Friday, July 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SEARCH: Finalists for UNLV job ID'd

All five candidates for vacant post already at other Division I programs

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Apparently, it didn't take UNLV as long as it anticipated to contact the finalists for its vacant athletic director's job.

According to sources independent of the university with knowledge of the search, the five finalists are all currently college athletic directors: Montana's Wayne Hogan, Idaho's Mike Bohn, Saint Louis' Doug Woolard, Toledo's Mike O'Brien and East Carolina's Mike Hamrick.

All were contacted Wednesday by Max Urick, who is working as a consultant to UNLV on behalf of the Overland Park, Kan., law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King.

Of the five finalists, three -- Hogan, Bohn and Woolard -- are scheduled to be interviewed when UNLV president Carol Harter returns from vacation next week.

According to search committee chairman Andy Fry, Harter asked for an unranked list of finalists. But Fry said it was possible not all the finalists would be interviewed, and the committee was comfortable with such a procedure.

All the candidates fit the primary criteria Harter is seeking in John Robinson's replacement. All have experience running a Division I athletic program, although Saint Louis does not compete in football. Montana is a national power in football at the I-AA level.

Woolard is familiar with UNLV basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour from Spoonhour's days at Saint Louis. Woolard, 52, has been the athletic director at Saint Louis since 1994. Before coming to Saint Louis, Woolard was the associate athletic director at Washington State for six years, so he has experience in football.

Bohn, 42, has been at Idaho since 1998 and helped facilitate the school's move to the Sun Belt Conference in football. He also raised funding for the $13 million Vandal Athletic Center, which will upgrade the school's facilities.

Hogan, 47, who just completed his eighth year at Montana, has overseen a $28 million budget and has been at the helm while the Grizzlies have won two I-AA national championships in football. He recently was named the Division I-AA West Region Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Before his arrival at Montana, Hogan worked at Florida State as the school's sports information director and assistant athletic director. He also served as the interim athletic director in 1994 and 1995.

Hamrick, during his eight-year tenure at East Carolina, has overseen $40 million in capital improvements of the school's athletic facilities and helped guide the Pirates into Conference USA.

He is the only candidate among the five finalists with a connection to UNLV. In 1981 and 1982, Hamrick worked in promotions in the athletic department.

Hamrick also served as athletic director at Arkansas-Little Rock and was an assistant athletic director at Illinois State and Kansas.

Of the five finalists, O'Brien has had the shortest tenure at his current institution. He came to Toledo in January 2002 after spending 15 years in athletic administration at four schools. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the assistant athletic director at Kansas State, where his boss was Urick.

O'Brien also was the athletic director at Lamar from 1993 to 1997 and worked as director of development at Pittsburgh from 1989 to 1993. His first college job was in marketing at Ball State in the late 1980s.

Harter's goal is to have an athletic director named by the end of August. Interviews are expected to begin the first week in August. The finalists will meet with Harter and her cabinet, the search committee, members of the athletic department who were not on the committee and senior staff of the Thomas & Mack Center.