Gopher Stakeholders Raise Concerns About Athletic Director Search
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler announced a 16-member search committee to find the next Gophers athletic director in late March, he called for a search that "must surface the highest quality candidates" and said "the process must reflect the integrity we expect of our next athletics director."
But multiple people connected to Gophers athletics told WCCO they have serious concerns about that process, and as a result, the quality of candidates Minnesota might be able to attract.
The unusually large size of the committee is a chief concern, due to the belief that it increases the likelihood that candidates' names could leak, which could be an obstacle to a deep candidate pool if it discourages potential candidates at other schools from entering the process over fear their current school could find out they're job hunting. By comparison, fellow Big Ten schools Michigan and Illinois both had eight people on their recent athletic director search committees. Purdue, in its current search, has seven people on its search committee.
"Obviously, the more people, the more chance of leaks being made," said McKinley Boston, Minnesota's athletic director from 1991-95 and a member of the Gophers' 1967 Big Ten championship football team. "A sitting AD is going to be concerned because of the confidentiality piece of it. Some people just don't want to take that risk. Donors question if you have one foot out the door."
Minnesota required the 16 members of its search committee to sign a nondisclosure agreement, but that doesn't mean everybody always adheres to that, said Boston, who was the athletic director at New Mexico State for 10 years until retiring last year.
"Somebody's going to tell somebody who's going to tell somebody," Boston said. "That's just the nature of the beast. Usually on a committee of 16, somebody's going to share what's going on."
Boston's sentiments echo a common concern among multiple prominent donors, influential alumni and current athletic department personnel. WCCO spoke to more than a dozen people for this story, several of whom requested anonymity due to their role in Gophers athletics.
Three high-level athletic department administrators at other Division I schools, who would be in a position to consider the job, told WCCO those concerns are valid.
"It makes you look at things much harder and much closer," said one athletic director.
Compounding the issue is the continued perception that interim athletic director Beth Goetz is likely to retain the job full-time, multiple sources said. They worry potential candidates could shy away if they don't think the risk of their name leaking would be worth their while.
Boston said a number of potential candidates reached out to him to ask whether the job was worth pursuing.
"The question I got asked most was about her being empowered to hire the No. 2 person," Boston said, referring to senior associate AD Ayo Taylor-Dixon, who was hired from Northern Colorado to lead Minnesota's marketing and ticket sales. "Because that, to them (potential candidates), is a signal there's an awful lot of confidence in her. This, to me, sends a signal. It's unusual."
A high-level athletics administrator at another Division I school said that perception is widespread.
"I think people wonder why it's taking so long," he said.
By comparison, Michigan announced the beginning of its search in early December and filled it less than two months later. Illinois hired its replacement just three months after firing its previous athletic director.
"I don't think there's any question about that (perception existing)," said one athletic director. "But would they spend $150,000 if they already have a candidate in place?"
Former Gophers star fullback and "M" Club Hall of Famer Jim Carter, a prominent booster and close confidant of former football coach Jerry Kill, said Kaler recently told him that he wants to hire Goetz as the permanent athletic director, but isn't sure she has enough experience. Carter said he came away from the conversation feeling that Kaler's actual concern is whether he can convince the public she has enough experience.
Multiple sources, including Carter, said they believe that is why Kaler allowed Goetz to bolster her credentials by serving as interim athletic director the past eight months, why he put together the expansive 16-member committee, and why he hired search firm Turnkey Search, which the University will pay $150,000 plus expenses to identify and vet candidates.
"It's about covering his (backside)," Carter said.
University bylaw dictates that the final decision must be Kaler's, but multiple sources questioned how much input and power the committee will actually have.
Another source, from within the athletic department, said he has no doubts that the search is legitimate and that Kaler truly wants a broad search in order to find the best candidate, Goetz or not.
Those who shared their concerns with WCCO said their issues are with Kaler, not Goetz. For her part, Goetz is very well liked and highly regarded almost universally within the department, sources said. School officials have publicly commended her on multiple occasions for the manner in which she has steered the department after Norwood Teague resigned in early August in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.
"Everybody loves Beth," said one athletic department source.
But while they consider Goetz a terrific second-in-command, multiple donors, boosters, influential alumni and department personnel said they believe she does not yet have enough experience to permanently take over the top job. Goetz joined Minnesota in March 2013 as deputy athletics director and senior women's administrator – the No. 2 position in the department – after working at Butler as an associate athletic director and senior women's administrator since 2008.
"If she was bringing in the money – for instance if she'd raised, say, $20 million (for the new athletics facilities project) – she'd have the permanent job already," Carter said.
Through spokesmen, Goetz and Kaler both declined comment for this story.
Tom Sakal, the captain of Minnesota's last Big Ten champion football team in 1967, told WCCO he has received "half a dozen" calls from the University in the last two months asking for money but has lost confidence in his alma mater's ability to use it wisely.
"When I look at the people on that committee, an aerospace engineer, a professor of horticulture, what the hell do they know about selecting an athletic director?" Sakal said. "You can quote me on that. It's a laughingstock."
Sakal said he was planning to leave "a six-figure sum of money" for the athletic department from his estate, but has grown so frustrated with Kaler that he removed the gift from his will. The handling of the athletic director search was the last straw, he said.
"I'm extremely disgusted, it's one failure after another," he said. "There is no way in hell I'm going to leave them one penny."