Hot Board: Rutgers Athletic Director Search
Days after losing its basketball coach and athletic director, Rutgers University is at the early stages of looking for successors to both Mike Rice and Tim Pernetti. Here is an initial look at some names who might emerge as candidates to be considered for the vacant athletic director position, several of which were first mentioned on the message board and in an article posted by Tom Luicci this morning:
Name: Vic Cegles
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Current Job: Athletics Director, Long Beach State
Bio: Long Beach State Bio
Big 10 Ties: Cegles does not have ties to the Big 10. However, he served as Rutgers' Assistant Athletic Director for Development for 5 years. His son played baseball for the Scarlet Knights.
Team Success: Last year, Long Beach State led all California schools in the APR. During his first 5 years on the job, the school has won 18 conference championships.
Fundraising Success: Cegles has spearheaded fundraising initiatives at several stops in his career. Most recently he secured a $2 million dollar pledge that enabled the program to upgrade the locker rooms at the Walter Pyramid. It was the largest single gift in the history of the school.
Name: Boo Corrigan
Current Job: Director of Athletics, Army
Bio: Army Athletics Bio
Big 10 Ties: N/A
Team Success: During his first full year at West Point, Army won Patriot League championships in baseball, women's soccer and women's tennis. Four teams went to the NCAA postseason (rifle). During the current academic year, the men's basketball squad enjoyed its first winning season in 28 years, earning head coach Zach Spiker a vote for the Associated Press' Coach of the Year award.
Fundraising Success: Since joining Army in February of 2011, Corrigan has already started an initiative that has raised $20 million and has secured funding for a new lacrosse facility.
Name: Jim Fiore
Current Job: Director of Athletics, Stony Brook
Bio: Stony Brook Bio
Big 10 Ties: N/A
Team Success: Stony Brook has enjoyed multi-sport success under Fiore, most notably the baseball team's Cinderella run to 2012 College World Series in Omaha. In his 10-year tenure, the Seawolves have won 33 conference titles and reached 17 national postseason tournaments. The football team in particular won four straight Big South championships.
Fundraising Success: The athletic budget has doubled under Fiore, going from $9 million to nearly $20 million. He's also spearheaded an $80 million effort to build new basketball and baseball stadiums.
Name: Sean Frazier
Current Job: Deputy Athletics Director, Wisconsin
">Wisconsin Bio
Big 10 Ties: Frazier has been the deputy AD at Wisconsin since 2011 and has worked at the Big Ten member institution since 2007. He's also Wisconsin's liaison to the conference.
Team Success: Wisconsin football won the Big 10 in 2010, 2011 and 2012, earning a trip to the Rose Bowl all three years. On the basketball side, the Badgers have made the NCAA tournament in every year since Frazier's hiring, including two Sweet 16's and a trip to the regional semifinal. Frazier was a finalist for the recent Boston College AD vacancy that instead went to Brad Bates. Before coming to Wisconsin, he was the AD at Merrimack, where he helped increase the athletic department team GPA from 2.68 to 3.0 and saw his football program capture a conference title and earn an NCAA bid.
Fundraising Success: Frazier's duties at Wisconsin include being the conduit between the athletic department and several booster clubs, as well as the chancellor's office and alumni association. While he was the Director of Athletics at Merrimack, Frazier oversaw upgrades of the university's basketball and hockey facilities. He was in charge of several fundraising initiatives at both Clarkson and Manhattanville.
Name: Dr. Chris Hill
Current Job: Director of Athletics, Utah
Bio: Utah Bio
Big 10 Ties: None directly, but has served on several national committees during his career.
Team Success: A Rutgers alum, Hill has been entrenched at Utah as the AD since 1987. He's also served as a Special Assistant to the President since 1998. Three of his coaches have won National Coach of the Year awards: Urban Meyer (2004) and Kyle Whittingham (2008) for football, and Rick Majerus (1998) for basketball. Has personally been a finalist for multiple Athletic Director of the Year awards. Men's and women's basketball have combined for 28 NCAA Tournament appearances--with the men notching runner-up status in 1998--during his time at Utah. Football program is 2-0 in BCS games as well.
Fundraising Success: Has assisted in the building or renovation of 13 different facilities on the Utah campus.
Name: Greg Ianni
Current Job: Deputy Athletics Director, Michigan State
Bio: none available
Big 10 Ties: Ianni has been the Deputy AD for the Spartans since the summer of 2010. He has worked in the athletics department at MSU since 1993.
Team Success: Ianni has been part of the Michigan State athletic department since 1993 and, therefore, could receive a share of the credit for many of the department's success over the past 20 years. During Ianni's tenure at the university, he worked closely with men's and women's golf, which produced five Big Ten titles.
Fundraising Success: Name an athletics facility on campus in East Lansing and its likely Ianni had something to do with its planning, construction and/or renovation.
Name: Ian McCaw
Current Job: Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Baylor University
Bio: Baylor Bio
Big 10 Ties: N/A
Team Success: Since McCaw took over at Baylor in 2003, the Bears have risen to a national commodity in men's and women's basketball and football. The men's team reached the Elite Eight in 2010, while the women's squad captured the 2012 National Championship. The Bears have won three NCAA team championships, 36 Big 12 titles and produced a Heisman Trophy winner (Robert Griffin III) during McCaw's tenure. Baylor also led the Big 12 in graduation success rate for three straight years.
Fundraising Success: Raised more than $8 million in funds during the 2011-12 school year and created and completed a five-year, $95 million development campaign entitled Victory with Integrity.
Name: Kevin MacConnell
Current Job: Director of Football Operations, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Big 10 Ties: N/A
Team Success: Prior to joining Greg Schiano's staff in Tampa, MacConnell worked for 26 years in the Rutgers athletic department, serving in a multitude of administrative roles. The Plainfield native served as Rutgers' Deputy Director of Athletics since 2005. In that role, he was involved with a diverse range of activities including facilities, events and operations, student services and compliance, administration and finance, communications, development and marketing.
Fundraising Success: MacConnell was on staff during the all recent upgrades to the stadium, as well as the Hale Center. He was also on staff during the early planning stages of the upcoming renovations to the Louis Brown Athletic Center.