Athletic director search committee holds first meeting

Chuck Neinas and a 10-member search committee will hold the first meeting today in a campaign that will aim to find a new athletic director for USF by early summer.

Neinas, president of the Neinas Sports Services Consulting Firm in Boulder, Colo., was hired March 11 to assist in finding a replacement for former AD Lee Roy Selmon. Today, after taking time to assess the university’s needs and objectives in the search, Neinas and the committee are ready to get started.

“We’re going to pull it into high gear and are ready to get the search going with the search consultant coming (today),” said committee member Michael Rierson. “He’s met everyone at USF, and he’s formed a job description that we will need in order to determine exactly what it is we are looking for.”

Rierson is the vice president of University Advancement and is sharing responsibilities of AD with USF chief financial officer Carl Carlucci. He said shortly after Selmon resigned Feb. 26 that he hoped to have a new director in place by early summer. Monday he said that “absolutely remains” a realistic goal.

Michelle Carlyon, USF’s senior media relations coordinator, said the position is not yet open because the university has not yet advertised for applications and there are no candidates for the position.

Search committee member Vicky Medlock, associate vice president of university advancement, confirmed that though the committee has received applications, they will not be considered and the applicants will need to reapply once the committee is prepared to accept them. The list of applicants, Medlock said, would be made available at the meeting today.

Neinas, 72, served as commissioner of the Big Eight Conference, which included Oklahoma, where Selmon spent four years as a dominant defensive lineman from 1971 to 1979. After being hired to consult the committee, Neinas spent two days on the USF campus meeting with USF President Judy Genshaft, Selmon, football coach Jim Leavitt and other athletic department staff and key figures in the search to determine what the university is looking for out of the athletic director position.