Dec. 04--Illinois has formed an eight-person search committee to identify its next athletic director, interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson announced Friday.
The committee will make recommendations to Wilson, and the board of trustees will make the final decision on who will replace former AD Mike Thomas, who was fired Nov. 9.
Wilson said she has not decided whether to hire a search firm to assist in the process.
Matt Wheeler, an animal sciences professor and faculty athletic representative, will chair the committee. Nobody currently involved with the men's basketball or football teams is a member. Mike Bass, a former Illinois kicker (1980-82) and a university administrator, is on the committee.
So is longtime women's soccer coach Janet Rayfield, who was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by former player Casey Conine in June. Conine accused Rayfield, the athletic trainer and the athletic department for mistreating her concussions.
Other committee members are Keiko Price, associate AD for academic services; Howard Milton, associate AD for advancement; Richard Stockton, an attorney who is a member of the athletics board; Dan Flannell, a chief judge in Illinois' Sixth Judicial Circuit Court; and Nicole Evans, a current softball player.
Wilson told the Tribune on Wednesday that she hoped the committee could identify an AD candidate by the Jan. 21 board of trustees meeting but that she was not bound to that deadline. The board makes the final approval on any athletic department hires.
"I've described the athletic program as the front porch of this magnificent institution of higher education, meaning that it's a setting where a variety of people engage with the university," Wilson said in a statement released Friday. "With that in mind, we're looking for an athletic director with the vision and the skills to enhance the elements that are strong already, to rebuild where needed and to restore the athletics program to a position of pride for Illini Nation across the board."
Thomas was fired the same day findings were released from a university-commissioned investigation into claims of football player mistreatment. Thomas was fired as part of a "without cause" separation and is receiving a $2.5 million payout.
Thomas fired football coach Tim Beckman a week before the season after receiving preliminary findings from the investigation. Wilson cited "distractions" as the reason Thomas was fired.
The report detailed claims of Beckman pressuring players to compete through injuries, pressuring athletic trainers to downplay injuries and acting inappropriately on several other occasions.
Bill Cubit accepted a two-year deal Saturday to become the football coach. He had served as interim coach through the season after working as the team's offensive coordinator the previous two seasons.
sryan@tribpub.com
