University of Minnesota still deciding how to search for new athletics director

MINNEAPOLIS - A lot has happened in the nearly six months since Norwood Teague resigned as the University of Minnesota’s athletic director. There have been more sexual harassment allegations, another resignation, an outside investigation and an internal audit.      

But the search for a new athletic director has not yet begun. According to the university, Kathy Brown, the vice-president of human resources, is tasked with developing the search plan. That means making recommendations on whether to once again use an outside search firm, who is on the search committee, and deciding the interviewing and vetting process. Brown will present her recommendations in February.         

“So the process is beginning, in the early stages, and many conversations to take place,” Dean Johnson, the chair of the Board of Regents, told Fox 9.

Johnson said he doesn't know when the search will begin, let alone when someone will get hired — or whether Beth Goetz, the interim athletic director, will become permanent.

“Timeline has not been established, because we're very confident in the work of interim athletic director Beth Goetz. So we don't feel rushed in this matter,” Johnson said.

“An athletic director, quite frankly, is a jack of all trades and a master at every last one of them,” said Lee Hutton, a sports and entertainment attorney, former Gopher football and track athlete, and an often floated candidate as a possible athletic director.

“As athletic director, you're not only going to be the CEO of this organization that is a multimillion dollar organization, so you're going to have to deal with legal issues as we've seen in this situation, you're going to have to deal with employment issues, you're going to have manage the personalities of your students, you're going to have to know how to negotiate television rights….But beyond that, you're going to have to know how to shake hands and kiss babies,” Hutton told Fox 9.

While the Board of Regents will get to see the search proposal next month, approval is up to President Eric Kaler.