Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Search is on for a new UNLV athletic director

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UNLV’s search for a new athletic director began in October, when the university announced Tina Kunzer-Murphy will be leaving her post this summer and transitioning to a fundraising role. The next hire will be hugely important for UNLV, considering the state of the school’s sports programs and the impending changes in the Las Vegas market (hello, Vegas Golden Knights and Las Vegas Raiders!), so the pressure is on the Rebels to get this one right.

Here are the five most important questions to ask as the AD search gets underway.

Who are the candidates?

UNLV has hired Collegiate Sports Associates to facilitate the hunt for the next athletic director, so CSA will reach out to potentially interested parties, put them through an initial interview process and then present a handful of finalists to UNLV President Len Jessup for the final decision. Former UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood is a consultant with CSA and will no doubt have a strong role in the process. The firm will probably target athletic directors at smaller schools looking to move up, as well as administrators at bigger programs who would be interested in running their own programs. Candidates also could come from outside of college athletics, such as professional sports executives or management types with business and marketing backgrounds.

Who is doing the hiring?

It looks like Jessup will make the final call, although the search firm will do most of the heavy lifting in narrowing the list of candidates. Jessup doesn’t have much experience in sports, and this will be his first time hiring an AD — Kunzer-Murphy was brought in by Jessup’s predecessor, Neal Smatresk — but he was present and heavily involved in the school’s troubled basketball coaching search last spring, so UNLV fans hope he’s getting good advice from somewhere.

What’s the job description?

The most important task of an athletic director is hiring the men’s basketball and football coaches, but with Marvin Menzies just months into a five-year deal and the ink still drying on Tony Sanchez’s extension through the 2021 season, the new AD won’t have much to do on those fronts. The initial inability to hire for those positions may dampen some candidates’ interest in the UNLV job, but others may view it as a positive — a chance to work on administrative issues and behind-the-scenes solutions without being immediately judged on wins and losses under the previous AD’s coaches. Either way, the next hire will initially focus on fundraising, budget issues and improving attendance for football and men’s basketball.

What’s the long-term goal?

UNLV wants to join a Power 5 conference. The administration has made no secret about that desire, and it should be obvious anyway — that’s where all the free money is, in the form of lucrative TV contracts. But does UNLV really have a chance to play with the big boys? The good news is that UNLV’s on-campus sports facilities are top-notch (or will be, if a new football complex is built). The bad news is that the Rebels haven’t been competitive even in the Mountain West Conference, and the athletic budget is getting squeezed because of low attendance at home games. Also, major league sports franchises coming to Las Vegas could marginalize UNLV within its own market. The Big 12 recently looked into expansion, and while UNLV made its interest known, the league did not seriously consider the Rebels. It’s probably going to take some time before UNLV is ready to join a power conference, so the next AD shouldn’t be hired with that goal in mind. Improving the Rebels within the Mountain West, returning stability to the athletic department and getting the community excited about UNLV again — amid strong competition from the one or two major league teams — should take priority over Power 5 flights of fancy.

Who would make the best hire?

UNLV doesn’t need someone to come in and make drastic changes right away. The flagship coaches are in place, and the train is already out of the station when it comes to building the football stadium and practice facility. The next AD should be someone who can facilitate success on the field for the men’s basketball and football teams, while engaging the community to raise attendance for both programs. Is there a sitting athletic director at a small school who has built winning programs while hustling to outperform fundraising and attendance expectations? And has that candidate also dealt with marketing his program alongside a major league team in close proximity and succeeded in carving out a distinct fan base? Someone with that kind of résumé would have to be considered a strong candidate.

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