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Peter Cox

U will use search firm for new athletic director; interim AD Goetz interested

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Eric Kaler
University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler gestures toward a reporter during a press conference announcing the resignation of athletic director Norwood Teague, Friday, Aug. 7, 2015 in Minneapolis.
Jim Mone | AP

Updated: 6:20 p.m. | Posted: 3:13 p.m.

The University of Minnesota has launched the search for its next athletic director.

President Eric Kaler said Friday he's putting together a search committee that will seek proposals from search firms to identify a national pool of candidates.

One candidate has already expressed interest in the job — interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz.

"I am more passionate than ever about the opportunity for the Gophers to achieve excellence athletically, academically, and in the development of our future leaders" she said in a statement. "I hope to be an integral part of making that vision a reality and will pursue the Director of Athletics position."

The decision to seek a search firm brought sharp questions from two regents at a meeting Friday.

Regent Darrin Rosha said a nationwide search will attract candidates who would consider Minnesota a launch pad for other jobs. Instead, Rosha said he'd like a strong local and internal search for someone who's "loyal" to the state.

"I think we have a wide range of those candidates available to us through the local community. And that these resources, which are substantial — it's $100,000 or more — would be better spent on other things, to include reducing tuition and so on."

Regent Thomas Anderson agreed with the decision to use a search firm, saying a local, internal search would cut the candidate pool unnecessarily.

"If we're going to bring athletics to the highest point we can, we better be all in. We can't just limit our search," he said. "And I think we can interview the great local candidates. I think we can interview the internal candidates. And I think we can use a search firm to find candidates that we might not otherwise know about."

A search firm was used in hiring former athletic director Norwood Teague, who resigned last year amid sexual harassment allegations.

Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search did not tell university officials of a gender discrimination claim filed against Teague by a female coworker while he worked at Virginia Commonwealth University's athletics department. The company responded at the time that a background check was completed before the claim was filed.

After Teague's resignation, Goetz, the former deputy AD, took over the top job as interim. Before coming to Minnesota in 2013, she was an associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at Butler University.