The UA AD We Might have Gotten

[Z.I.P.]

Link to Honolulu Advertiser story Lawsuit alleges gender, race bias.Back in 1999 or 2000, after Mike Thomas was hired as AD, I was sitting in the end zone seats at Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu between games of a college basketball tourney, and reading the newspaper. I saw a story about this lady -- Kathleen McNally, becoming the new Athletic Director at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, a D-II program. Without naming names (snicker, snicker), I turned to the head coach of the Akron basketball team, seated next to me, and mentioned to him that the lady in question had been a finalist for the AD position at Akron, coming from her position as AD at either Lehigh or Lafayette University (forget now which it was) in Eastern PA. I asked said head coach if he had ever met Ms McNally. That set off the coach a-rockin' in his flimsy chair, as he rose up and said words to the effect of "Holy Cow! I was on the search committee that interviewed her. If we had hired her, she'd be sueing everyone in the university for sex discrimination now."So, apparently, on one subject at least, Coach was a seer. I think he may have also seen the future when he hired Keith Dambrot as his assistant.

[Z.I.P.]

Linky: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/...e=rss_localnewsIn brief, the fired UH-Hilo AD filed a $10 Million suit against the university alleging bias against the school and five administrators.

[zippy42]

To clarify, the female finalist in the search that gave us Mike Thomas was not Kathleen McNally, it was Eve Atkinson from Lafayette College in PA. And Hipsher was not on that search committee. He (and all other head coaches) met all the finalists but were not involved in the selection. In fact, it's pretty safe to say that Hipsher's meeting with finalist Greg Burke, and the subsequent BS session they had that made Burke almost 40 minutes late for his next appointment in the interview process, pretty much eliminated Burke from consideration. And Burke was the candidate many insiders hoped would get the job. In the end, Thomas was clearly the right man at the right time. Eve Atkinson was never really in serious contention for the job.

[Z.I.P.]

To clarify, the female finalist in the search that gave us Mike Thomas was not Kathleen McNally, it was Eve Atkinson from Lafayette College in PA. And Hipsher was not on that search committee. He (and all other head coaches) met all the finalists but were not involved in the selection. In fact, it's pretty safe to say that Hipsher's meeting with finalist Greg Burke, and the subsequent BS session they had that made Burke almost 40 minutes late for his next appointment in the interview process, pretty much eliminated Burke from consideration. And Burke was the candidate many insiders hoped would get the job. In the end, Thomas was clearly the right man at the right time. Eve Atkinson was never really in serious contention for the job.

Those are some interesting insights into that process, which those of us here haven't been privy to previously. My mistake about McNally/Atkinson. I recall the discussion with Hipsher, and I was under the the impression that McNally was the same one who had interviewed at UA. I did notice after my post that she came to UH-Hilo from Gannon College in Erie. Let us just thank heavens we got the right man, er, uh, person -- which was the gist of what I wrote.

[zippy42]

Z.I.P. - I didn't mean to imply any gender bias when I said Thomas was the right "man" for the job in that search. Bad choice of words on my part. Mike Thomas clearly outclassed everyone in that search, and to me, has forever raised the bar of what we can and should expect from an AD at UA. Let's hope this new guy can reach - and then exceed - that bar.

[zipper]

Z.I.P. - I didn't mean to imply any gender bias when I said Thomas was the right "man" for the job in that search. Bad choice of words on my part. Mike Thomas clearly outclassed everyone in that search, and to me, has forever raised the bar of what we can and should expect from an AD at UA. Let's hope this new guy can reach - and then exceed - that bar.

Yeah, and besides all he accomplished, I always noticed he walked around in suit and tie, even at games. That made me feel like he thought this place was special and first-class and like this was one of the finest universities you could work at. I think he represented Akron very well. And I think this new guy is going to be just as good if not better. Just a gut feeling ...