After three years as the Director of Athletics for Central Michigan University, Michael Alford will be heading south to become the CEO of Seminole Boosters at Florida State.

The news broke on Wednesday afternoon, and Alford will reportedly remain in Mount Pleasant through the end of August. CMU announced that the search for Alford's replacement will begin immediately. Alford will start his role with FSU Sept. 1 and will be assisting university President Bob Davies with the search to find CMU's next Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics.

While his stay as a Chippewa was short, Alford will certainly leave his mark. His forward thinking and fundraising initiative helped bring the Chippewa Champions Center to life. A multi-million dollar project in the north end zone of Kelly/Shorts Stadium, which is set to debut this fall. He also helped with the construction of the 3,200 square foot video board above the south end zone, which is now the largest video board in the Mid-American Conference.

He helped with the design of new locker rooms and added team rooms for the soccer and gymnastics programs. Alford also helped the renegotiation of CMU's contract with Adidas, increasing revenue by more than 600%.

It's obvious that this is bad timing for Alford's departure. The middle of a pandemic caused by the Coronavirus and a smaller conference school, CMU will have its hands full trying to find a replacement. With the loss of the men's track and field program earlier this spring, CMU was on the brink of losing FBS compliance before being allowed a pandemic exception from the NCAA. The new AD will have that to deal with as well.

"CMU's successes are because of the people associated with our program," Alford said. "This includes the coaches and staff who challenge our student-athletes in practice and on the field; faculty who challenge them in the classroom; our Board of Trustees and university leadership, alumni, donors and supporters of the CMU Chippewa Athletics program; and the countless community members, businesses and fans who support them in the stands."

Alford was critical in the hiring of football head coach Jim McElwain, who many suspect will leave CMU for a bigger job following the 2020 season. Whoever is chosen as the new Athletic Director of CMU will likely be hit with the task of finding a new football coach sooner rather than later.