Michael McFarland, a familiar face in Patriot League athletics circles, is in his third year as Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities and Event Operations at Bucknell. McFarland came to Bucknell from the Patriot League headquarters in Center Valley, Pa., where he had served as associate executive director since 2000.

In his role at Bucknell, McFarland serves as the day-to-day supervisor of athletic facilities and coordinator of all facility scheduling. He monitors marketing and promotional activities for all 27 Bison varsity sports and also handles scheduling, maintenance, preparation and event management issues for all activities. He is tasked with managing Bucknell's facilities for all athletic events, university functions and outside special events. In addition, McFarland acts as the liaison with the campus facilities division and other university offices, such as reservations and conference scheduling, admissions and public safety, and he oversees the official licensing of Bucknell athletics merchandise.

McFarland wore many hats as a veteran member of the Patriot League office. Chief among them was the operations oversight for each of the 23 league-sponsored championships, including the popular men's and women's basketball tournaments. McFarland also managed the conference's basketball television package, including the scheduling and production of games.

Responsible for the promotion and publicity of the Patriot League, McFarland oversaw the league's marketing and sponsorship strategy while supervising the league's media relations team. He also acted as the chief liaison with several Patriot League committees, including facilities and operations, sports information, sports medicine, marketing, ticketing and television.

Before joining the Patriot League staff, McFarland spent five and a half years at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in Mission, Kan., first as the communications director and later as the assistant executive director. He was responsible for the editing of the NSCAA's Soccer Journal, a coaching educational periodical, managing the scholastic and collegiate rankings programs, sponsorship fulfillment and the association's publications.

McFarland is a 1991 graduate of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., where he received a degree in corporate communication and was an all-conference soccer player. He received a master's degree in sport administration from Western Illinois University in 1994.

He also served as sports information director while at Western Illinois. In addition to his responsibilities of media coverage for the 18 varsity programs at WIU, he handled marketing, promotions and fundraising projects. Previously he worked in the sports information offices at Lindenwood and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

McFarland, who has remained active in the sport of soccer as a youth coach, resides in Lewisburg along with his wife, Cari, and daughters Raely and Aydan.