By Amit Shilton
Sports Editor
Over a month after firing former athletic bosses David Dubois and Terry Haggerty, Ryerson administration still hasn’t started their search for a new director or head of interuniversity sports.
“I haven’t seen any postings as of yet,” said Ward Dilse, the OUA president, who also said that normally under these conditions a school would have already advertised for the job. “I would think I would see something,” he said.
Marion Creery, director of student services and interim head of athletics, has said that the school will conduct a national search to find the best candidate for the job. But lately she says that the school hasn’t had the time to put together an advertisement that would effectively reflect the position.
“We will be advertising soon,” Creery said. “We’ve been working on the budget up until now.”
At McGill University, the school went for two years with a temporary fix after losing its athletic director. Derek Drummond, an architecture prof, stepped in and filled the hole until the university was able to pry Drew Love from Carleton University last week. Ironically, Love seems to be the perfect candidate for the Ryerson job. At Carleton, Love turned around a struggling program, going as far as cutting the football team so other teams could flourish. Under his leadership, Carleton restructured its facilities, won three national soccer titles and several men’s basketball championships.
But time isn’t a luxury Ryerson can afford to waste. Several of the teams are starting to develop into contenders and losing the guidance of an athletic director at such a crucial time could hurt the department more than help it. Volleyball coach Mirek Porosa has said he’s worried about losing recruits due to the administration’s unstable appearance.
“We hope that we will have somebody by September,” Creery said. “If they’re not here by September, it’s kind of hard.”
Coming up with a potential list of candidates for the job is nearly impossible. The next director could come from anywhere, including the City of Toronto’s parks and recreation deparment where Dubois was poached from. Creery herself admitted that while she would love to hire someone with a lot of experience for the job, it’s not realistic. She says that current athletic directors at universities across the country probably aren’t thinking of moving to a new job, meaning Ryerson will probably end up hiring someone with less experience. But she isn’t ruling out any possibilities.
“You are never aware of why people are attracted (to a job),” she said, adding that a candidate might be lured to come to Ryerson because they want to live in Toronto or have family here.
The list at the bottom of the column is by no means a shortlist for the vacant spot, but it should at least give both the school and readers an idea of what’s out there.
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