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Q: I wanted to ask you about the timing of things. North Texas officials have known they were going to need a new athletic director since late May, and Rick Villareal left officially in late June. How long had you been talking to them? How long was your name in the mix for this job?
A: The timeline gets a little bit blurry just in terms of knowing the days and stuff. We had a baseball search and then Mack’s situation. When they selected a search firm, the search firm initially kind of reached out to me and said, “We’ve got this job. We still have to visit with them, find out a little bit more about the profile they’re looking for, but we think this is one that you would be a good candidate for.” I don’t remember the exact time. It was before our baseball search for sure. But it’s one of those things where I’ve gotten probably a couple of dozen of those calls over the past few years, so you’re not guaranteed the job. It’s just like, “Hey, we’re going to present them with 10-20 candidates. You might be one of those names we present. With your permission we’d like to do a little more work on this.”
So that call came, and then probably maybe somewhere else along the way a few weeks later, maybe shortly before or shortly after the baseball search, they just said, “OK, we’ve defined more of the profile of the candidate that we’re looking for. We still feel like that you would be a really good fit. Would you be OK with us moving your candidacy forward?” At that point in time, I told them that I would, and then you just kind of play the waiting game. So I didn’t know anything more until probably four or five days after Mack’s announcement.
I did tell the chancellor in our conversation that, “Hey, this could become an opportunity. There’s no defined timeline. I haven’t been promised a job. I haven’t been promised an interview. But this would be something — if it developed — that I’d want to take a look at.”
I got the call a few days after Mack’s announcement and then came down a few days after that and interviewed in Dallas, and that led to them ultimately offering me the job.
Q: Did you think you had a chance to become the permanent athletic director at Missouri?
A: We really never got that far. I can’t probably project what chances I would have had. Much like North Texas, I think you always take the field over any singular candidate. I believe in the time I was there — although it was short — that I developed some really good relationships and friendships and would have had some support. But I also know that Missouri is a great job in the SEC and the candidate pool would have been strong. I was going to face some stiff competition. Do I think I would have had a shot? Yeah, I think I would have. I’m confident that had I been able to get in the room that I would have represented myself well. But, at the same time, the time just didn’t match up for me to go through that process, and it never got to a point where I really had an opportunity to necessarily be in or be out. The timelines just didn’t match up. North Texas’ timeline was further along, so that decision came first.
Q: I wanted to ask you about the timing of things. North Texas officials have known they were going to need a new athletic director since late May, and Rick Villareal left officially in late June. How long had you been talking to them? How long was your name in the mix for this job?
A: The timeline gets a little bit blurry just in terms of knowing the days and stuff. We had a baseball search and then Mack’s situation. When they selected a search firm, the search firm initially kind of reached out to me and said, “We’ve got this job. We still have to visit with them, find out a little bit more about the profile they’re looking for, but we think this is one that you would be a good candidate for.” I don’t remember the exact time. It was before our baseball search for sure. But it’s one of those things where I’ve gotten probably a couple of dozen of those calls over the past few years, so you’re not guaranteed the job. It’s just like, “Hey, we’re going to present them with 10-20 candidates. You might be one of those names we present. With your permission we’d like to do a little more work on this.”
So that call came, and then probably maybe somewhere else along the way a few weeks later, maybe shortly before or shortly after the baseball search, they just said, “OK, we’ve defined more of the profile of the candidate that we’re looking for. We still feel like that you would be a really good fit. Would you be OK with us moving your candidacy forward?” At that point in time, I told them that I would, and then you just kind of play the waiting game. So I didn’t know anything more until probably four or five days after Mack’s announcement.
I did tell the chancellor in our conversation that, “Hey, this could become an opportunity. There’s no defined timeline. I haven’t been promised a job. I haven’t been promised an interview. But this would be something — if it developed — that I’d want to take a look at.”
I got the call a few days after Mack’s announcement and then came down a few days after that and interviewed in Dallas, and that led to them ultimately offering me the job.
Q: Did you think you had a chance to become the permanent athletic director at Missouri?
A: We really never got that far. I can’t probably project what chances I would have had. Much like North Texas, I think you always take the field over any singular candidate. I believe in the time I was there — although it was short — that I developed some really good relationships and friendships and would have had some support. But I also know that Missouri is a great job in the SEC and the candidate pool would have been strong. I was going to face some stiff competition. Do I think I would have had a shot? Yeah, I think I would have. I’m confident that had I been able to get in the room that I would have represented myself well. But, at the same time, the time just didn’t match up for me to go through that process, and it never got to a point where I really had an opportunity to necessarily be in or be out. The timelines just didn’t match up. North Texas’ timeline was further along, so that decision came first.
