CSUN TO BROADEN SEARCH SCHOOL HIRES FIRM TO ASSIST EFFORT TO FIND A NEW AD.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE and JILL PAINTER Staff Writers

Citing a need to attract a deeper and broader applicant pool for its vacant athletic director position, Cal State Northridge has hired the executive search and management consulting firm, Carr Sports Associates, Inc.

By doing so, the university has effectively pushed back its target date for hiring a new athletic director from July 1 to at least early fall, and extended the awkward interim tag on acting athletic director Janet Lucas -- who is a candidate for the permanent position -- well past the original timeframe.

Lucas has been the school's inter- im athletic director since Aug. 1. Dick Dull, the school's previous athletic director for six years, was reassigned to a fund-raising position for facilities.

``We wanted to have some more aggressive recruitment of candidates so we would have a broader pool to look at,'' said Penny Jennings, chair of the search committee. ``The position is open until filled. Nothing was really closed. We started reviewing applications and sensed we needed a broader pool, right from the beginning, based on qualifications for the position.''

CSUN didn't conduct any on-campus interviews. Jennings wouldn't say how many applicants originally applied, citing confidentiality. She said she hopes to have prospective candidates on campus by the end of July.

CSUN president Jolene Koester echoed Jennings' sentiments, but admitted she'd like to have the position filled in a timely manner.

``Yes, obviously we want to have someone in the position, but the priority is to have the very best person for this very important job for CSUN,'' she said.

Further complicating matters is last week's promotion of Mo Qayoumi, CSUN's vice president of Administration and Finance, to president of Cal State East Bay, formerly Cal State Hayward. Qayoumi was the person CSUN's athletic director reported to. Kester said the new athletic director could be hired before a new vice president of Administration and Finance.

James Sullivan will begin interim vice president of Administration and Finance duties July 1 and is expected to serve in that role for approximately six months to a year. He previously served as interim in the same role for 18 months before Qayoumi was hired in 2000.

Qayoumi was also the chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission, which devised CSUN's new athletic plan for the next five years. It's unclear who will oversee the plan's execution now, although that likely would be the job of the new athletic director.

Carr Sports Associates, Inc. recently assisted Long Beach State in its search for an athletic director, and Koester said she heard positive reviews of the firm's performance.

She added that hiring the firm should not be seen as a negative reflection of Lucas' job performance.

``You shouldn't read anything into it,'' Koester said in regard to Lucas. ``We wanted to make sure that we had a broad group of candidates.''

Jennings reiterated that some candidates from the original pool remain. In her 10 months as interim athletic director, Lucas has worked on CSUN's compliance issues and updating facilities.

CSUN has had two major NCAA violations, most recently in June 2000, and Lucas has made it a priority to educate the athletic staff on compliance issues to avoid any more infractions.

She also has supervised the athletic department's move into a professional office building this spring.

In an unrelated matter, Koester confirmed Dull will leave the university when the final year of his contract expires next month.

``Dick, I think, has longed to be on the East Coast for a long time,'' she said. ``In his time here, Dick brought a level of professionalism to the athletic program at CSUN that I know the administrators and coaches appreciated.''

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

LUCAS