THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030560
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Tradition-rich William and Mary has broken tradition in hiring a new athletic director.
Instead of choosing someone with experience as a college sports administrator, school officials on Tuesday introduced sports marketing executive Terry Driscoll as their new AD.
A former NBA player, the 48-year-old Driscoll has blended sports and business in a 16-year post-basketball career. He's worked as a sporting goods sale executive, has sold TV rights for the NCAA, and has managed and promoted events like the 1994 World Cup soccer matches in Boston.
Driscoll's background makes him a perfect choice for a college athletic department in the 1990s, William and Mary President Timothy J. Sullivan said.
``The position of athletic director at a modern university is very complicated,'' Sullivan said. ``The professional experience he has is going to be more and more significant for positions in higher education.''
Driscoll said he hopes he can use his marketing skills to increase the visibility of Tribe athletics and to raise money.
``William and Mary may be one of the best-kept secrets in the U.S., in terms of what if offers,'' he said. ``I'm hoping in time we can find more ways of generating revenue.''
Driscoll was an Academic All-American at Boston College in 1969. He spent five years in the NBA, playing for the Pistons, Bullets and Bucks. He spent another five years as a player and coach in Italy, retiring from basketball in 1980.
He had a dream to work either as an NBA general manager or as a college athletic director. He saw an ad for the William and Mary job and applied.
``I didn't want to just be an AD,'' he said. ``I was looking for that opportunity to mix academics and athletics. William and Mary recruits from the top of the academic pyramid. It's a challenge, but it's the way they want to do business.''
Driscoll's hiring ended an eight-month search. Former AD John Randolph died in August after battling cancer. A search committee interviewed six candidates. All but Driscoll and University of Chicago AD Tom Weingartner had withdrawn by last week. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
New Tribe AD Terry Driscoll has no experience working with college
athletics.
by CNB