Joel Maturi Retiring As Athletic Director From U Of Minnesota

February 2, 2012 /
Minneapolis Star Tribune, Michael Rand and Dennis Brackin

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/138564279.html

Joel Maturi said Thursday that he is retiring as the University of Minnesota’s athletics director as of June 30 and will remain with the school as an assistant to President Eric Kaler.

Maturi and the school’s president have a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. at TCF Bank Stadium.

Maturi made his intentions known in an e-mail addressed to student-athletes, coaches, staff and supporters.

“It is with mixed emotions that I share with you that … I will announce my retirement as the director of athletics at the University of Minnesota effective June 30th,” Maturi said in his e-mail. “There is sadness because I have enjoyed every day of this 10-year journey. There is excitement because President Kaler has asked me to remain next year as a special assistant to the president.”

Maturi was hired as athletic director a decade ago in large part because his skills were deemed critical in the process of merging what had been separate men’s and women’s athletic departments.

But Maturi had become a divisive force within the Gophers athletic community.

Maturi had expressed interest in extending his contract if Kaler felt he the continuity in the athletic department would be beneficial. But Kaler, shortly after taking office last July, acknowledged during an interview his awareness that Maturi had become divisive to many Gophers fans, and said he was evaluating the athletic director’s status.

Criticism of Maturi stemmed largely from his hiring of Tim Brewster as football coach in 2007, plus buyouts paid to men’s basketball coach Dan Monson and football coaches Glen Mason and Brewster, who was fired midway through the 2010 season.

Brewster had never been a head coach or coordinator above the high school level, and at the time Maturi made t he hire he said: “I realize that my neck’s on the line.’

After Brewster was fired, a group largely comprised of former Gophers football players calling itself Save Gophers Football railed against Maturi leading the search for a new coach.

Maturi and local businessman Dave Mona, former president of the alumni association, directed the search, which ended with the hiring of Jerry Kill last December.

Maturi’s legacy as Gophers AD will certainly be a matter of individual perspective. He was the first athletic director after a merger of the men’s and women’s departments, avoided the proposed elimination of three sports, along with several prominent boosters, helped raise funds for new TCF Bank Stadium and annually had competitive teams in almost every nonrevenue sport.

But the failure of the football team to reach a major bowl under either Mason or Brewster will also be a part of Maturi’s legacy. The football team’s failures was a major reason Maturi scrambled every year attempting to run a balanced budget.


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