Bates resigns as AD at BC

Loyola (Md.) athletic director Jim Paquette and Virginia Commonwealth AD Ed McLaughlin have emerged as two potential candidates with strong ties to the Jesuit school.

Paquette, a 1992 graduate of Providence College, spent 16 years working on BC’s athletic leadership team at a time when the school was transitioning from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Paquette served as associate athletics director for development from 2002 until his departure from the Heights for the Loyola AD position in 2010 and helped BC secure more than $211 million in athletic fundraising commitments, including $27 million for the Yawkey Athletics Center, the first building on campus to be 100 percent privately funded.

McLaughlin, a native of Natick, is a 1995 BC graduate and former sports editor of the school’s independent newspaper, The Heights. He began his career in athletic administration at Merrimack College after working two years as Hockey East’s director of media relations.

He left Merrimack in 2000 to become American University’s assistant athletic director for facilities and operations and was promoted several times, rising to associate AD for external affairs.

McLaughlin departed in 2006 for the AD job at Niagra, where he served from 2006-12 and oversaw a department that included 18 Division 1 programs, and set attendance records in men’s hockey and basketball.

He left Niagara to become VCU’s AD in 2012.