Univ. of Miami AD Shawn Eichorst has resigned and is “expected to replace Tom Osborne" as Nebraska AD, according to sources cited by Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com. Eichorst was hired by UM in April '11 as "funds were being raised for facility upgrades.” However, the school also quietly was “under NCAA investigation over their compliance practices, which wound up overshadowing everything Eichorst did at Miami.” The NCAA is “expected to provide Miami with its notice of allegations later this year, with sanctions -- which could be severe -- to follow.” Osborne last week announced he was retiring from NU effective Jan. 1 (ESPN.com, 10/4). In Miami, Susan Miller Degnan reports Eichorst has been "one of the most low-profile athletic directors in school history." He was not at UM during the alleged "wrongdoings, but except for a couple times, has declined to speak to the media since coming to Miami -- and has mostly kept his distance from UM fans and donors." Eichorst's predecessor, Kirby Hocutt, "served only 2 1/2 years as the UM athletic director and now is the AD at Texas Tech" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 10/4). UM now is "scrambling to decide how to fill Eichorst's role on a short-term basis” (AP, 10/4). In Omaha, Lee Barfknecht writes Eichorst “knows a lot more about Big Ten snow and cold than South Beach sun” as a “small-town Wisconsin native and a graduate” of the Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Eichorst prior to his role at UM was Wisconsin Deputy AD for three years (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 10/4).
