UA names new senior associate athletic director

[ZippyRulz]

Mike Waddell !!

<http://www.thecitywire.com/node/27931>

[ZachTheZip]

I like how they didn't bother to mention that he eliminated both baseball and men's soccer while at Towson. That's unforgivable.

[GoZips]

Welcome back, Mike. You were sorely missed.

[Dave in Green]

UA = University of Arkansas.

[Z.I.P.]

Welcome back, Mike. You were sorely missed.

In Arkansas? Hoooooog, Sooooooie!

[Dr Z]

Mike Thomas getting the old gang back together. Congrats Mike. PS Hold on to that twitter handle.

Waddell hired.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois Director of Athletics Mike Thomas today announced the hiring of Mike Waddell as Senior Associate Athletics Director, External Relations, resuming a decade-long professional relationship that began in the mid-1990s at the University of Virginia and continuing through Thomas' tenure at Cincinnati.

Waddell (@mikewaddellUA) comes to Illinois following one year as a senior associate director of athletics at Arkansas. He will begin his duties at Illinois on Aug. 25.

[Zipmeister]

Welcome back, Mike. You were sorely missed.

Are you organizing the welcome back party?

[GP1]

Interesting move to Arkansas and then a quick bail out. In the SEC, football is everything. The hiring of Bret Bielema will be a disaster. The third disaster in as many coaches...John L. Smith and Bobby Petrino. The writing may be on the wall for this AD and MW needed a soft landing because when the AD gets fired, everyone goes.

One thing I find interesting is we have had two former "right hand guys" in the past 18 months leave an AD position for a lower level position at a BCS level school (MW and Hunter) with a former boss. I wonder if being an AD at a IAA school or lower is a career killer for someone?.?. I found Hunter to be a smart guy. MW was a hard worker, but I never thought he had much in the brains department. In every career, people find their level. Maybe this is the level Hunter and MW function at best. Ooops, what's this?

Missed this.

Wish I would have written this. The pock marked resume line is a classic and could be said about most people working in college athletics. MW always had a uniquely large self promotion streak in him.

Article Looks like Waddell got into an argument with the Maryland Comptroller....and lost. Did I say something about not having much in the brains department? The abrupt trip to that poop hole in Arkansas was no upward career step. It's what survival looks like in college athletics.

Hunter, on the other hand was smart. He made a decision to hire a football coach and everyone thought he was nuts to hire the guy. In two years, the guy went 8-5 and 12-3. Having the vision to hire someone unusual and then have that person be successful is a sign of real smarts. My God, if UofA would have only hired him in lieu of TW, we would be so much better off. Hunter didn't leave CCU with a stench.