FOUR CANDIDATES

From the DMN:

Sources: SMU focusing on four AD candidates

07:16 PM CST on Monday, March 20, 2006
By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

SMU officials are centering on several candidates for its athletic directors job.

The position becomes vacant on May 31 when Jim Copeland retires.

SMU is looking at Rick Dickson of Tulane, Rick Hartzell from Northern Iowa, Chet Gladchuk from Navy and Gary Barta of Wyoming according to sources.

Tulane officials confirmed Monday that SMU president Gerald Turner spoke with Tulane president Scott Cowen about Dickson.

The two presidents are close friends and served on various NCAA committees.

“We are aware that SMU has spoken to Rick Dickson,” Tulane spokesperson Michael Strecker said.

SMU officials were also interested in Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart. But Barnhart said through a spokesperson he wasn’t interested in the position.

Earlier this month, during the Conference USA men’s basketball tournament in Memphis, Turner said he’s pleased with the progress of the search.

“We have a number of people interested,” Turner said. “We’re very encouraged by it, and we have some very good candidates. All things being equal, you sort of target a sitting AD.”

Turner is also leaning toward finding an athletic director from one of the power conferences.

Tom Barry, the chairman of SMU’s search committee, said he’s not sure when they will meet but was hopeful it would be soon.

I've discussed Hartzell and Dickson at length. I will now start looking at Gladchuk and Barta.

Good times!

There is also some of the usual Turner quote weirdness I will go into later.