Air Force's Nathan Pine is academy's first AD who "isn't paid by the Pentagon," which means he will have to "raise money" on his own, according to a front-page piece by Tom Roeder of the Colorado Springs GAZETTE. Pine, who gave his first news conference yesterday, is an "employee of the nonprofit Air Force Athletic Corporation and as such is not subject to federal rules that hamstrung the fundraising visions of his predecessors." Pine replaces Jim Knowlton, who "left last spring" to become AD at Cal. The academy found Pine during what the school’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, described as an "exhaustive national search." During his time as AD at Holy Cross, Pine "revolutionized the athletic program’s finances," bringing in more than $2M last year from fundraising. Earlier in his career, Pine led a $500M "fundraising effort" for Cal, and he is "credited with similar feats" at Oregon State and Maryland. Air Force's Falcon Stadium opened in '62 and "hasn’t seen much change since." Leaders have "complained for years that the stadium needs a major overhaul, but the money hasn’t been raised for extensive work." The home of Air Force’s basketball and hockey teams are also is in "need of work" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 1/17).
