Vanderbilt Univ. Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos said that the school’s athletic teams “have become so successful that full-time supervision is now needed, and he charged David Williams with that mission Thursday,” according to Mike Organ of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. In naming Williams AD, Zeppos “also gave Vanderbilt an official athletics director for the first time in nine years.” Even though he “didn’t have the title, Williams has handled athletic director duties along with other responsibilities as vice chancellor for university affairs and athletics, general counsel and university secretary.” Vanderbilt “hasn’t had an athletic director since former chancellor Gordon Gee relieved Todd Turner of his duties in 2003 and integrated the athletics department into the university.” When athletics were put under his charge in ‘03, Williams said that he “never anticipated becoming an athletics director, but it’s a role that he now embraces.” He added that “plans still being made for athletic facility upgrades and developments will require a greater effort in terms of bringing in funds” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/13). In Nashville, David Climer writes Vanderbilt "is putting increased emphasis on athletics." Naming Williams AD is "the right move at the right time." Zeppos recognized what Gee did not -- "that running an athletics program in the Southeastern Conference is a full-time job, not something to be done while splitting duties elsewhere at the university" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/13).
GOODBYE DUGOUT, HELLO CORNER OFFICE: In Charleston, Gene Sapakoff reports Univ. of South Carolina head baseball coach Ray Tanner "will be introduced as the school's new athletic director" Friday at a 2:00pm ET news conference. The move comes two weeks after former South Carolina AD Eric Hyman "bolted for Texas A&M." Tanner "emerged as the people's choice for AD after Hyman resigned." But Hyman "declined to officially support Tanner's candidacy" during an interview Thursday with Columbia's WLTX-CBS. Hyman also "repeated that athletic director decisions are not as simple as the 'black and white' world of coaching moves" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 7/13).
