Brian Barrio knew he might be onto something after he met with a search committee from UMBC, which was seeking a new permanent athletic director, in late November.
Then the athletic director at Central Connecticut State, Barrio later expressed his excitement about the opportunity that may come his way with his wife, Katie.
"I came home and I told my wife that I just loved the vibe, the optimism. You could feel the optimism, kind of the growth mindset here, which is in contrast to a lot of places in higher education right now," Barrio said after his formal introduction as UMBC's new athletic director Dec. 17. "So it stood out to me. It was really just about which one of these many paths in the future are we going to take. It wasn't, 'The sky is falling.' It was, 'How do we get better and bigger?' That's exciting to me."
