Sports

Gene DeFilippo

Managing Director, Turnkey Sports and Entertainment | Member, Board of the National Football Foundation | Former Athletic Director, University of South Carolina-Spartanburg, Villanova University, Boston College

Since retiring as Athletics Director at Boston College in 2012, Gene DeFilippo has remained active on both the local and national level. DeFilippo serves as Managing Director of Turnkey Sports and Turnkey has assisted Michigan, Minnesota, Bowling Green, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Alabama, Nebraska, USC among others with the hiring of the Directors of Athletics. Turnkey has also assisted with the Head football Coaching hires at Nebraska, LSU, Ole Miss, Rice, Georgia Tech, Temple and numerous other institutions. DeFilippo is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

In his 15 years as Director of Athletics at Boston College, DeFilippo led BC Athletics to a period of unprecedented growth and success. DeFilippo’s stated goal of keeping the student-athlete at the heart of the program produced undeniable results. He also led the program through one of the most significant periods in its history as it transitioned to full membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In recognition of his years of leadership and achievement in intercollegiate athletics, DeFilippo was selected for enshrinement in the NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Athletics) Hall of Fame.

Under DeFilippo’s leadership, Boston College student-athletes’ achievements in the classroom were an immense source of pride for the University and its supporters. Year in and year out, Boston College student-athletics achieved some of the highest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores in intercollegiate athletics, consistently ranking top ten.

Outside of their academic and athletics endeavors, BC student-athletes were perhaps best known for their devotion to the community, spending numerous hours helping those less fortunate. In 2010, the BC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee was awarded the National SAAC Aware of excellence in recognition of the community service endeavors of Eagle student-athletes.

DeFilippo undertook an impressive overhaul of BC’s athletics facilities that included new football practice facilities, a total renovation if Conte Forum, including a new sound system, floor and video boards, new soccer, field hockey and lacrosse stadiums on the Newton campus, and an air-inflated bubble to cover the Alumni Stadium turf to provide an indoor practice facility for all sports during the winter months.
In the summer of 2012, a new AstroTurf surface and brick work were added to Alumni Stadium and the Conte Form weight room and equipment room were totally renovated. DeFilippo was instrumental in raising money to build the privately funded $27 million, 72,000-square-foot Yawkey Athletics Center, which houses the football program, the Office of Learning Resources for Student-Athletes, and a large function area for the general University use. After football moved into the Yawkey Center, BC undertook a multi-million dollar renovation Conte Forum to provide additional locker room and office space for many of BC’s 31 varsity sports.

DeFilippo renamed the Athletics Department’s fundraising arm (formerly Blue Chips) in honor of longtime Athletics Director Bill Flynn. Under DeFilippo’s leadership, contributions to the Flynn Fund grew from approximately $2.5 million in his first year to more than $20 million in 2011-12. The total represents the most successful cash year ever for varsity athletics when taking into account past years’ totals that included significant capital payments for the Yawkey Center.

Anne and Gene DeFilippo cemented their commitment to Boston College by announcing their pledge of $100,000 to endow a scholarship. The scholarship is awarded annually to a female student-athlete who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement and financial need.
In athletics competition, DeFilippo oversaw one of the most successful decades in Boston College Athletics History. In 2012, the men’s ice hockey team won its third NCAA Championship in five seasons, it’s fourth since 2001 and fifth overall. The women’s hockey team returned to the Frozen Four in 2012, and the sailing team won 11 national team or individual titles in five years.

In football, BC produced an unprecedented 12 straight winning teams (1990-2010), capturing 103 victories during that streak, BC won an amazing 88 games in the 2000s (2000-09, including bowls), tying Auburn and South California for 11th among all teams in college football. DeFilippo also oversaw record-breaking success in men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer.

From 1993-97, DeFilippo served as director of athletics at Villanova University. He served as Associate Director of Athletics at the University of Kentucky from 1987-93, Director of Athletics at the University of South Caroliona-Spartanburg from 1984-87 and Director of Administrative Service at Vanderbilt University from 1983-84.

His coaching experience includes three years as offensive coach at Vanderbilt (1980-82), which included the 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl. From 1975-79, he was offensive coordinator at Youngstown State University, during which time the team won two consecutive Mid-Continent Conference championships, 1978-79. In 2973-74, he was graduate assistant football coach for the University of Tennessee, coaching in the 1973 Gator Bowl and the 1974 Liberty Bowl.

A 1973 graduate of Springfield College with a Bachelor of Science degree, DeFilippo earned three varsity letters as a quarterback in football during his undergraduate career. He received a master’s degree in Educational Administration from the University of Tennessee in 1974.
He was named the 2010 recipient of the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Martin Williams Souders Award, presented annually to a graduate of a New England independent school who made a distinguishable record in sports and who since made a distinguishable record in life though his/her ideals, leaderships and accomplishments. Past recipients have included George H.W. Bush, Sargent Shriver, Michael Erizione, Dee Rowe, Bill Cleary, and former BC Athletics Director Bill Flynn.

DeFilippo and his wife, Anne, are the parents of three children – Christine Eldred (married to Matt Eldred), John (wife Kari) and Mary Rooney (married to Joe Rooney) and have four grandchildren, Katherine Eldred, Joseph Eldred, Grace Rooney, and Hannah Rooney.