Loyola AD Jim Paquette Stepping Down In June... Could He Be Boston College’s Next Athletic Director?

Does Boston College perhaps, maybe, possibly, have its next Athletic Director already lined up?

Loyola University announced today that its athletic director, Jim Paquette, will be stepping down in June “to pursue new opportunities in collegiate athletics and higher education.” Coincidentally (or probably not, really), Current Boston College Athletic Director Brad Bates is also stepping down in June.

That’s either some pretty remarkable timing, or a pretty poor job of hiding that BC’s new athletic director is going to be Jim Paquette.

It’s been pretty well-known that Paquette would have his name in the mix to be BC’s new AD. He spent 16 years on the Heights, most recently as Associated Athletic Director for Development, before being hired as Director of Athletics at Loyola in 2010. It’s worth noting that the Loyola release when he was hired highlighted Paquette’s fundraising abilities — he set fundraising records each of his 16 years at BC — as that’ll probably be his most important job should he return to Boston College.

We’ll keep an eye out on this and provide any updates as we get them.