Athletic Director Search Narrows

With Harvard athletic director William J. Cleary’s ’56 retirement scheduled to take effect in just over three weeks, the search for Cleary’s replacement is in its final stages—but administrators close to the search say it is possible that a final choice may not be made until after Cleary is due to step down.

In recent weeks the committee appointed to find Harvard’s next athletic director has sorted through more than 150 applications as it attempts to settle on a final candidate in time for Cleary’s last day on June 29.

On Sunday, the Boston Globe reported that the field has already been narrowed down to three finalists and that Mark Murphy—the current athletic director at Colgate University—has emerged as the leading candidate for the position.

Yesterday, however, the chair of the search committee would not confirm the Globe report.

John P. Jack Reardon ’60—the executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association and the man who preceded Cleary as athletic director—would not identify any candidate as the favorite.

Reardon said the search committee has not yet submitted its recommendations to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, who will have the final say on who is hired.

Even then, Reardon said, he does not expect an announcement on Cleary’s successor until the candidate meets with President-elect Lawrence H. Summers. That could postpone a final decision until as late as July after Cleary’s tenure is scheduled to end.

“I think its going to be a while because [Summers] will not be here much before the first of July,” Reardon said.

Among applicants from within the department, Senior Associate Director of Athletics Patricia Henry is considered the strongest prospect to replace Cleary. Henry is said to be among the finalists along with Murphy.

One of her biggest advantages would obviously be her familiarity with the school.

“If it’s a non-Harvard person from outside the university, you have to wonder whether they can understand the culture of the place,” Reardon said.

Reardon refused to comment on specific applicants yesterday, but did suggest some of the qualities that the committee has sought.

“[The successful candidate] would have to be a good manager because it’s a big operation,” he said. “It will also have to be someone who relates well with others.

“Different types of people carry different risks,” Reardon added.

The search committee, which includes three professors, three deans, a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and former Provost Jerry R. Green, was formed after Cleary announced his retirement in December.

Cleary, who won All-America honors during his Harvard hockey career and who coached the Crimsons 1989 NCAA championship team, is said to favor someone with a background in Division I athletics.

Murphy would certainly fit that bill. A former free safety in the NFL, Murphy captained the Washington Redskins team that won Super Bowl XVII.

Since he arrived at Colgate in 1992, he has overseen a department ranked in the top ten nationally for its athletes’ graduation rate. The Colgate football team overcame a 0-11 record in 1995 to make back-to-back appearances in the NCAA 1-AA playoffs, and the men’s basketball team has twice qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

That type of experience has weighed heavily on members of the committee.

“We give that serious credence,” Reardon said.

Then again, Reardon himself neither played nor coached at Harvard before taking over the reins at the athletic department.

Reardon said yesterday that there was no single path to get to the position.

“There aren’t any magic answers,” he said.