The search for Miami University’s next athletic director is about to kick into high gear.

Brad Bates, the school’s AD since November 2002, accepted the same position at Boston College on Tuesday.

“Brad Bates has always upheld the highest standards of integrity and the highest expectations for our student-athletes, coaches and staff,” said Miami President David Hodge, noting that the search for Bates’ replacement will be national in scope.

“He has been relentless in pushing the vision that all Miami student-athletes should graduate and graduate with at least one championship ring. He has been an exceptionally articulate spokesperson on behalf of Miami values and ambitions. He will be greatly missed.”

Fourteen of Miami’s 18 athletic teams won a league championship during Bates’ tenure. The Graduation Success Rate of MU’s student-athletes during that time was 83 to 90 percent, among the best numbers in the Mid-American Conference.

“(My wife) Michele and I will always cherish our years in Oxford,” said Bates, 53. “We are eternally grateful for the friendships that have been developed. We will always support and follow the RedHawks. Miami is an extraordinary institution, and we know the Culture of Champions will continue to be a vision that inspires excellence long into the future.”

Miami hockey coach Enrico Blasi called Bates “a mentor and a good friend.”

“There’s no one in the business that deserves to be in a situation like that more than Brad Bates,” Blasi said. “His mentorship has meant a lot to me and just challenged us to elevate our program, not only in the way we conduct ourselves, but in the manner we interact with student-athletes.

“For us in hockey, he’s been with us all the way no matter what’s happened to the program. He just happens to be going to the only school that has a better winning percentage in the last seven years than Miami, so I guess he’s moving up.”

The hockey program has developed into a national power during the Bates era. The football program also achieved back-to-back bowl appearances (2003-04) for the first time in nearly 30 years.

“My time with him has been tremendous,” Miami football coach Don Treadwell said. “Tremendous leader, has great vision, will be successful in my opinion wherever he goes.”

Treadwell, who’s 7-11 in two seasons at the RedHawk helm, said he won’t feel extra pressure to win just because a new athletic director will be hired.

“It would be different maybe if I was only coaching one or two years at the college level. But over 25-some years, that happens all the time,” Treadwell said. “You just appreciate who you had and what they brought to the program when they were there. That’s all athletics is is constant change.”