Charlie Cobb
Charlie Cobb enters his seventh year at the helm of the Georgia State Department of Athletics and 16th as a Division I athletics director, leading a transformation for the program throughout campus and the city of Atlanta.
Among Cobb’s biggest projects has been participating in the acquisition, purchase, and re-purposing of Turner Field, transforming the former Major League Baseball venue into the home of Georgia State football, now named Center Parc Credit Union Stadium in recognition of the $21 million, 15–year naming rights agreement reached in 2020. Phase One of the project was completed in August 2017 and includes new east side seating and an artificial surface field for the football team. Phase Two moved all football operations to the stadium in 2019 as part of a $300 million plan to transform the 68-acre site. Future construction plans include the completion of an ‘Athletics Neighborhood’ as part of the development, including a new Convocation Center, baseball stadium, softball stadium, soccer facility, and track and field venue. The Bobby Jones Golf Practice Facility also opened for the men’s and women’s golf teams in 2019.
Before returning to Atlanta, Cobb spent nine years as the Director of Athletics at Appalachian State. Previously he worked for six years honing his business acumen with the Atlanta Sports Council, the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, and the Georgia Dome, before returning to his alma mater, NC State.
At App State, Cobb helped create $50 million in facilities improvements as the Mountaineers’ fundraising efforts that reached all-time highs, including surpassing the $3 million mark. The jewel of the construction projects was the seven-story Appalachian Athletics Center and the campaign also produced new homes for Mountaineer baseball, softball, and soccer, as well as a new indoor practice facility.
The 52-year-old Cobb was a four-year letterwinner as a football player at NC State. He graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1990 and earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio in 1992. As a senior center, he was named to the All-ACC second team and was an All-ACC academic selection. He was awarded the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference’s Jim Tatum Award, which recognizes the senior football player with the highest GPA.
Cobb and his wife, Lindsay, have a son and daughter, 23-year-old Harrison, a recent graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, and 19-year-old Branan, who attends Centre College. Lindsay Cobb was an All-ACC goalkeeper for the NC State women’s soccer team from 1987-90 and is the current head soccer coach at Whitefield Academy.
