Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, November 9, 2015
With news that Illinois has fired athletic director Mike Thomas, the Big Ten now has two schools being led by interim ADs.
[ MORE: Illinois fires director of athletics Mike Thomas ]
Minnesota is being spearheaded by interim A.D. Beth Goetz after Norwood Teague was let go in August. Paul Kowalczyk is filling in for Thomas at Illinois. And both schools also have interim football coaches in Tracy Claeys at Minnesota and Bill Cubit at Illinois.
The turnover at athletic director has been rapid in the Big Ten, as five of the current ADs have been hired since 2010. Once Illinois and Minnesota tab full-time replacements, half of the league?s athletic directors will have been on the job six years or less.
Here is a look at each full-time Big Ten athletic director and the year that person was hired.
Morgan Burke, Purdue, 1993
Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin, 2004
Gene Smith, Ohio State, 2005
Gary Barta, Iowa, 2006
Mark Hollis, Michigan State, 2008
Jim Phillips, Northwestern, 2008
Fred Glass, Indiana, 2008
Kevin Anderson, Maryland, 2010
Shawn Eichorst, Nebraska, 2012
Julie Hermann, Rutgers, 2013
Sandy Barbour, Penn State, 2014
Jim Hackett became Michigan's interim AD in 2014 and still holds the same title.
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