Harter wants AD search on fast pace

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 10:58 a.m.

UNLV's 15-person athletic director search committee met for the first time Monday afternoon in the Fred C. Albrecht Board Room at the Tam Alumni Center. And school president Carol C. Harter made one point to the group very clear.

Work quickly.

"I told them I want to try and hire somebody before the first football game on August 30," Harter said after exiting the 90-minute meeting after only 20 minutes.

"It's a very ambitious schedule, especially since now there are four AD positions open (San Diego State, Colorado State and Wyoming are the others) in our conference alone. So there's a lot of competition for good people. But I think we have the best job, that Las Vegas is the most attractive job."

Even over Laramie, Wyo.?

"Yeah, I do," Harter said with a chuckle.

UNLV professor Andy Fry is chairing the committee, which includes UNLV men's basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour, women's basketball coach Regina Miller, men's soccer coach Barry Barto and football defensive coordinator Mike Bradeson. Fry is the only committee member who has been cleared to speak with the media about the selection process.

"Really, what we did today was just think through the (hiring) process," Fry said.

One reason Harter believes the school can find a suitable replacement for John Robinson in the next 11 weeks is that she enlisted the Overland Park, Kan., law firm of Bond, Schoenick & King to help screen, evaluate and do background searches on candidates.

Michael S. Glazier, who specializes in NCAA compliance and legislative matters for the firm, and former Kansas State and Iowa State athletic director Max F. Urick addressed the committee during the closed-door meeting.

"The application deadline ends July 1," Fry said. "We're going to try and get everybody together again as a committee the week of July 7. Mike and Max are going to come back to us with a set of recommendations to use to try to narrow the field. We'll do our initial assessments and review their recommendations at that time. At that point we'll think about our subsequent schedule and how to move forward."

Harter said the school is spending $30,000 in "non-state funds" to use BS&K's services but believes its help will cut about two months off the hiring process.

"(Glazier) will help us get down to a group that are really serious candidates," said Harter, who will make the final decision. "We don't know how big that is. It could be 20. It could be 50. It could be 12."

Glazier said his firm has received resumes from "a couple of dozen" well qualified candidates but refused to answer any other questions before departing. The application deadline is July 1.

"(Glazier) is a national figure in sports services and knows everybody in the country, virtually," Harter said. "He will be extremely helpful in helping potential candidates step forward and knowing their backgrounds, helping us measure a way to compare other candidates and so forth.

"He has a real national perspective."

Eventually the committee will narrow the list to 3-5 candidates and submit them to Harter. Those candidates will be brought in for interviews likely beginning near the end of July.

If it all works out right, Harter hopes to have her new person in charge by the time UNLV kicks off in its Aug. 30 season opener against Toledo at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"The search firm thinks it is attainable," Fry said of the Aug. 30 deadline. "It depends partly on schedules ... but we're certainly operating on the goal of finishing by the end of August."