San Diego State yesterday introduced Georgia Tech Senior Associate AD John David Wicker as its new AD, a "familiar face" in the SDSU athletic offices, according to a front-page piece by Mark Zeigler of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Wicker was former SDSU AD Jim Sterk's "longtime lieutenant," having worked under him for four years before leaving for Georgia Tech last summer. SDSU President Elliot Hirshman said Wicker's salary is "still being negotiated.” Zeigler notes Wicker was a "key figure in the Title IX whistleblower retaliation lawsuit by former women’s basketball coach Beth Burns that resulted" in a $3.35M judgment against the school, and his hiring "brought immediate and biting criticism from women’s sports leaders across the country." Women's Sports Foundation Senior Dir of Advocacy Nancy Hogshead-Makar called the hire "heartbreaking to the gender equity community.” Wicker said of the Burns situation, "It’s important to look at the overall athletic department program. You can’t look at one moment in time and say, ‘Well, they don’t care about women’s athletics.’ I think we have a great record of how we advocate for our women’s student-athletes." Hirshman: "I’m 100 percent convinced that JD is the right person to lead us forward, and that his work at San Diego State has been exemplary." Zeigler notes no sitting ADs were "among the three finalists" for the position. The other two were Oregon State Deputy AD Mark Massari and UCLA Senior Associate AD/External Relations Josh Rebholz. SDSU interim AD Jenny Bramer was "not a finalist," but Hirshman "indicated she will stay on staff." Most of Wicker’s experience "comes in the operations and budgeting side of collegiate athletics and not fundraising," and yesterday he "cited a future football stadium" as his top priority. Hirshman hired North Carolina-based search firm Collegiate Sports Associates "for $75,000" for the search (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/25).
PRESSURE'S ON? In San Diego, Bryce Miller writes with Wicker's hire, the "message received by women’s advocates across the country, even unintentionally, is that the old boys’ club remains alive and operationally well." By all accounts, Wicker is an "even-keeled, well-liked administrator." But it will "take more than talking about gender equity and support for women’s athletics." Miller: "Wicker has to mean it. He has to prove it. He has to walk it more than talk it" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/25).
TIME FOR A NEW CHALLENGE: In Las Vegas, Mark Anderson notes UNLV AD Tina Kunzer-Murphy will "receive a six-month extension and then step down when the fiscal year concludes June 30." She "will move to the UNLV Foundation and be mostly responsible for fundraising." She said, "I wouldn’t mind being in this job forever, but that just doesn’t happen all the time.” Kunzer-Murphy said that she and UNLV President Len Jessup "reached the agreement together." UNLV said that a national search will "begin around the start" of '17. Kunzer-Murphy said that there was "plenty left to accomplish during her remaining eight months in charge of athletics." Among the "top items is the continued fundraising for the Fertitta Football Complex, which will cost between" $24-26M. Kunzer-Murphy said that about $17M has "been raised" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/25). Kunzer-Murphy’s contract "paid her $240,000 annually plus bonuses" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 10/25).
