The University at Albany has named its new athletic director. Mark Benson was introduced at a campus press conference Wednesday morning. Formerly assistant vice president for athletic development at Old Dominion, Benson replaces the retiring Lee McElroy, who stepped aside in June after 14 years. The SUNY school opened a new football stadium last year. Its football team now plays in the Colonial Athletic Association, which Old Dominion competed in before leaving for Conference USA.
Mark Benson explained the reason for his choice.
"You might ask, why UAlbany?" Benson said. "When I started doing the research for this position, the first thing that jumped out at me was the competitive excellence: 74 conference championships says a lot about a program...so that told me there was really strong support from the university administration, from the athletic administration."
