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On 4/8/2025 at 11:39 AM, wardly said:

 

Back in the day, and I mean way back ,I was invited, along with a small handful of other grads, to a meeting to review applications for athletic director of North Texas State. While we did have an interest in the future of NT athletics we didn't have a clue what we were doing. I don't remember who we recommended , to whom our recommendation was forwarded , or even if it was forwarded, but the man that was eventually hired lasted about a year before being fired for having an affair with a married staff member.I think both were married but don't recall. My point is thank God for professional search firms who do this for a living.

You are going WAY BACK into I-AA days, the AD to whom you refer was Richard McDuffie who was from a small Connecticut school and ended up in SE Missouri with his girlfriend who had been married to the head of the North Texas police. I was on the search committee who chose Rick Villareal. John Thornton the faculty athletic rep who chaired the committee was very capable. We used several meetings to pick our candidate who was definitely a better hire than any national guru could have made.

15 hours ago, DallasGreen said:

You are going WAY BACK into I-AA days, the AD to whom you refer was Richard McDuffie who was from a small Connecticut school and ended up in SE Missouri with his girlfriend who had been married to the head of the North Texas police. I was on the search committee who chose Rick Villareal. John Thornton the faculty athletic rep who chaired the committee was very capable. We used several meetings to pick our candidate who was definitely a better hire than any national guru could have made.

I think he was from Central Connecticut, and I certainly agree with the selection of R.V. In my case we were just a few guys looking at applications on the floor and to what purpose wasn't really clear.