Five things to consider in Arizona’s search to replace athletic director Greg Byrne:
1. Erika Barnes is much more likely to be the AD to succeed Byrne’s successor. She’s only 38 and is the department’s go-to fundraiser. Why take her out of that role, which is almost as important as the AD itself?
2. Chris Del Conte is probably among the five leading ADs in college sports. He’s almost surely not going to return to Arizona, even though it’s probably a better job than the one at TCU, which has a small profile in the greater Dallas area.
Del Conte’s buyout is close to $3 million on an eight-year contract that pays him about $1.2 million annually.
Del Conte is tight with the most coveted donors at Arizona, from Jeff Stevens and Jim Click to Arte Moreno. He would get Lute Olson’s blessing.
But Arizona will likely prefer not to write a $3 million check to TCU, preferring to apply it to badly needed on-campus infrastructure projects.
3. Texas A&M deputy AD Stephanie Rempe is a former Arizona volleyball player who learned the ropes in the Jim Livengood administration and worked her way through the system at UTEP, Oklahoma and as the top senior administrator at Washington.
She seems sure to be an AD somewhere soon. Arizona? Those making the hire will ask if Rempe is more qualified than Barnes. Rempe is married to a former UA athletic trainer, Greg Remien, has two younger children and has impressive experience in every aspect of college sports except detailed fundraising. That’s a possible game-changer.
If UA President Ann Weaver Hart chooses to hire a female AD, the fourth currently in Power 5 conferences, Rempe would seem to be the No. 1 choice.
4. Mark Harlan did everything in his days at Arizona from fix up the visitor’s football locker room and manage game-day events to being a key fundraiser. He practically grew up in Tucson as Dick Tomey’s son.
Now the AD at South Florida after serving in the No. 2 seat at UCLA, Harlan was the force behind hiring UCLA basketball coach Steve Alford out of a messy contract situation at New Mexico. He met his wife in Tucson, his son was born in Tucson.
Much like Byrne, he is active in social media and, at 46, has the energy to operate a Pac-12 athletic department.
5. The search for Hart’s replacement as UA president is bogged down by a slow-moving, 22-member search committee. That can’t be good. She is wisely keeping the AD search committee to a few trusted people — it’s unsure if those searching for Byrne’s replacement will ever be identified — which will expedite the process.
The new AD should be hired before the Final Four, which might keep poachers from tempting Sean Miller to leave.
A potential wild card in the process is Baylor AD Mack Rhoades, a former basketball player at Rincon High School and a UA grad.
But Rhoades has been at Baylor for just eight months. Before that, he was involved in a cauldron of messy experiences at Missouri, leaving after 14 months. When hired by Baylor, Rhoades said, “This is my last job.”
But that’s what Rich Rodriguez said when he was hired at Michigan and when he was hired at Arizona — and 13 months ago he attempted to be the head coach at South Carolina.
Anything goes in these searches. One doesn’t need a connection to Arizona, but rather one with Hart and donors like Stevens and Cole Davis.
Utah’s Chris Hill, Kansas State’s John Currie and Houston’s Hunter Yurachek might be available; all are first-level ADs.