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USF Athletic Director Odds Board Updated AGAIN 3PM Thursday!!

We finally got some stuff we can write!! Let's do it!!

By Collin Sherwin

Before we begin, keep this in mind:

There was a meeting of the USF Athletic Director search committee on Feb. 18th. I spoke yesterday with USF spokesman Adam Freeman yesterday, who said that no further meetings of the committee are scheduled. Yet all we're hearing is that a hire is coming no later than the end of next week. Which means most likely Judy Genshaft and AD Search Committee Chair Bill Sutton are currently interviewing candidates recommended by search firm Eastman and Beaudine. Remember, any committee meeting is subject to Florida Sunshine Laws, and would by law need to be reported here. But if just one member of the committee attends a candidate interview, that's not something we can access via an FOIA request. So basically the search committee isn't doing anything in public, if anything at all.

Also, check out the diversity below... as in not diverse at all. Let's at least hope we can find some non-white guy names to surface at some point. I'd love to see us make a hire that looks like America, but getting the right person is the most important thing. Here are some of the candidates we're hearing:

Joe_parker

Joe Parker: Deputy Athletics Director, Texas Tech University: 5-1

Parker seems to be a leading guy for several people, and this Tweet might be indicative of his relationship to Bob Beaudine of Eastman and Beaudine, the firm assigned to the AD search by USF.

The book the girls are holding? That's "You Got Who," written by Bob Beaudine (FYI Beaudine's Twitter is @YouGotWho). This was at a book signing and speech given by event at Texas Tech on Feb. 20th with Beaudine, just two days after the original AD Search Committee meeting. Beaudine also hired Parker's boss, Red Raiders AD Kirby Hocutt, to Texas Tech.

Parker is an '87 Michigan grad and former swimmer who worked extensively in development for the Wolverines, and has his MBA from Texas in '94, with stops at Wazzu and Oklahoma along the way before arriving in Lubbock in 2011.

Parker was also given a Letter of Reprimand by the NCAA for his involvement in the football issues at Michigan. The allegations included going over the 20 hour athletics limit for student-athletes under former coach Rich Rodriguez. Seven UMich department employes were given the reprimand, and as of now at least six of them are no longer in Ann Arbor.

Parker doesn't seem to be on Twitter.

Mark_harlan

Mark Harlan, Senior Associate Athletic Director, UCLA: 6-1

All we heard is that Harlan is being considered, so let's not totally freak out here. But our fellow SB Nation homies Bruins Nation have written extensively about Harlan, and we'll let the title of this piece speak on its own. Yikes. Harlan came to Westwood in 2010, where he's the sport supervisor for men's basketball and helped with the funding to redo Pauley Pavilion. Prior to that he was at hls alma mater, Arizona, as well as San Jose State.

Let's hope the committee does a Google search before they make the hire. Honesty and trustworthiness would seem to be qualities we really need in a new AD that's trying to rebuild the image of a program.

Danny_white

Danny White, Athletic Director, Buffalo: 6-1

And hey, he won't even have to stop saying "Go Bulls!" White has only been in upstate NY since May of 2012, but prior to that was Senior Associate AD at Ole Miss, and worked for Tom Boeh (see below) at Fresno State as his Assoc AD for Development from 2007-2009. White is young (was the youngest AD in FBS when he took over), and his family has extensive ties to the industry: his Dad is the AD at Duke, one brother is the head basketball coach at La. Tech, another is Associate AD.

Interesting piece here from the Buffalo News on White too: it might show how he'd leverage the resources of the major institution in helping to sell the university to the community (did you know Buffalo was an AAU school? I sure didn't).

He's bounced around a bit in his young career, and you'd hate for USF to be a stepping stone for him, but White seems to check most of the other boxes. Also an '02 Notre Dame grad, where he played basketball, and masters from Ohio University.

Twitter: @UBDannyWhite

Mario_moccia

Mario Moccia, Athletic Director, Southern Illinois: 7-1

The Athletic Director at Doug Woolard's alma mater, Moccia has been the Salukis AD since arriving in 2006, and was named Under Armour AD of The Year in 2013. The Salukis have done an $80 million facilities rebuild, which is even more than the Bulls spent on theirs. We also liked the way he publicly supported his crazy basketball coach after that rant for the ages. Prior to Carbondale, he was Senior Assoc. AD at Missouri for seven years.

