Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Search committee to narrow UNLV athletic director list

Group will send list of finalists to UNLV president after 2 p.m. meeting

Neal Smatresk

Neal Smatresk

The UNLV athletic director search committee will begin the final phase of its task today when it convenes at 2 p.m. on campus.

The committee will pore over more than 70 applications it has received from candidates since it first met Nov. 3. It will ultimately send a list of finalists to UNLV President Neal Smatresk for his consideration.

Preparing that final list could take an hour today, a few hours or another day or two.

Applications received by Monday get priority attention, but committee chair Gerry Bomotti said candidates can still apply by the end of this week.

“I think we’re moving ahead with our process,” said Bomotti, a UNLV vice president of finance and business. “It’s a pretty strong group.”

The post became vacant in July, when Mike Hamrick bolted for a similar position at Marshall, his alma mater. Longtime UNLV administrator Jerry Koloskie has been serving as the Rebels’ interim athletic director.

Before the UNR basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center, Koloskie had just presented a game ball to a sponsor at halfcourt and walked to the scorer’s table when some in the student section serenaded him.

“We love Jerrrr-eeeeee!” yelled about half a dozen UNLV fans in front of Kruger’s Korner. Koloskie raised his left hand and gave them a thumb’s up.

Koloskie and South Point arena manager Steve Stallworth, a former Rebels quarterback who has worked within the UNLV athletic department, are both in the running for the permanent job.

Bomotti twice headed search committees that found a new athletic director at Colorado State, and he said he initially figured this search would establish a primary pool of 70 candidates.

Today the UNLV committee will begin sorting through its pool, eliminating candidates and establishing a hierarchy of finalists.

“This will be the first cut list of those who have sent in applications,” Bomotti said. “We will follow up with these people, get references … it’s a strong candidate pool.”

Then the committee of about a dozen, from various UNLV departments, will take its next charge from Smatresk – either talking with prospects in person, over the phone or via video conferencing.

“We’ll see what he wants us to do next,” Bomotti said of Smatresk. “There’s still a good deal of due diligence and work to do.”

After that round, Bomotti said he expects Smatresk will want to interview a select group of finalists on campus.

According to Bomotti, Smatresk would like to wrap up the search by the Christmas holiday, but others have indicated it would be finished sooner.

UNLV needs to hire a football coach, and the upcoming football recruiting period makes moving quickly to hire a permanent athletic director – who will hire the new football boss – of paramount concern.

Search committee members signed confidentiality agreements when they first met Nov. 3, but Smatresk told the Sun he has been disappointed that information from some of those members has leaked out.

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