Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
LJS: Collier waiting for news (Christian and Fox primary NU targets) Reply
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From LJS:
Barry Collier wasn’t saying Saturday whether he was about to become the athletic director at Butler University because, if you can believe this, he hadn’t heard who the selection committee had recommended.
Apparently, the only people who knew if the Nebraska men’s basketball coach was the choice of his alma mater were the 10 members of the search committee and school president Bobby Fong. That committee met with Fong on Saturday morning to make its recommendation, but it could be at least a couple more days before the school makes an announcement.
According to NU director of basketball operations Tim Waller, Collier, back in Lincoln after going through his formal interview on Friday, told members of his coaching staff Saturday that he had nothing to divulge on the Butler front. He then flew back to Indianapolis to take part in Butler’s Athletic Hall of Fame dinner ceremony to be held tonight. Collier, the all-time wins leader at Butler who left as coach there in April of 2000 to take over Nebraska’s program, is one of eight inductees.
The school also will hold a golf tournament on Monday, its top athletic fund-raising event. Given that, Butler sports information director Jim McGrath predicted it would be Tuesday or Wednesday before an announcement about the AD position is made.
Anything earlier might “detract from the (hall of fame) individuals going in, and we really didn’t want that situation,” said McGrath, who’s also an associate AD and a member of the search committee.
Although Collier would be a sentimental pick to succeed the retiring John Parry, the Nebraska AD who oversees men’s basketball, Marc Boehm, said he spoke with Collier Saturday and that “the jist of it was that things were ongoing.” Boehm said school officials there would communicate with Nebraska as soon as a recommendation had been made.
Collier has compiled an 89-91 record in six years at Nebraska and is coming off his most successful season at the Husker helm — a 19-14 record that included NU’s first upper-division finish in the Big 12 Conference in his tenure.
Since acknowledging to the Journal Star on June 21 that he was eyeing the Butler opening from the standpoint of someone who would do anything for the institution, there’s been wide speculation that Collier would get involved. Last week, he was in Indianapolis to help pare down the field, and on Tuesday he was named a finalist.
Another candidate for the position, Miami of Ohio associate AD Mike Watson, also said Saturday that he hadn’t heard from Butler officials. Watson is schedule to attend the Mid-American Conference football media days today and Monday.
McGrath offered no hints as to who the committee recommended and said the school’s president was “going to digest it and make his decision. And it is his decision.”
Asked how Fong reacted to the committee’s choice, McGrath added, “He’s very good. He listens and takes notes and give no reaction — a very scholarly study on his face. He took notes and thanked us for our work and effort.”
McGrath said Fong expects the process to work out details of the new athletic director’s contract will be rapid. Collier is entering the third year of a four-year deal worth more than $600,000 annually. That’s four to five times what he could make as Butler’s AD.
Should Collier leave Nebraska, NU is prepared to act quickly. Two sources with ties to the program have said Boehm and NU Athletic Director Steve Pederson have made Jim Christian of Kent State and Mark Fox of Nevada their primary targets.
In two years at Nevada, Fox is 52-13, with two Western Athletic Conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Christian, in four seasons at Kent State, has never had a team win fewer than 20 games a season. After three straight postseason NIT appearances, the Golden Flashes finally made the NCAA field last season.
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From LJS:
Barry Collier wasn’t saying Saturday whether he was about to become the athletic director at Butler University because, if you can believe this, he hadn’t heard who the selection committee had recommended.
Apparently, the only people who knew if the Nebraska men’s basketball coach was the choice of his alma mater were the 10 members of the search committee and school president Bobby Fong. That committee met with Fong on Saturday morning to make its recommendation, but it could be at least a couple more days before the school makes an announcement.
According to NU director of basketball operations Tim Waller, Collier, back in Lincoln after going through his formal interview on Friday, told members of his coaching staff Saturday that he had nothing to divulge on the Butler front. He then flew back to Indianapolis to take part in Butler’s Athletic Hall of Fame dinner ceremony to be held tonight. Collier, the all-time wins leader at Butler who left as coach there in April of 2000 to take over Nebraska’s program, is one of eight inductees.
The school also will hold a golf tournament on Monday, its top athletic fund-raising event. Given that, Butler sports information director Jim McGrath predicted it would be Tuesday or Wednesday before an announcement about the AD position is made.
Anything earlier might “detract from the (hall of fame) individuals going in, and we really didn’t want that situation,” said McGrath, who’s also an associate AD and a member of the search committee.
Although Collier would be a sentimental pick to succeed the retiring John Parry, the Nebraska AD who oversees men’s basketball, Marc Boehm, said he spoke with Collier Saturday and that “the jist of it was that things were ongoing.” Boehm said school officials there would communicate with Nebraska as soon as a recommendation had been made.
Collier has compiled an 89-91 record in six years at Nebraska and is coming off his most successful season at the Husker helm — a 19-14 record that included NU’s first upper-division finish in the Big 12 Conference in his tenure.
Since acknowledging to the Journal Star on June 21 that he was eyeing the Butler opening from the standpoint of someone who would do anything for the institution, there’s been wide speculation that Collier would get involved. Last week, he was in Indianapolis to help pare down the field, and on Tuesday he was named a finalist.
Another candidate for the position, Miami of Ohio associate AD Mike Watson, also said Saturday that he hadn’t heard from Butler officials. Watson is schedule to attend the Mid-American Conference football media days today and Monday.
McGrath offered no hints as to who the committee recommended and said the school’s president was “going to digest it and make his decision. And it is his decision.”
Asked how Fong reacted to the committee’s choice, McGrath added, “He’s very good. He listens and takes notes and give no reaction — a very scholarly study on his face. He took notes and thanked us for our work and effort.”
McGrath said Fong expects the process to work out details of the new athletic director’s contract will be rapid. Collier is entering the third year of a four-year deal worth more than $600,000 annually. That’s four to five times what he could make as Butler’s AD.
Should Collier leave Nebraska, NU is prepared to act quickly. Two sources with ties to the program have said Boehm and NU Athletic Director Steve Pederson have made Jim Christian of Kent State and Mark Fox of Nevada their primary targets.
In two years at Nevada, Fox is 52-13, with two Western Athletic Conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Christian, in four seasons at Kent State, has never had a team win fewer than 20 games a season. After three straight postseason NIT appearances, the Golden Flashes finally made the NCAA field last season.
