ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
Out of 79 original candidates for the vacant Radford University athletic director's post, a search committee has whittled the list of finalists to five.
Of the quintet, three are AD's at other institutions and the other two are associate athletic directors. Two are women.
Interviews are expected to begin next week.
The job opened when Chuck Taylor resigned last winter from the post he had occupied since the mid-1970s in order to return to the classroom.
Those who will be interviewed are department insider Greig Denny, a one-time Radford baseball coach who has worked his way up to Radford's associate AD; Steve Nelson, an associate at Clemson; Judy Southard, the AD at Texas Woman's University; Katy Wilson, the AD at Moorhead (Minn..) State; and Michael O'Brien, the AD at Lamar University in Texas.
Texas Woman's University and Moorhead State are NCAA Division II institutions.
``I think what we have here is an exceptionally strong and diverse group of candidates,'' said Radford vice president for student affairs Paul Harris, who is spearheading the search. ``They each bring different strengths.''
Harris hesitated to make other generalities about the remaining five. There was no preconceived formula for the proportion of male to female candidates, he said.
``I can assure you that they will be here because of their credentials and their experience and for no other reason,'' he said. ``The committee was charged with finding the best possible candidates, nothing more.''
A look at the finalists:
* Greig Denny has worked at Radford since 1983, when he arrived to assume duties as the intercollegiate athletic coordinator.
Denny later was Radford's first baseball coach, a job he had from 1985 through the 1987 season. In 1986, he was named an assistant athletic director, a job title that later was changed to associate AD.
Denny's responsibilities include overseeing compliance with NCAA regulations; management of home athletic contests; personnel management; and ticket distribution.
He is a graduate of Cortland (N.Y.) State and has a master's degree in education from Virginia Tech.
* Judy Southard has been a women's basketball coach, last serving in that capacity as the head coach at Marshall from 1981-92. Her 178-130 record makes her the all-time winningest coach in Thundering Herd history. She was also an assistant AD and then an interim AD at Marshall in 1988.
Southard was named the athletic director at the Denton, Texas, women's college in 1992. Among her other professional activities, she was the director of the 1994 and 1995 USA Gymnastics men's and women's collegiate national championships.
She has a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Coker (S.C.) College and a master's degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee.
* Katy Wilson has the only Ph.D among the finalists. She has a doctorate in athletic administration from West Virginia University to go with her master's degree from WVU. She received her bachelor's degree from Salem (W.Va.) College.
Wilson has been AD at Moorhead State since 1992. Before that, she was the director of women's athletics there. She coached softball and volleyball and was elevated to head softball coach in 1987.
* Michael O'Brien has been the AD at Lamar in Beaumont, Texas, since 1993. In the three years before that, he was director of development for athletics at the University of Pittsburgh.
O'Brien has been in athletic administration since 1981 and has occupied assorted posts at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Western Illinois and Ball State in addition to Pitt and Lamar.
He has master's degrees in education (Wisconsin-River Falls) and physical education (Western Illinois).
* Steven Nelson is the only lawyer in the group, having attained a degree from the Iowa College of Law in 1985.
Nelson's background also includes a stint on the enforcement staff at the NCAA (1989-94) before he went to Clemson in 1994 to assume duties as an associate AD.
Among his responsibilities at Clemson is as the NCAA compliance director, the negotiation of contracts, and developing and implementing gender equity and racial diversity programs.
For no reason other than convenience, Denny is likely to be the first interviewed, Harris said. Each interview is expected to take two days. The first will be the middle of next week.
The finalists who have not visited Radford before will be shown around campus and the town and introduced ``to all appropriate campus constituencies,'' Harris said. Members of the search committee are expected to play key roles in the interviews.
The last stage of each interview is likely to be meetings with Harris and university president Douglas Covington, who may talk to each candidate separately or together. The interviews are hoped to be finished by about June 15. The new AD should be introduced about a week after that, depending on how contract negotiations go.
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