MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In outlining what the near future could look like for West Virginia University athletics, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives turned Interim Director of Athletics Rob Alsop made it clear he is not a candidate to become the Mountaineers’ next athletic director on a full-time basis.
While working with search key Turnkey ZRG to help find its next Director of Athletics, Alsop said the value of keeping up with and adapting to the current climate of college athletics will be weighted heavily before President Gordon Gee comes to a final decision.
“We’ve asked our search firm to cast a wide net for the best candidate for West Virginia University. When you think of any type of leader, you want someone who knows, understands and appreciates the team that’s here, the culture that’s been developed and that we continue on that trajectory of empowering individuals to do the best that they can,” Alsop said. “We also want someone who can continue to be innovative and thoughtful in an ever-changing world.
“From my perspective, West Virginia University is a great place. Our strengths are our brand, history and tradition. We are not a major media market. There are some things where we have to punch above our weight class to be competitive. Looking at additional revenue streams and innovation and the ever-changing landscape of college athletics is something that we will be focused on in looking for our next leader.”
Interim Director of Athletics Rob Alsop made it clear West Virginia is in search of a candidate that can keep up with and adapt to the current climate of college athletics before President Gordon Gee picks a new AD sometime over the next few weeks.https://t.co/uhoIw8z2fM pic.twitter.com/uhTXlPMA1r
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) November 14, 2022
As stated in a university release before Alsop met with the media Monday afternoon, West Virginia’s goal is to have a new athletic director in place within three to four weeks.
Unless the Mountaineers’ football team wins each of its final two-regular season games, that puts the timeframe of the hire after football season is finished.
“It may be longer, but we think this will be a sought-after position and that hopefully we’ll be able to identify the best candidates and come to a resolution moving forward,” Alsop said.
With WVU parting ways with former Director of Athletics Shane Lyons early Monday, the future of football coach Neal Brown and his staff appears to be in question.
Lyons began his tenure with the Mountaineers in January 2015 and Brown replaced Dana Holgorsen as head football coach four years later.
The results have been underwhelming. WVU is 21-24 under Brown and on the verge of its third losing season in his four years as head coach.
However, Alsop indicated Lyons’ dismissal doesn’t automatically mean the Mountaineers will be in the mix for a new football staff.
“I know there will be some speculation that this is the first shoe of two shoes to drop and I just want to disavail that,” he said. “This is an independent decision. I’ll go about it this way. When you watched the game this weekend, it was pretty clear, whether it’s the spark with Garrett [Greene], what Sam James did or Dante [Stills] and the defense, those kids have not given up on each other or on this season, and they have not given up on their coaches — and neither have we. We have not given up on our head coach, assistant coaches or those players. We have two games to go. we intend and I intend during this interim period to support them in any way that I can. When a new athletic director comes in, that individual will do an evaluation of the general direction of the department.”
However, Alsop made it clear the results under Brown have fallen short of expectations, which undoubtedly played a part in Lyons’ departure.
“We are all not satisfied with the wins and losses, but President Gee and our new athletic director will take an appropriate, longterm look at the direction of all of the department of athletics and make a thoughtful decision moving forward,” Alsop said. “That’s where we are right now. I did talk to Neal late last night and reiterated that same message. I know that’s on everybody’s minds, but they are not tied together from a fate perspective moving forward.”
Alsop couldn’t provide a cost for what WVU will pay Turnkey ZRG, but said the search firm was retained by the Big 12 Conference before it settled on Brett Yormark as the league’s new commissioner earlier this year.
Alsop also did not wish to address details of Lyons’ contract or buyout.
“There are provisions relating to Shane’s contract with respect to terms of compensation, but I’m not going to get into the specific details of that,” he said.
Alsop, who has a political science and law degree from WVU, became the school’s VP for Strategic Initiatives in 2017.
He noted there are major differences in the role of an athletic director at present as opposed to when Lyons replaced Oliver Luck and assumed the position.
“A lot of things have changed,” Alsop said. “In the past eight years, we’ve seen conference realignment, a number of court cases that have changed the dynamic as it relates to the opportunities for our student-athletes. We’ve seen changes in rules as it relates to the transfer portal and that those rules change again. There’s an ongoing conversation about college athletics that I don’t think it’s washed ashore as to if those roles are settled.
“Both coaches and an athletic director not only have to worry about ticket sales and making sure our student-athletes have what they need to be successful off the field and on it, and hopefully this is settled at least for a while on conference realignment. It’s more of a multi-faceted position than perhaps it was 10 or 15 years ago.”