “I look forward to working with all of the outstanding coaches and professionals within the athletic department and my family and I are excited about living in the Baton Rouge area and becoming a part of the community.”
Prior to his one-year stint at American University, Radakovich spent six years as the Associate Athletic Director at South Carolina where he directed the financial operations for the Gamecocks’ $30 million athletic department budget. Radakovich also worked closely with South Carolina Athletic Director Mike McGee in laying the ground work for a new $70 million arena being built in Columbia. He also served as the department liaison for marketing and promotional activities with Host Communications.
Radakovich was also responsible for home event management as well as that of overseeing concessions, football travel and the video department.
During his tenure with South Carolina, Radakovich supervised the finances and logistics for $33 million in facility improvements.
Radakovich served as the Senior Associate Athletic Director at Long Beach State from 1989-94. In that capacity, he managed a $5 million budget and supervised the nationally recognized men’s basketball and baseball programs. In addition, Radakovich reorganized the fund-raising operations and coordinated the production and sales of radio broadcasting packages.
Radakovich began his collegiate athletics career as the Athletics Business Manager at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., from 1983-85. He worked in the private sector from five years before joining Long Beach State.
Radakovich, a native of Aliquippa, Pa., graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1980 with a bachelor of science degree in Finance.
Radakovich was also a football letterwinner as well as a student coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami in 1982.
Radakovich is married to the former Marcie McDonald and the couple has two children, Christian (11) and Grant (7).