Ole Miss Senior Associate AD Danny White yesterday was “introduced as the new athletic director at the University at Buffalo, where he'll oversee a department needful of his greatest strengths: fundraising and community outreach,” according to Bob DiCesare of the BUFFALO NEWS. There are “inescapable parallels between him and the man who preceded him," current UConn AD Warde Manuel.” White said that “construction of a football practice facility/community field house remains a department objective” and added that he will “put a premium on strengthening ties between both the community and some 200,000 alumni.” DiCesare notes UB’s emphasis on academics “was part of its appeal to White.” The new AD “promised that UB athletics will operate with integrity and in the best interests of the student-athlete, hire the best staff and coaches and institute ‘an innovative and entrepreneurial business model’ while striving to win championships” (BUFFALONEWS.com, 5/8). In Buffalo, Bucky Gleason notes White will be “the youngest athletics director for a school in the Football Bowl Subdivision when he takes over next month.” He “confidently addressed his superiors, subordinates and the public Tuesday without overselling his credentials like a politician or sounding like an overconfident outsider who was going to show Buffalo a thing or two about college sports.” Gleason: “If you didn't know any better, you would have thought White was speaking to his family at the dinner table rather than introducing himself to his new community. His calm demeanor and clear message came across like it was second nature, the way it often does from someone comfortable in his own skin and with the subject matter” (BUFFALO NEWS, 5/9).
