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Corrigan hired as athletics consultant
By ARTHUR PAGE
Assistant Vice
President
A former president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) who was director of athletics at the University of Notre Dame has been hired by President John B. Simpson as a consultant to turn his "expert eyes" on UB's Division of Athletics to identify steps to be taken to make UB's sports teams competitive in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
Simpson anticipates that Gene Corrigan, who started work as a consultant this month and will be gathering information through February, will provide recommendations to him next March. After he receives Corrigan's report, Simpson said the university will begin a national search for a new director of athletics, probably in April.
"We have to have a good sense of where we want to go and then do the search," he said. "It's important that we 'get it right.'"
William J. "Bill" Maher, UB's senior associate athletic director, has been serving as interim director of athletics since June 2003 when Robert J. "Bob" Arkeilpane left UB to become an associate vice president with the University of Cincinnati Foundation.
Simpson stressed that Corrigan's charge is not to look at whether UB should be competing at the NCAA's Division I level, but at how it can achieve excellence and be competitive in the MAC. He said he has asked Corrigan to look at operations and finances within the Division of Athletics, the 17 sports teams competing in the MAC and whether there is a need for capital investments related to facilities. The review will include comparison with other MAC schools and peer institutions.
"These are the same questions being asked elsewhere on campus" as part of the UB 2020 strategic planning effort, Simpson stressed. He said he considered the resumes of several consultants before selecting Corrigan. "I don't think there is anyone in the country who would be better at doing this," he added.
A former commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for more than a decade, Corrigan is a member of the Duke University Hall of Fame. He served as the athletic director at Washington and Lee University, the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame. He also served a two-year term as NCAA president and was a member of the board of directors of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.
As a consultant, Corrigan has worked extensively with the MAC and several member schools, including Miami University, the University of Toledo and Ohio University, in providing a program assessment and making recommendations for program excellence.