Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OVERLAND PARK, KAN. LENGTH: Medium
The group includes two athletic directors, one of them Sweet, as well as a former athletic director and a university chancellor. Sweet is athletic director at Division III California-San Diego.
The other finalists are William W. Cobey Jr., a former athletic director at North Carolina; Cedric W. Dempsey, athletic director at Arizona and secretary-treasurer of the NCAA; and R. Gerald Turner, chancellor at Mississippi and a past chairman of the NCAA Presidents Commission.
The four will be interviewed Nov. 1-2 to succeed Dick Schultz, who resigned in May under pressure after the University of Virginia was placed on probation because of interest-free loans given to student-athletes while he was athletic director from 1981 to 1987.
Schultz's successor should be picked by mid-November.
"It began to become clear that at this critical juncture in the association's history, it was important to have someone who had significant experience in intercollegiate athletics," said Joseph N. Crowley, president of the University of Nevada and the NCAA and chairman of the search committee.
"As we got closer to the mark, it became clear that this was a very important qualification for us."
Crowley said about 250 people were considered, 175 who applied and 64 who were nominated. All four of the finalists were nominated.
Sweet and some others were reluctant to be considered, Crowley said.
"We prevailed on her to be a candidate," he said. "We had a fair number of reluctant candidates. We talked to many of them over the months. Some we succeeded with, some we didn't."
Crowley said he was convinced the four finalists could survive any sort of ethical scrutiny, saying "the committee considers all of these candidates to be individuals of high integrity and high ethical standards."
Asked to give a brief description of each candidate, Crowley said Turner was a former student-athlete who had an impact on the NCAA Presidents Commission; Sweet is a former NCAA president who has led several major committees and has wide respect in athletics; Dempsey has held several athletic directorships and is a former chairman of the basketball selection committee; and Cobey has served as an athletic director and has administrative experience as secretary of a large state agency.
Crowley said each of the finalists was asked to discuss the most important issues confronting the NCAA and intercollegiate athletics.
Crowley said the search committee was stunned by the lack of women and minorities in key positions at institutions. That effectively meant a minority would not be selected, he said.
by CNB