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Position: Athletic Director
Alma Mater: Illinois, 1993
Years at EIU: 12th year
Tom Michael begins his 12th year as the Athletic Director at Eastern Illinois having helped reshape the department during his tenure.
As a leader in the Ohio Valley Conference, Michael currently serves as the conference AD representative for men’s basketball after previously serving as the OVC contact for baseball. During the 2022-23 academic year he served as the President of FCSADA (FCS Athletic Director Association) while also serving as the chair of the OVC Athletic Directors. He served as the past president for FCSADA during the 2023-24 academic year. In August of 2020 he was selected to serve to the NCAA Division I Football Committee beginning a four-year term. In addition Michael has served on several NACDA committees as the NCAA enters a new era of college athletics with the passing of the House Settlement in the summer of 2025.
Working to enhance the student-athlete experience through donor gifts, in November of 2020 EIU Athletics unveiled new video boards and ribbon boards in Lantz Arena after Michael led a renovation of the Schnorf Family Victory Suite at O'Brien Field that was completed in September of 2020. During the early spring of 2021, an update to the O'Brien Field football weight room was completed with new weight equipment. Facility enhancements continued during the last two academic years with a new women's basketball locker room, new scoreboards at baseball and softball and a renovation to the Lantz Arena weight room which is used by all athletic teams except football. The most recent projects being completed in the summer of 2023 was the installation of new turf at O'Brien Field for football followed by new scoreboards at Williams Field (softball) and Coaches Stadium (baseball). A new state-of-art videoboard and sound system were installed at O'Brien Field (football / track & field) in the summer of 2024. Cultivation of major gifts over the past two years has led to the renaming of Lantz Arena to Groniger Arena with the lower seating bowl renovated in the summer of 2024. In the spring of 2025 it was announced that the EIU volleyball team would move to play their games at McAfee Gym with the historic playing facility inside renovated to a volleyball specific venue and named the Gardella Family Court.
Success on the field of competition also followed this past academic year (2022-23) with Eastern Illinois winning five Ohio Valley Conference Championships. In the fall EIU swept the men's and women's cross country championships. They added a men's indoor track championship in the winter and wrapped up the spring with both baseball and softball winning the OVC Tournaments to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers continued to build off that 2022-23 success into the 2023-24 academic year as they won four OVC Championships (men's & women's cross country, volleyball and softball) with softball advancing to the NCAA Tournament. EIU would sweep the end the end-of-the-year OVC awards winning both the OVC Commissioner's Cup and OVC Sportsmanship Awards in 2023-24 along with Female Athlete of the Year (third straight year). EIU added a second straight OVC Sportsmanship Award for the department in 2024-25 and had both the OVC softball and baseball teams win the OVC regular season titles with softball reaching the NCAA Tournament. Fundraising success and facility projects have followed with several gifts secured to enhance the renamed Groniger Arena and O'Brien Field. That fundraising success was highlighted by this past summer's Weekend of Champions event which featured the return to EIU's Charleston campus of EIU legends Mike Shanahan, Sean Payton, Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo.
An administrator with a strong academic background, EIU has excelled in the class room under Michael’s leadership. The Panthers have led the OVC in number of OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll selections and OVC Academic Medal of Honor award winners in eight of the last ten years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Panthers put together a strong academic plan resulting in the highest department GPA in school history of 3.44. A total of 17 programs posted a team GPA of 3.0 or higher. Academic success has continued with five student-athletes earning Academic All-American honors over the last three years and five student-athletes being named the OVC Scholar-Athletes of the Year. During the 2022-23 academic year, EIU had three teams rank among the nation's best in academic success for their sport with softball ranked in the top ten, women's basketball and men's swimming both ranked in the top 25.
On the financial front Michael helped lead the program through some difficult times from a budget standpoint as the State of Illinois had drastic measures early in his tenure. During that time EIU was able to maintain all 20 of its intercollegiate sports while also moving forward and meeting fundraising goals. Under his leadership the Panthers have renovated both the men’s basketball and baseball locker rooms with a new women's basketball locker room for women's basketball and locker room space for women's track & field. In addition the Panthers moved to a newly renovated playing surface for the men’s and women’s soccer programs in the spring of 2021. Moving the program forward, Michael added beach volleyball as the Panthers 21st intercollegiate sport offering in the fall of 2021 with the team playing their inaugural season in the Ohio Valley Conference in the spring of 2022.
Michael was formally introduced as the 10th full-time athletic director in Eastern Illinois University history on July 22, 2014 and began his role on August 11. He came to EIU after serving as the Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Illinois since 2012. One of his final projects was overseeing the renovations to the State Farm Center.
Michael joined the Illinois athletic department in 1996 as an academic counselor. He worked for 12 years in administration serving as both an associate athletic director and assistant athletic director for student services. In addition to his role in the State Farm Center renovation Michael oversaw Academic Services, Equipment, Event Management, Sports Medicine and Strength and Conditioning for the athletic department.
Michael received both his bachelor's degree (1993) and master's degree (1994) from Illinois. He played four years for the Fighting Illini basketball program from 1991-94 helping the team make two trips to the NCAA Tournament. He was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten Selection and holds the Illinois single season record for 3-point field goal percentage.
Following his playing days Michael worked in his family's business prior to joining the staff at Illinois in 1996. He and his wife Shana have three children (Nicholas, Nathaniel and Kylie, a former member of the EIU volleyball program). Michael also welcomed his first grandchild during the summer of 2024.
