UW interim AD says he won’t be permanent choice

Published 11:08 pm Thursday, May 1, 2008

SEATTLE — Scott Woodward, the man viewed as a frontrunner to become Washington’s next athletic director, announced Thursday that he is not a candidate for the job.

Woodward, who came to Washington with university president Mark Emmert from Louisiana State in 2004, is the school’s vice president of external affairs and has also been the acting athletic director since Todd Turner stepped down on Jan. 31.

Woodward had said in recent months that he was enjoying his duties as athletic director and that he was “leaning towards” chasing the job, but he and Emmert decided that Woodward is more valuable to the school in his current role.

“I’ve had numerous, long conversations with President Emmert, and he convinced me that he thought I’m needed in external affairs because we have a big year fiscally coming ahead and we have a lot going on in marketing,” Woodward said. “That being said, I’ve decided the best place for me to serve the university is in my current position as vice president of external affairs.”

Woodward said he plans to remain the acting AD as long as is needed while the school conducts it’s search, and that after a new AD is names he’ll “Continue to be President Emmert’s liaison to the athletic department.”

While he won’t oversee the athletic department in the long run, Woodward plans to be “Intimately involved in the athletic department’s number one priority over the next year and that is the restoration and renovation of Husky Stadium.”

Emmert has appointed a 14-member search committee to find Washington’s next AD, and the school has also hired Atlanta firm Parker Executive Search to aid in the search.

Woodward said that it wasn’t easy turning down a shot at the athletic director’s job

“But I’m a team guy and President Emmert expressed to me, not in emphatic terms, but in his subtle way that he needed me in my current job and I understand that,” Woodward said. “It is with mixed emotions that I make this decision.”

Woodward said that overall, he thinks the department is in good shape, but expressed concern about “Complacency issues and some acceptance of mediocrity.”

“People were assuming that doing the right thing and winning were mutually exclusive and they’re not,” he said. “Winning is a very important core value of what we do. Frankly, the other things—being compliant, doing things in the best interest of the student-athlete—are underpinnings.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog