Army Athletics Director Kevin Anderson will be named this university’s athletics director Tuesday, inheriting an expansive Terrapin athletics department that will soon address several pressing issues.
Anderson, 55, who has led the Black Knights’ athletics program since 2004, will be formally introduced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon at Comcast Center.
“Kevin has built a solid program of competitive and academic success at the U.S. Military Academy, supporting the student-athlete and demonstrating that academics and athletics can go hand in hand,” incoming university President Wallace Loh said in a statement. “I am convinced that his leadership will raise Maryland athletics to even greater heights. We are delighted to welcome Kevin into the Terrapin family.”
Anderson succeeds former Athletics Director Debbie Yow, who resigned to take the same post at N.C. State in late June. Senior Associate Athletics Director Randy Eaton has since served as interim athletics director.
Anderson was among three finalists for the position, according to reports. Connecticut Athletics Director Jeff Hathaway was considered the frontrunner, but negotiations reportedly broke down late in the process, although reasons why remain unclear. Buffalo Athletics Director Warde Manuel was also considered for the position.
Anderson took over at West Point in December 2004, becoming Army’s first black athletics director. He had previously served as executive associate athletics director at Oregon State.
Anderson’s hire was announced Saturday, just two days before the start of the Terrapin football team’s 2010 season. Anderson will likely be highly influential in deciding whether to retain coach Ralph Friedgen for the 2011 season — the last year of his contract — naming coach-in-waiting James Franklin to his post or hiring someone from outside the program. Franklin will be owed $1 million if he is not named coach by the end of the 2011 season.
Anderson’s relationship and interaction with men’s basketball coach Gary Williams will also be heavily scrutinized. Public infighting between Williams and Yow late in Yow’s tenure at this university often overshadowed the success either enjoyed in their respective arenas, and many questioned how long a strained relationship between the athletics department’s most high-profile figures could last.
Williams, 65, could also be nearing the end of his coaching career, and Anderson’s role in deciding who would fill arguably the university’s most visible position could be significant should Williams indeed step down.
Anderson, a former Xerox executive who oversaw a bump in fundraising and ticket sales at Army, will take over a $55 million, 27-sport athletics department whose recent financial difficulties have been well documented. Football season-ticket sales are down nearly 15 percent this year, and the budget for the men’s basketball team was cut 3.1 percent last year.
sports at umdbk dot com
