ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
After accepting resumes from around the country and interviewing five finalists for its vacant athletic director's job, Radford University never left town to find its man.
Greig Denny, the university's 39-year-old associate athletic director, will be introduced today as the second AD in school history. Denny succeeds Chuck Taylor, who stepped down from the position Feb. 21 after 22 years to return to the classroom.
``I have been offered the position and I have accepted,'' Denny said Monday.
Denny has been Radford's athletic coordinator since he came to the school in 1983. He was named associate AD this past year. He also was the university's first baseball coach.
Denny was the last of the finalists to be interviewed. Reports from all five interviews were presented Thursday to Paul Harris, the university's vice president for student affairs and point man for the AD search. Harris presented his own report and recommendations to university president Douglas Covington. Friday, Denny was offered the job.
``I did not think that they would decide so quickly,'' Denny said.
Harris met with athletic department employees Monday afternoon to announce the decision..
Of the remaining finalists, Clemson associate AD Steve Nelson withdrew from the hunt Sunday, saying the university would not agree to his demands for a multiyear contract and to add more money to university recruiting budgets.
Moorhead (Minn.) State athletic director Katy Wilson declined to comment Monday. The other finalists, Lamar AD Michael O'Brien and Texas Woman's College AD Judy Southard, did not return telephone calls.
Details of Denny's contract have not been finalized. It does not appear he will be offered a multiyear deal. Harris said Sunday the university was ``not in a position'' to offer such a contract now.
Also Sunday, Harris reiterated what he told Nelson: Athletics would not be getting any more money than had already been budgeted.
In response to a number of factors, including declining enrollment, the overall university budget, which is about $80 million, has been slashed in recent years. For athletics, that amounted to reductions of $281,000 since February of 1995. The athletic budget is about $2.8 million.
The budget cuts are believed to have been a major factor in Taylor's decision to step down. However, Denny is undaunted.
``This is going to be a challenge, but I believe it will get better,'' he said.
One of the matters Denny is expected to discuss today at a scheduled 11 a.m. introductory news conference is his idea for long-term athletic department strategy for such cost-conscious times.
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