Tom Odjakjian has served as associate commissioner of the Big East Conference since 1995. His primary responsibilities include television negotiations for all sports (including TV deals with CBS, ABC, ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN Regional, CBS College Sports, and local and regional outlets), football TV scheduling, men’s basketball scheduling. From 1995-2006, he was also the manager of the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden and oversaw all men’s basketball game operations and policies. In addition, Odjakjian is an executive committee member for the Rhode Island Sports Council.
From 1981-1994, Odjakjian served various roles at ESPN, including director of college sports. He was responsible for the negotiation, acquisition, scheduling, and budget supervision for the networks’ collegiate sports programming. He was also the chief architect behind the creation and development of basketball’s “Championship Week” and football’s “Bowl Week”. During his tenure, he also was in charge of several aspects for ESPN’s NFL, NBA, NHL, and Olympic Sports programming.
Prior to joining ESPN, Odjakjian was associate commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference from 1979-1981 and the assistant director of sports information at Princeton University from 1977-1979. In 1994, he was named “The Most Influential Person in College Sports” by College Sports Magazine and he was named one of the four most influential people in college basketball by The Sporting News in 1990.
Odjakjian received a B.A. in Economics and Business from Lafayette College in Easton, PA in 1976. Tom and his wife Ani have a daughter, Katie, and a son, Christian. He also serves as assistant coach of kids’ soccer, baseball, and softball teams.
Tags: Big East Conference, Tom Odjakjian