As the university begins its search for the next athletics director, the MSU Board of Trustees' advisory committee released a set of criteria to determine Ron Mason's successor.
Mason recently announced he would retire after his contract expires in June 2008.
The committee, comprised of trustees Melanie Foster, George Perles and Colleen McNamara, developed the majority of the criteria with some input from MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon, Foster said at Friday's Board of Trustees meeting.
"We're looking for someone who is obviously very experienced," Foster said Sunday. "Most desirably, someone who is very experienced in athletic administration in a major conference.
"We've had a clean program under Ron Mason, and we want to continue that in the future. If we don't, we all fail. There's just too much at stake."
Outside candidates have already expressed interest in Mason's job, Foster said. Simon also mentioned at the meeting a "very strong internal candidate" as well.
Although Foster could not comment on the internal candidate, the strongest contender for the position is Associate Athletics Director Mark Hollis, who set up record-setting attendance events such as the "BasketBowl" in 2003 at Ford Field and "The Cold War" in 2001 at Spartan Stadium.
Whoever ends up taking over will have the task of managing an athletic budget of more than $60 million.
"With athletics, there is a lot of pressure to run a financially profitable program," Foster said. "It's important to have an individual that can successfully manage a program of that magnitude."
After much success as MSU's ice hockey coach for 23 seasons, Mason was named MSU's 16th athletics director in 2002, after Clarence Underwood retired.
So far, Mason has seen both successes and failures during his time as the athletics director.
His first order of business was to hire Rick Comley as his replacement as head coach of the hockey team in April 2002. That November, he fired head football coach Bobby Williams after a 15-17 record.
Most recently, Mason fired John L. Smith in 2006 after four lackluster seasons. Mark Dantonio was then chosen to take over the football program in November of 2006 as the 24th head football coach in MSU history.
The biggest success for MSU athletics under Mason came in April, when the hockey team snagged an NCAA championship - a moment that etched Mason in history as being the only person to win a hockey title as a coach and an athletics director in the NCAA.
"He has been a phenomenal attribute to MSU athletics as both a coach and athletics director," Foster said.
No timetable is set for announcing a new athletics director, although one must be chosen before June 30, 2008, Foster said.
"We would like a situation of someone being mentored by Ron Mason," Foster said. "He has a lot to give yet."
Name change
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Lyman Briggs received an added bonus, regaining its status as a college Friday. This brings the total number of colleges at MSU to 17.
Lyman Briggs was originally founded as a college in 1967 but became a school in 1981 because of financial problems throughout the university. In that same year, it also became a part of the College of Natural Science.
MSU Provost Kim Wilcox said the naming of Lyman Briggs as a college brings everything "full circle" in keeping with the characteristics of the other living and learning colleges on campus - James Madison College and the new Residential College in Arts & Humanities.
The new dean is previous director of Lyman Briggs School Elizabeth Simmons, who addressed the Board of Trustees after the name change, saying she was thankful for "restoring Briggs to a college status on the eve of (its) 40th anniversary."
MSU approves two new deans
Jeffrey Riedinger, the previous acting dean of the International Studies Program, was approved Friday as the new dean of the program. Previous positions for Riedinger include director of the Center for Advanced Study of International Development and a professor in the department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies, among other positions.
Riedinger came to MSU in 1990 as an adjunct professor in the Department of Resource Development after working at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
He will take over for previous ISP dean, John Hudzik, who served from 1995-2005.
In addition to Riedinger's approval, Simmons will now serve as the dean of Lyman Briggs College. Simmons also is a professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Simmons began teaching at MSU in 2003 after teaching for 10 years at Boston University.
Jennifer Orlando can be reached at orland16@msu.edu.
