Finding new AD not easy

 
The Southern Board of Supervisor Athletics Committee will hold a 3:30 p.m. meeting today to possibly name former Centenary College athletic director William Broussard, a Northwestern State University graduate, who has strong experience in fund raising which is a big need for the athletic department, but the search process for the new Athletic Director was not a smooth one.
The process started in April 2011 when former AD Greg LaFleur was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitution in downtown Houston, and fired weeks after the arrest. LaFleur was subsequently exonerated and is currently suing the university for breach of contract.
LaFleur has been AD at Southern for six years, replacing Floyd Kerr in the summer of 2005.
With LaFleur’s firing, someone had to hold that position. Former Chancellor Kofi Lomotey recommended head women’s basketball coach and current Interim Athletic Director Sandy Pugh hold that position in May 2011.
Pugh, whose team has won four regular season Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships, been to four NCAA tournaments and made two Women’s National Invitational Tournament appearances, was praised by Lomotey when he appointed her to the position.
Pugh had to take over an athletic department that has suffered the loss of two sports since 2009, women’s golf and men’s tennis.
During that time Southern’s football program also had an APR of 847, below the NCAA requirement of 925 which can result in penalty to the department.
Pugh’s basketball team took a fall last season, finishing third in the SWAC with an even 13-13 record.
“To finish a season at .500 some coaches are happy with that, we’re not,” said Pugh in an interview addressing this past season.
Since then, some changes were made though the athletic department. Former men’s basketball head coach Rob Spivery was fired last March and was replaced by first-year head coach Roman Banks.  Banks led the men’s team to a second-place finish in the SWAC and a 17-14 record this season.
The creation of the new athletics website promoting SU athletics and the resurfacing of the tennis court are all improvements that were needed.
The search for a new athletic director came down to three people in November, but the search committee could not come to an agreement on approving anyone.
Candidates for the position at the time were former AD Floyd Kerr, Paula Jackson and John Robinson.
Jackson was a 1986 Southern graduate, and serves as assistant director of athletics for compliance at Alabama State University.
One of Robinson’s key accomplishments that put him up for the position included instituting a comprehensive student assistance program, which contributed to a 115 percent increase in graduation rates.
“We are looking for someone that understands NCAA rules and compliance and gender equity also understands the critical importance of academic performance of our athletes, and will have a strong motto in the process of increasing our academic performance rate,” said current Chancellor James Llorens. 
Llorens said when the committee rejected his first recommendation they authorized a focus search, which means they didn’t have to convene another search committee.
“The focus search just gives me the discretion to go out and identify individuals,” said Llorens, “and collect those individuals and review them and give them a recommendation to the board.”
It is the university’s policy that any contract over $100,000 has to be approved by the board.
“We had some new candidates that have emerged that are either at the AD level or the associate AD level,” said Llorens.
With the emergence of Broussard as a possible fit to fill the need for an AD, Llorens says he feels confident that the committee will approve Broussard as the new AD.