Seven years ago, UA swimming coachΒ Frank BuschΒ wanted to replaceΒ Jim LivengoodΒ as the schoolβs athletic director. Some mightβve blown it off as the old way of college sports: a successful coach moving up the chain to the top chair.
Busch, then 59, was already among the Mount Rushmore of modern UA coaches, withΒ Jerry Kindall,Β Lute OlsonΒ andΒ Mike Candrea.
Was he qualified to be an AD? Busch had not done any significant fundraising or infrastructure construction, but he operated two teams, the menβs and womenβs swimming programs, and also was fully vested in perhaps the nationβs top club swimming operation, Ford Aquatics. Busch was so good at what he did that six times he was selected the NCAA coach of the year.
Rather than seriously consider Busch, Arizona hiredΒ Greg ByrneΒ from Mississippi State. A year later, Busch became the director of USA Swimmingβs menβs and womenβs national teams, which dominated the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games.
It was Buschβs athletic directorship, wrapped in red, white and blue.
When he announced last week he was retiring from USA Swimming, the timing seemed too coincidental: Busch would be available at the time Arizona was searching for Byrneβs successor.
The man directing the search,Β Cedric Dempsey, hired Busch away from the University of Cincinnati in 1990.
At 66, would he return to Tucson for four or five years, become the AD and serve as a mentor for interim ADΒ Erika Barnes, who would ultimately replace Busch?
Doesnβt that sound like a positive scenario?
At Arizona, Byrne was a people person and communicator of the first rank, but that, too, is Buschβs strength and then some.
When Tucson auto dealerΒ Jim ClickΒ recently sought someone to provide a motivational message to his employees, he flew Busch in from Colorado Springs to do so.
But thatβs where the Busch-returns-to-Tucson story ends.
He will almost certainly not be offered the AD job at Arizona, and I donβt think he would accept it, if offered. (Although he is likely to relocate here from Colorado.)
I donβt think the workload would be too much, but why would anyone with a Hall of Fame career in the bank agree to the responsibility of stewarding 500 student-athletes day-to-day, taking on the challenge of raising about $150 million to get a football stadium up to modern code, and work a 24/7 schedule?
I suspect Arizona will tempt Kansas Stateβs exemplary ADΒ John Currie. He earns $775,000 annually and has a $1.5 million buyout. He might be first on any list in the AD job market.
Why Currie? Dempsey has always sought those not thought to be available. He got a Final Four basketball coach from Iowa (Lute Olson), and when Arizonaβs football coaching job opened in 1987, he offered the job to head coaches from Ohio State, Baylor and Boston College before finding a gem at Hawaii,Β Dick Tomey.
Dempseyβs discovery of 38-year-old Byrne at Mississippi State, an athletic director at an SEC school with greater resources than Arizona, was also in that vein.
And one more thing: If Arizona canβt land (or doesnβt fully pursue) Currie, Central Michigan ADΒ Dave HeekeΒ provides an intriguing backdrop.
Heeke was the senior associate AD/chief of staff at Oregon for 18 years as the Ducks emerged as an athletic program on the national scope. He then moved home (he is from East Lansing) to run his own shop.
At 52, Heeke has the Pac-12 roots and background in fundraising to take on the challenge at Arizona. He declined the ADβs job at NAU in 2004, and is likely ready for a bigger job.
And remember this: Dempsey and iconic Arizona athletic directorΒ Pop McKaleΒ both are graduates from Albion College in Michigan. Thatβs where Dave Heeke got his degree, too.
Stay tuned.
