Search begins for NU athletic director

Northwestern president Henry Bienen sat in his customary half-court seat Monday night as the school's basketball team took on Arkansas State.

But another fixture at Welsh-Ryan Arena, athletic director Mark Murphy, wasn't in his normal spot under the southwest tunnel. Earlier in the day, the Green Bay Packers had introduced Murphy as their new president and CEO.

Murphy's departure shifts the focus to Bienen, who must find a replacement. Bienen hopes to have a search plan in place by the end of the week.

He likely will use a headhunter to help with the search and has lined up three or four potential recruiters. Bienen also has consulted Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and several school presidents who have recently conducted AD searches.

"I hope within a month or a month and a half, we would maybe even have somebody," Bienen said. "That may be optimistic. It's a limited number of folks that I think would be good for Northwestern."

One name sure to be considered is Colorado State athletic director Paul Kowalczyk, who was an associate athletic director at Northwestern in the mid-1990s. Kowalczyk eventually became AD at Southern Illinois, which enjoyed tremendous success in men's basketball and football during his six-year tenure.

Several internal candidates - associate ADs or even coaches - will be considered.

"I like Paul a lot," said Bienen, who has served as NU's president since 1995. "Paul's a good guy. We would have an advantage to have a person who knows us, what we're all about."

Bienen said Northwestern will need an interim AD after Murphy joins the Packers on Jan. 1. He plans to meet with Murphy on Wednesday to discuss interim candidates.

Though NU must find a replacement during the academic year, Bienen said the timing isn't as bad as it would be to find a coach.

He praised Murphy for increasing donations, improving facilities, hiring good coaches and being accessible to athletes.

"It's tough to replace," Bienen said. "Not everybody's going to pair up to Mark's experience. They'll have their own experience."

Bienen said the next AD must effectively manage budgets and coaches but also have an appreciation for the school's academic standards. He called the position "a dream job" but knows NU has limitations.

"If you want a job where you're going to contend every year for a Final Four, an NCAA basketball berth or a BCS bowl, that's not us realistically," Bienen said. "Our standards are high, (but) we can have very competitive teams."

The men's and women's basketball programs will be high on the new AD's list of concerns. NU has been decent in football and successful in most Olympic sports, but basketball continues to lag back.

"I hope that we can turn basketball around," Bienen said. "We haven't done it yet, that's a fact."