Mike Karabin has retired after 32 years with the University of Toledo athletic department, most recently serving as the university’s deputy athletic director.
Karabin is one of those people who seems to know everybody; I have known him and considered him a friend for 13 years.
He was a fixture in the athletic department and was responsible for many of the additions on campus. He is a terrific fundraiser and the evidence is in the structures he has contributed to. He was a major force behind the $20 million expansion of the
Glass Bowl.
He is also credited with the Larimer Athletic Complex as well as the Findlay
Building. Most recently he was an important mover behind the renovation of Savage Arena.
I was one of those who thought renovating Savage Arena was crazy, but I was wrong. It is no one of the premier structures in the MAC.
Karabin will always have these great accomplishments as part of his legacy at UT.
Karabin was also behind some of the scheduling that has brought us great games such as University of Pittsburgh (one of the greatest UT victories ever, against then-No. 9 Pitt), Boise State, Navy, Syracuse and Purdue.
He also brought the games to ESPN. I believe that is one of the main reasons UT’s football program is at or near the top of the MAC every year.
Karabin played baseball at UT, where he won the MAC batting title his senior year, the first ever at the college to win the batting title. He hit .419 that year, which is fifth best of all time at UT. He then played for the Chicago Cubs organization for two years and later returned to UT as a coach.
He was the head baseball coach for one season in 1982, leading the Rockets to a second-place finish in the MAC.
Karabin was honored with induction into the Varsity “T” Hall of Fame in 2007.
It is hard to see good people leave and very seldom do they leave with this kind of legacy. He is a good man and a good father.
I will miss him at the university and wish him well, but even at 55 years young, I am sure Karabin is not done. I am sure he will do something after his career at UT — we can only hope it is here in Toledo.
Good luck, Mike!
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Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star.
