Fred Glass to be named IU athletic director.

According to Hoosier Nation, Indianapolis attorney Fred Glass, formerly the chairman of the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board, will be named IU's new athletic director tomorrow. He's the second attorney from Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels to take the reigns at a major college athletic program in recent months--Jack Swarbrick became Notre Dame's AD over the summer. He has no experience in college athletics, but has an impressive resume nonetheless. Here's a link to his B&D bio. As the bio notes, for those who are not familiar, the CIB owns and operates Victory Field and Conseco Fieldhouse. Although surrendering authority to a different board was part of the compromise that led to Lucas Oil Stadium, Glass was instrumental in the construction of that facility. Glass was an appointee of former Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson. Peterson unexpectedly lost in his bid for a third term in 2007, and so Glass did not get to see the Lucal Oil project to its end.

It's an interesting pick. While I had not had the time to post on the subject, most the of the public speculation had centered on Oregon State AD Bob DiCarolis, a former administrator at Michigan. The other name bandied about was IU Varsity Club director Scott Dolson. I suppose Glass represents something of a compromise. The two schools of thought on this hire seemed to be that IU should hire an IU guy, or should hire the best experienced AD available. Glass is an IU alumnus, so he is an IU guy in that sense, but he isn't an internal hire.

IU's last two ADs without AD experience were Clarence Doninger and Michael McNeely[EDIT: this is wrong: McNeely had been the AD at Pacific, but never at a amjor program or a school with a I-A football program]. Neither was an overwhelming success (understatement), although neither came to the job with the sort of profile that Glass brings to the job. As noted above, Notre Dame took a similar route with its hire. Also, Purdue's longtime AD, Morgan Burke (also an attorney), was an executive with Inland Steel before going to Purdue. I don't have a strong feeling on this hire. Glass is extremely well-regarded, but someone like DiCarolis would have been a more conventional pick. We shall see.