| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
UNLV picks new athletic director
Wednesday August 13, 2003LAS VEGAS (AP) Mike Hamrick is the new athletic director at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Hamrick, East Carolina's athletic director for the past eight years, accepted UNLV President Carol Harter's job offer over the phone late Tuesday. It is a return home for Hamrick, who began his career in athletic administration at UNLV.
``UNLV was my first job and I told my wife it would be great to come back to Las Vegas someday,'' Hamrick told the Las Vegas Review-Journal late Tuesday from his Greenville, N.C., home. ``The quality of the people in place from the president to the staff to the coaches is very impressive.''
When John Robinson resigned as athletic director on May 20, Harter said she wanted his replacement in place before UNLV's 2003 football season opener, an Aug. 29 home game against Toledo.
Hamrick was chosen over Montana's Wayne Hogan and Idaho's Mike Bohn, finalists from about 70 applicants.
Hamrick is expected to be introduced to the Nevada Board of Regents on Friday in Reno.
At East Carolina, Hamrick helped guide the Pirates into Conference USA and raised $46 million for capital improvements, including upgrades to the school's football stadium, basketball arena and a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning facility. A new baseball stadium is under construction.
East Carolina student-athletes had a 70 percent graduation rate and the school has had no NCAA troubles during Hamrick's tenure.
Hamrick's first job as an athletic director was at Arkansas-Little Rock. He took over in 1990 and guided the school into the Sun Belt Conference.
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