Michael Kelly applied for the Naval Academy athletic director position in 2001, the last time it was open. At the time, Kelly’s experience in college athletics was limited to a three-year stint as director of facilities and event management at Wake Forest.

Navy ultimately hired Chet Gladchuk away from University of Houston. He previously served in the same role at Boston College and Tulane.

Kelly, who was president of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee at the time, wound up being hired as an associate athletic director at South Florida that year. However, the Washington, D.C. native still had his sights set on one day becoming the Navy athletic director.

“I thought maybe I’ll be ready for it the next time the job pops up in a couple years. Little did I know it would be 24 years later,” Kelly said during a virtual meeting with the media Thursday.

Kelly was announced Wednesday as the 29th athletic director in Naval Academy history and just the fourth since 1968. The 54-year-old was raised in Washington, D.C. and is the son of a 1967 Naval Academy graduate.

Kelly, who grew up going to Navy football games and other sporting events with his family, said he is fulfilling a lifelong dream.

“This is a joyous day for me. It has been a personal and professional aspiration of mine to receive this position,” he said. “All my formations of values and my exposure to college sports was through the eyes of the Naval Academy. I’m honored to be here and really excited about this opportunity in Annapolis.”

Kelly is only the third civilian athletic director at the Naval Academy, joining Gladchuk and his predecessor Jack Lengyel. Prior to that, the academy athletic director was a U.S. Navy officer.

“It’s not lost on me that there have been three athletic directors at the Naval Academy since I’ve been on this earth. It doesn’t come open much because it’s a great job, one you never want to leave,” Kelly said. “It’s a great athletic director job, in and of itself, but obviously it gets involved in a bigger mission and everything the Naval Academy stands for in developing leaders. “Being part of a bigger mission appeals to me and I know how special it is. I pinch myself realizing how fortunate I am. I look forward to making the academy proud.”

Kelly has certainly compiled an impressive resume during the 24 years since he initially applied for the job.

He just completed a seventh year as South Florida athletic director and has wide-ranging experience in athletic administration.

Kelly has served as chief operating officer for the College Football Playoff (2012-2018) and senior associate commissioner for the Atlantic Coast Conference (2007-2012). He has been president of the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee and the executive director of the Tampa Bay Final Four Organizing Committee.

While obtaining a master’s degree in sports administration from St. Thomas University in Miami, he worked as an intern for the Florida Marlins during the team’s inaugural season in Major League Baseball.

“From a professional standpoint, the reason I think I’m a good fit for this job is really the variety of experience. You need folks with a lot of relationships, a lot of skills, a lot of ability to get answers and be as nimble as you can to adjust,” Kelly said. “I just feel the variety of experience allows me to be very proficient in many things. It allows me to be a great listener, a great learner, a great adapter, to serve our student-athletes in the right way; to understand and collaborate with coaches.”

Kelly succeeds Gladchuk, who in late March announced his retirement after 24 years as athletic director and president of the Naval Academy Athletic Association.

He thought now was the time for academy athletics to have “new leadership, new insights and new vision.”

Kelly was hired from a strong pool of candidates that is believed to have included several other sitting athletic directors.

“There were a number of candidates — very prestigious individuals — that showed significant interest in the position. We were honored by the number and quality of people that were attracted to the situation here at Navy,” Gladchuk said.

Gladchuk was part of the search committee and said Kelly interviewed multiple times.

“I think his resume, his accomplishments — not only at USF, but nationally — are just extraordinary and just what we were hopeful for at Navy — someone with his integrity and influence,” Gladchuk said.

There has been recent talk of expanding the College Football Playoff and doing so would likely mean having to start the postseason a week earlier. Some have suggested holding first-round games on the second Saturday of December that has been traditionally reserved solely for the Army-Navy Game.

Kelly was asked if he will work to preserve the Army-Navy game’s standalone status.

“I do think it’s important for the expansion to happen mainly to make sure that Navy and all the American schools can maintain a reasonable access point to the College Football Playoff,” he said. “Ideally, the date can be left alone for this national treasure that is Army-Navy. Certainly preserving the right time window so it’s exclusive so the nation can put its eyeballs on this game that is a great American tradition.”

Army also recently hired a new athletic director in Tom Theodarakis and he will soon be teaming up with Kelly to consider the next round of site bids for the Army-Navy Game. Kelly was responsible for selecting championship game sites while with the Atlantic Coast Conference and as chief operating officer for the College Football Playoff.

Kelly also gained event management experience while serving as president for Super Bowl and Final Four host committees. “Leaning on some of the things I’ve learned from Super Bowl bids and CFP bids will serve us well as we navigate through the next couple years of where Army-Navy will be,” he said.

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