As shown in the Washington Post piece linked below, the University of Maryland is set to name Army’s Athletic Director Kevin Anderson as the new Terrapin A.D. shortly:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2010/09/armys_kevin_anderson_to_be_nam.html

Around the web, the news was greeted by many Terps fans with a shrug as Anderson had not appeared on many public short-lists.

My initial honest reaction was that it was a big jump from the Athletic Department of Army to that of Maryland. That said, it took a fair minimal amount of digging to see this is a guy that was previously the Director of Annual Giving for Stanford’s Athletic Department, Director of External Operations at Oregon State (with responsibility of overseeing the Football, Men’s Basketball, and Baseball programs) and spent time at California as an Executive Associate Athletic Director.

This means he has previously been in leadership positions with three Pac-10 Universities, which should help alleviate any apprehension from Terrapin fans. If there is any residual apprehension from Terp fans, I suggest they review the comments this afternoon from Gary Williams, as quoted in the Baltimore Sun:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2010/09/gary_williams_calls_anderson_a_coachs_ad.html

“If you’re a coach, you got the feeling he is a coach’s AD,” said Williams, who leads Maryland’s biggest revenue-producing sport. “He would look for the department to be unified. I always looked at the department as a team,” Williams said. He recognizes the need for basketball to be successful.”

So there is the bottom-line. Gary Williams is happy, which means everyone else associated with the Terps should be as well. It will be interesting to follow this story, and see what comments Anderson makes about the Football program. I would imagine that he will be spending some-time in assessment period, with the Football team and MD Athletic Program in-general.

It should also be noted that Williams was on the search committee responsible for finding a new AD. As were Brenda Frese (Women’s Basketball), Sasho Cirovski (Men’s Soccer), Len Elmore, and Kevin Plank (Under Armour). Anderson is coming-in to this program with existing buy-in from the stakeholders that matter. It is also good to hear that the incoming University President Dr. Loh was able to give his opinion.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

X