AD opening public

[Jimmy Lemke]

Link: AD Opening public (http://www.brewcityball.com/forums/content.php?481-Athletic-Director-opening-now-public)

I will now post, in order, the Premium section articles from November 13th on to give our free member friends all the details of the past few weeks.

Discuss!

[Jimmy Lemke]

Originally published November 13th on the Premium board:

Multiple anonymous sources have confirmed that the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee is moving forward with plans to hire the new Athletic Director at for Milwaukee Athletics. Since the end of the spring semester, the AD has been Andy Geiger, most recently retired from Ohio State. Geiger's contract runs through July 2013 and it looks as though he will finish once that contract is up.

Milwaukee will be hiring its sixth athletic director since 2009 alone. Bud Haidet retired in June 2009, George Koonce left in April 2010, Dave Gilbert served as interim until January 2011, and Rick Costello officially severed ties to the program earlier this year.

Andy Geiger was hired shortly after the spring semester on a one-year contract to basically right the ship. Geiger has had decades of experience in the Ivy League, at Stanford, at Maryland and now Ohio State. He recently secured a seven-figure pledge to build a baseball and track facility, with a likely landing zone in the Glendale area.

The university plans to first make the job open internally in the UW System, an initially quiet process that will eventually grow into a nationwide search.

[Jimmy Lemke]

Originally published November 18th on the Premium board:

Having discussions with people about this position, I've gathered that they likely already have their candidate - Paul Plinske of UWW - and opening it internally allows him to come in and be the biggest and best candidate.

I've also been told to not expect the process to go like it did when we hired George Koonce and Rick Costello, the latter in which Plinske was a final candidate. I'm told to expect a streamlined process and to expect it soon, possibly within the next couple of months. At that time, Andy Geiger will move into a different position - probably full-time fundraiser - and help the new AD get his feet wet.

All indications are Paul Plinske is going to be the next athletic director at Milwaukee. We shall see if this comes to pass.

[Jimmy Lemke]

Originally posted November 20th on the PantherU Premium board:

Once again under the condition of anonymity, several sources have confirmed that University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials have contacted Paul Plinske and Daron Montgomery about the position of Director of Athletics for the Milwaukee Panthers. Four sources confirmed that Paul Plinske is a candidate for the second time (the first resulting in Rick Costello's hire). Daron Montgomery was most recently the Associate AD at Detroit under now-gone Keri Gaither before taking the UWSP athletic director job.

For Plinske, one source told me that it is "His job to lose," and that the university has already contacted him multiple times since the opening of the job one week ago. Plinske has proven that he can run a wildly successful program, with many D-III national titles under his belt at Whitewater, including from the famed football program, men's basketball, baseball, women's volleyball, and women's gymnastics.

One source said that Montgomery was "a viable candidate" and is thought of highly within the university administration. Montgomery has had many dealings with UWM employees from his time as Associate AD at Detroit.

Once PantherU can obtain and confirm the names of any more candidates, we will post them in this thread. Below are links to their current profiles as well as the original PantherU recording of Paul Plinske's public presentation during the final candidate round in December 2010.

Link: Daron Montgomery's UWSP Profile (http://athletics.uwsp.edu/staff.aspx?staff=165)

Link: Paul Plinske's UWW Profile (http://www.uwwsports.com/staff.aspx?staff=2)

Link: Paul Plinske's Presentation from December 2010 to UWM (http://pantheru.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/paulplinske.mp3)

[Jimmy Lemke]

Originally posted November 26th on the PantherU Premium board:

Several sources confirmed to PantherU on Monday that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has decided to take its opening for the Director of Athletics external. The position, currently filled by Andy Geiger, was opened internally in the UW System just a couple of weeks ago. Each of the sources brought candidates that the university was considering to PantherU, but the only two of consequence it looked like were UW-Whitewater AD Paul Plinske and UW-Stevens Point AD Daron Montgomery.

The university has decided to move beyond the confines of the UW System to help the process of finding the new athletic director. When asked if this meant that Plinske and Montgomery were not up to par or had declined the job, one source said, "Neither. Both are qualified candidates but the university wishes to draw from a larger pool to pull in the best possible hire. Either one could still be hired as AD when all is said and done."

Moving to an external, nationwide search is the same scope used in the hires of George Koonce and Rick Costello. Both AD's flamed out within 14 months of their hiring.

Andy Geiger was instead hired in a closed process. Chancellor Michael Lovell identified Geiger through a small network of advisers, particularly Horizon League commissioner Jon LeCrone, and made the hire rather quickly instead of involving an entire Search and Screen Committee.

The plan is for the university to make a hire, perhaps as early as Christmas, and for Geiger to move into a position as full-time fundraiser and adviser to the new athletic director. Once his contract is up in July, Geiger's time at the university will end. Sources had no knowledge of whether his $200,000-plus salary would be reduced in the new role.

Milwaukee is searching for its sixth athletic director since June of 2009. Bud Haidet's retirement came only a couple months after his replacement, George Koonce, was hired. Koonce eventually resigned under foggy circumstances. He was followed by Dave Gilbert of the UWM Foundation on an interim basis, during which time Carlos Santiago departed as chancellor to take over the Hispanic College Fund. Gilbert stepped aside when the university hired Rutgers Deputy AD Rick Costello. Costello was ousted after a scandal involving former men's soccer coach Chris Whalley. A couple of months passed before the university hired Geiger.

[illwauk]

Here's the schools outside of Wisconsin that I think Milwaukee should tap: Old Dominion, Charlotte, Georgia State or UTSA. :D

[Jimmy Lemke]

Hmmm, you're not pointing to a specific sport are you, Illwauk?!

[illwauk]

They're all urban commuter campuses turned major research institutions, like Milwaukee, and all have been successful in upgrading the fortune of their athletic department in recent years. Hypothetically speaking, if someone from one of those institutions should feel that sudden interest from larger conferences has a lot to do with the addition of a certain sport, I wouldn't complain if they were to bring that sport to Milwaukee.

:D

[lutzow10]

We should look for someone from a school like Wichita State. From 2006-2011 they had one of the lowest subsidies percentages in the country for a mid-major school (around 30%) and managed to stay in the black. With our financial woes I think the smart thing would be to get an AD who knows how to run a self sufficient athletic department. Not only has Wichita State stayed in the black and kept one of the lowest subsidies percentages in the country, they have upgraded and built new athletics facilities during that time period. We need an AD that is going to get us out of red and make us more self-sufficient as a university.

[Jimmy Lemke]

I totally agree. Wichita State is a model. But you have to recognize the differences here. WSU has two major things going for it that we don't - #1, the Shockers have no problem finding space to build anything. #2, they are the only show in town and thus bring in a lot more fans based on that alone.

[lutzow10]

This is true. And i am not thinking we would be able to get us to where they are finacially, but i do think that there are things that they know about being finacially sound that we could definitely learn from

[Jimmy Lemke]

I would like to see us follow a lot of their projects, specifically the indoor bubble they built that houses baseball practice during cold weather.