(U-WIRE) BOULDER, Colo. – Mike Bohn, athletic director at San Diego State for the past 18 months, was introduced as Colorado’s athletic director at a news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The news conference was held outdoors on the South Lawn of the CU Recreation Center, west of Folsom Field.

It was a homecoming for Bohn, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., and whose mother, Marlyn, still lives in Boulder.

Bohn, 44, has other ties to the region, having previously worked at Colorado’s two other major universities – as an assistant athletic director at Air Force from 1984-92 and as associate athletic director at Colorado State from 1995-98.

He also worked for the College Football Association from 1992-95, which was run by Chuck Neinas, the consultant Colorado hired to help with the search for a new athletic director.

Bohn was Idaho’s athletic director from 1998-2003 before leaving for San Diego State.

Bohn will become Colorado’s fifth permanent athletic director. He succeeds Dick Tharp, who resigned under pressure last November. Long-time athletic administrator Jack Lengyel has served as interim athletic director since Tharp’s resignation.

Scandals within the CU football program contributed to the departure of Tharp, chancellor Richard Byyny and university president Elizabeth Hoffman, and Bohn will be called upon to repair that damage. He’s no stranger to turmoil.

When he was hired at San Diego State, the school was going through an NCAA investigation and a state audit of the athletic department.

Bohn, who met with reporters in San Diego on Monday to discuss his departure before leaving for Boulder, said he was not deterred by the problems in the CU athletic department.

“In these positions, you look for opportunity for a fit, and the opportunity to be in Boulder, my hometown, and be in the Big 12 and the BCS may never come up again,” he said. “There is no other program in America except my hometown that I would leave for.”

The CU athletic department faces a $3 million revenue shortfall this year and has been looking to boost attendance for football and basketball games.

Bohn might be the right man for the job. At San Diego State and Idaho, Bohn dramatically increased football attendance and fund-raising.

Bohn is expected to sign a five-year contract with CU, and that contract must be approved by the CU Board of Regents, whose next meeting is April 27-28. His first day on the job is expected to be May 1.

– John Mossman