UNLV interim athletic director Kunzer-Murphy reorganizes department

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, July 25, 2013 | 7:45 p.m.

UNLV interim athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy is making changes within the athletic department that include reorganizing positions and pay cuts for certain jobs.

Kunzer-Murphy informed the staff of the changes Wednesday and emphasized Thursday night that this is not a move to put herself in the position of full-time athletic director.

“I’ve not applied for the job and I took this job with the understanding it wouldn’t be for the full-time position,” she said.

Kunzer-Murphy said the affected employees have until Aug. 5 to either accept their new positions or quit. She added that UNLV President Neal Smatresk was involved in the decision and that doing something unpopular now allows the full-time AD to step in with a better budget and without this on his or her slate.

“I would call it a university decision to take the steps to reorganize,” she said. “It wasn’t taken lightly.”

The total amount the department will save because of decreased salaries won’t be known until after the employees make their decisions. Kunzer-Murphy said the proposed salary cuts were not levied on a selected few.

The biggest changes to the positions will be to “streamline the reporting structure,” Kunzer-Murphy said. She declined to comment on specific personnel changes, though she did emphasize no one was fired.

“I think that’s important,” she said.

The full-time athletic director was expected to be in place or at least announced by this fall. This is the time for this restructuring, Kunzer-Murphy said, because the new AD will walk into a better system.

“It makes it more attractive to applicants coming into this position,” she said.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.