Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.
Capsules compiled by Steve Guiremand
Mike Bohn
Age: 42
Current title: Athletic director, University of Idaho
Pluses: Very energetic and smooth-talking personality who excels at marketing. Knows the conference after holding assistant athletic director jobs at both Air Force (1984-92) and Colorado State (1995-98). Helped guide Idaho into Division I-A football and a move into the Sun Belt Conference. Helped oversee the badly needed $13 million Vandal Athletic Center which give the school a state of the art weight room and football locker room next door to the Kibbee Dome. Has done a nice job of balancing the school's athletic budget during tough economic times. Third-year men's basketball coach Leonard Perry seems to have that program on track.
Minuses: Move to Division I football seems to have backfired big-time in light of new NCAA legislation requiring teams to average 20,000 fans for five home games. Idaho's 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome seats less than the Thomas & Mack Center which has forced the Vandals to play some of their home games at nearby Washington State's Martin Stadium. Bohn's choice to replace Chris Tormey as head football coach, one-time UNLV offensive line coach Tom Cable, has had back-to-back seasons of 1-10 and 2-10 ... and got a one-year extension. The Vandals are rated No. 116 out of 117 Division I squads in this week's Sports Illustrated college football preview. Two schools he has strong ties to, Air Force and Colorado State, looked elsewhere for recent AD hires.
Mike Hamrick
Age: 46
Current title: Athletic director, East Carolina
Pluses: Has overseen over $40 million in facility improvements since becoming AD at East Carolina in 1995, including one of the premier weight facilities in the nation and additions to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Prior to that spent five years as athletic director at Arkansas-Little Rock where he helped oversee the Trojans move into the Sun Belt Conference. Under his direction East Carolina entered Conference-USA in 1996 and drew increased television coverage through a local NBA affiliate in Greenville, N.C. Began his administrative career as an intern in the UNLV marketing department. Has kept popular baseball coach Keith LeClair on the payroll at $100,000 per year as he fights Lou Gehrig's disease.
Minuses: Created a minor firestorm when he moved a Pirates football game to Friday night opposite state high school playoffs so that it could be shown by ESPN without informing highly regarded head football coach Steve Logan, who complained openly that he was never consulted about the switch. That set up a bitter riff between the two that ultimately resulted in Logan's firing and the formation of a FireHamrick.com website. Prep coaches in the state of North Carolina also threatened not to allow ECU coaches on their campuses to recruit. Lacks credibility with many media members. Rumors abound in Greenville that new Chancellor William Muse has told him to begin looking for employment elsewhere. His $180,000 per year salary (plus bonuses) dwarfs that of the other two candidates.
Wayne Hogan
Age: 48
Current title: Athletic director, University of Montana
Pluses: Only candidate with actual hands-on experience working with a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) school from his days as interim athletic director at Florida State (1994-95). During his 20 years in Tallahassee the Seminoles grew from a Cal State Fullerton-like program into one of the true heavyweights of college sports, winning 14 bowl games and the 1993 national championship in football while also going to the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight in back-to-back years in basketball. Since taking over as AD at Montana in 1995, the Grizzlies have won two 1-AA national titles in football and have seen a dramatic improvement in athletic facilities. An excellent fund-raiser, Hogan was one of 25 winners of the Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2003 presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Minuses: Has spent the past seven-plus years working at the I-AA level. Drew some minor critcism in Missoula for his handling of the firing of basketball coach Don Holst, who was given his walking papers just a week after coaching the Grizzlies to a surprising Big Sky Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2002.
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