Moccia is an '89 graduate of New Mexico State where he played baseball.

Twitter: @MarioMocciaSIU

Tom_boeh

Tom Boeh: Athletics Director, Fresno State University: 15-1

Boeh is about as safe a hire as USF could make. He's spent the last nine years as AD in The Valley, and was the AD at Ohio University for the 10 years previous to that. He brings plenty of experience, and was integral in getting the Bulldogs from the WAC to the Mountain West. Not a lot of sizzle here, but plenty of not gonna screw it up.

He helped to expand facilities at Fresno, but that seems to be less of an issue for the Bulls at this time unless a stadium campaign begins. He also hired Tim DeRuyter to replace Pat Hill as head football coach, who led Fresno State to an 11-2 record last year and a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl (which we attended, and saw LOTS of Bulldog fans). Fresno State is certainly a success story lately, and it's tough to build a successful program in the middle of San Joaquin Valley.

Boeh is a graduate of Loras College in '81, and has a masters in Athletic Administration from Illinois in '88.

Twitter: @ThomasBoeh

Monk_bonasorte

Monk Bonasorte, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Florida State University: 20-1

Checks all the boxes, except he has no ties to Tampa. Seven years as Assoc. AD at FSU after 13 years as President of their Varsity Club, 4 year football letterwinner, and FSU Athletics Hall of Fame member. Currently oversees the Noles internal operations as well as FSU Football. Also worked in the ECHL as well as the Arena League from 1997-2003.

Plenty of experience, and has put the resume necessary together to take over a big school with big football. But why would he leave his alma mater? Is this a job he even wants?

Tim_jackson

Tim Jackson: Executive Assoc. Athletics Director, Auburn University: 20-1

Jackson's candidacy has been some of the most public of all the non-original floated names.

Jackson has been at Auburn forever, as a coach under Pat Dye and an administrator ever since. He was certainly hands-on with the Tigers football program as the #2 guy in the athletic department, as this profile from just after the Tigers national championship shows. But he was also taken off the football beat when Gene Chizik was axed, and he's absolutely not the most popular guy on The Plains either. Just check this Change.org petition to get his boss Jay Jacobs fired as there's plenty of references to everything that's wrong with Jackson.

Tim graduated from Millsaps College '87, and has a masters in college administration from Auburn in '89. Shades of Bill McGillis here, so probably not a direction USF wants to head at this point.

Greg_economou

Greg Economu: Exec. Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Dick Clark Productions: 12-1

Weird I know, but he's got a ton of experience in sports only leaving the industry last August. Was the Exec VP for Revenue Enhancement for Madison Square Garden, and Exec VP for Business Operations for the Charlotte Bobcats previously. Basically no college athletics experience to speak of, but it's an outside the box hire, and shaking up the status quo is something a lot of USF fans would encourage. Looks like he can raise money, and that's something USF is going to need desperately in their new hire. Also seems to have ties to Bill Sutton from their days in the NBA together.

Do we think the Bulls go there? Probably not, but interesting he's apparently being considered in the first place.

Twitter: @GregEconomu (not active on Twitter)

Craig_angelos

Craig Angelos, Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics, University of South Florida: 25-1

Same thing we wrote here about Craig here, but we updated his headshot from that awful Twitter thing he had on there. We like Craig too much to let that atrocity stay as his avatar. Still think it's highly, highly unlikely USF goes internal for this hire, though any new AD would be wise to keep Craig around as he's got a great feel for the department and would be highly helpful in a transition.

Twitter: @cwangelos

Higgins

Rob Higgins: Executive Director, Tampa Bay Sports Commission: 50-1

Dammit.

OK USF: You missed on Mark Hollis 10 years ago. If this next hire is a flop, this is the guy we're pointing to and saying you should have gotten. This wouldn't have been the worst path of a search you know:

Higgins_flowchart

Robert_clifford

Robert Clifford, Senior Assoc. AD, Oregon State University: 100-1

If you're applying online for the job, chances are you're not going to get it. But of the four crazy people that took the time to do so, Clifford is by far the most qualified. Been at OSU for decades, and currently oversees football as well as other sports. Has had a hand in fundraising, and previously worked for a year at FAU.

Also, the Brad Edwards that applied better not be the Brad Edwards that's currently the AD at Jacksonville University. I'm sure that looks great to your coaches and fans that you're trolling other schools websites like you're on LinkedIn looking for a new gig.

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