UMD Hires Damon Evans As Athletic Director
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ/AP) -- The University of Maryland has hired Damon Evans to be its athletic director, completing the transition that started in October when Kevin Anderson took a six-month sabbatical from the post.
Evans joined the school in December 2014. He was named acting athletic director when Anderson began his sabbatical and maintained that job after Anderson resigned in April.
Maryland launched a national search for a new AD after Anderson resigned, but ended up staying close to home with its final choice.
In a statement Monday, Maryland president Wallace Loh said, "The candidates invited for interviews had impressive credentials and accomplishments. ... In Damon, the University? of Maryland? has the right person at the right time."
Over the past four years, Evans overhauled the athletics budget and financial operations, resulting in an operating surplus, according to the school.
Evans served as the director of athletics at Georgia from 2004-10.
"Throughout his tenure here, Damon has demonstrated visionary, transparent, compassionate and ethical leadership," said University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh. "The candidates invited for interviews had impressive credentials and accomplishments. In the end, a senior leadership search is not only about capabilities. It is also about institutional fit and interpersonal trust and chemistry. In Damon, the University of Maryland has the right person at the right time."
Evans has been overseeing day-to-day operations of the university's athletics department since 2016.
"It is a great honor to be chosen to lead at the University of Maryland," said Evans. "Since the day I arrived, I have been inspired by the student-athletes, coaches and support team that strive for success in Maryland Athletics, and I look forward to many successes ahead in our Big Ten era. I'm guided by the principle that we learn from our wins and losses, and I am eager to lead an athletics department that ultimately achieves greatness together."
He earned a bachelor's degree in finance in 1992 and a master's degree of education in sports management in 1994, both from the University of Georgia, where he was also a four-year starter on the football team.
Evans will assume the position of Athletic Director on July 2.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)