By Jordan Viener – Despite the visibility of the Head Football and Basketball coach there is no more important person to an athletic department then it’s director. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Maryland has finally let go of athletic director (AD) Kevin Anderson after a six month “development sabbatical”. Since the start of his sabbatical former Georgia AD Damon Evans has been filling in. Evans has been with the department since 2014, while he expected to be a candidate, he is not expected to get the job. This leave the question, who will get the job?
Most consider Maryland to be a high value job in the AD community. It is a Big Ten program with high TV revenue, good media coverage, and is the only FBS program in the DC area. Baltimore Sun reporter, and good friend of the Red Turtle Network, Don Markus recently spoke with former Maryland basketball all-American Tom McMillen. McMillen is the head of LEAD1, the trade organization for division one athletic directors. He said when asked about what he says about the Maryland job, a popular topic in the AD community over the last six months, “When they come up to me and ask questions about Maryland, I try to give them the possibilities — the blue sky — of Maryland.” Among those who McMillen spoke to about the Maryland job is former Kansas State and Tennessee athletic director John Currie, Currie was fired from Tennessee after just nine months because of the circus of a head coaching search a few months ago. Currie was very successful at Kansas State, but less so at Tennessee. He would probably create a very mixed reaction in the Maryland community if he was hired.
A large contingent of the Maryland fan base are calling for a Maryland alum. This leads to the other popular candidate for the job, outgoing Hofstra AD Jeff Hathaway. Hathaway will be leaving Hofstra on June 30, 2018. He was formerly the AD at UConn before being forced out 2011 after allegations broke regarding recruiting violations and low academic success regarding the Basketball program. While this track record would likely not be considered on its own merits, the reason that Hathaway is considered in the running is because he is a College Park alum. There is another Maryland alumni in the AD pool, Oklahoma director Joe Castiglione. Castiglione however is considered the longest of long shots, he has been at OU since 1998 and is one of the highest paid AD’s at one of the highest regarded athletic departments in the nation.
One thing is for sure though, this process won’t have an end for a long while. If Maryland uses an outside search firm (which is very likely) then we likely won’t see a list of finalists for 4 to 5 months. This is story is far from even beginning.
Robert Walker
Please hire an AD who will dump Turgeon
· 11/12/2019