Obviously with the hire of Dr. Davenport to the Chancellor position, the focus shifts to the athletic director search that is going to ramp up quickly. I'm working on a hot board but want to go ahead and mention here a few names that are going to be on that board. As we have said for several weeks we thought that some national names would start to surface as the search heated up.
here are a few:
David Blackburn - Chattanooga AD, everyone knows his ties and he has been perceived to be the front runner
Jon Gilbert -an in-house candidate that has worked hard the last year to 18 months to developing relationships with key figures in the University family. Also manages basketball and is a guy that Rick Barnes definitely supports.
Greg Byrne - Arizona AD - knows the SEC. Was an associate AD at Kentucky and Mississippi State before becoming the AD at State before heading west to Tuscon. Was thought to be a candidate for the Florida job at one point, but elected not to get into the race for whatever reason.
Rob Mullens - Oregon AD - again has SEC ties. He was with Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky for seven years and was with Barnhart at Oregon State before that. He's an alum of West Virginia and has plenty of ties to the East coast.
Bubba Cunningham - UNC AD - would seem unlikely but his name seems to surface for alot of AD openings. He has navigated the Tar Heels through an NCAA mess that no one is sure how he has gotten them through it. He flirted with the Florida job and got him a raise to take him over $700k. Again, wouldn't seem likely but his name could get some chatter.
here are a few:
David Blackburn - Chattanooga AD, everyone knows his ties and he has been perceived to be the front runner
Jon Gilbert -an in-house candidate that has worked hard the last year to 18 months to developing relationships with key figures in the University family. Also manages basketball and is a guy that Rick Barnes definitely supports.
Greg Byrne - Arizona AD - knows the SEC. Was an associate AD at Kentucky and Mississippi State before becoming the AD at State before heading west to Tuscon. Was thought to be a candidate for the Florida job at one point, but elected not to get into the race for whatever reason.
Rob Mullens - Oregon AD - again has SEC ties. He was with Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky for seven years and was with Barnhart at Oregon State before that. He's an alum of West Virginia and has plenty of ties to the East coast.
Bubba Cunningham - UNC AD - would seem unlikely but his name seems to surface for alot of AD openings. He has navigated the Tar Heels through an NCAA mess that no one is sure how he has gotten them through it. He flirted with the Florida job and got him a raise to take him over $700k. Again, wouldn't seem likely but his name could get some chatter.
