Search begins for Dick Baddour's replacement as UNC athletic director

As the North Carolina football team prepares for the start of the 2011 season still mired by the NCAA probe, University officials are taking the first steps in determining the future of the football program and UNC athletics.

Two crucial positions — athletic director and head football coach — will need to be filled in order for the athletic program to move forward. But UNC must fill the athletic director vacancy first so the new athletic director can hire the next football coach.

The 13-member search committee responsible for replacing athletic director Dick Baddour will have its first meeting Friday and will discuss the qualities the University is looking for in a candidate during upcoming weeks. A nationwide search will be conducted, but the chancellor said the committee will also consider internal candidates.

“We are looking for the best person wherever they are,” Thorp said. “And in the meantime, we’ve got a great athletic director.”

Baddour announced his resignation after more than 40 years at UNC at a press conference July 28, one day after Thorp announced football coach Butch Davis had been fired. He expressed his desire for his replacement to hire the next permanent head football coach.

“It is my responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the program,” Baddour said at the press conference. “And this is my decision.”

Baddour said he will remain at UNC until his contract expires in June 2012 but said he will step aside earlier if a new athletic director is found.

Thorp said he was confident the committee would be able to select a candidate by the end of November so the search for the new head football coach could begin.

The committee will decide whether or not it will employ a national search firm and will craft the job ad at the committee’s first meeting so the position can be posted.

Baddour noted that there are two things the committee should look for in his replacement.

First, the new athletic director must understand the culture of UNC.

“How you do things here matters,” Baddour said.

Second, the new athletic director will need to be committed to a broad-based program. Baddour and Thorp both made it clear that even though the hiring coincides with the search for a new football coach, non-revenue sports will not be overlooked.

During Baddour’s tenure as athletic director, UNC has won 13 national championships and racked up 62 conference titles.

In addition to the task of hiring a permanent head football coach, North Carolina’s next athletic director could face a plethora of investigation-related consequences depending on what the NCAA Committee on Infractions decides at UNC’s Oct. 28 hearing.

Still, Thorp said he is confident the less-than-ideal circumstances won’t scare away potential candidates.

“We’re going to compete for numerous national championships, and I think most people will take the long view that this is one of the most premier athletic programs in the country.”

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