Single Quits; Gregg to Head Athletics at SMU

Southern Methodist Athletic Director Doug Single, hired three years ago to rebuild a scandal-scarred program, resigned today and Football Coach Forrest Gregg was named as his replacement.

Single, who came to SMU after the NCAA ordered the football program shut down for two years after finding numerous violations, left to head Special Olympics International.

The 56-year-old Gregg, hired by Single two years ago, will remain as football coach for the 1990 season before giving up his coaching duties to serve only as athletic director.

“In very few places has it ever worked successfully for the same person to be head coach and athletic director,” SMU President A. Kenneth Pye said. “Forrest brings integrity and the confidence of the alumni in his new jobs.”

Pye also praised Single, who was in Washington for a news conference to announce his new post, for restoring progress to SMU’s athletic programs.

“I’ll miss the players and the coaches, and it will be tough for me to leave coaching,” Gregg said about his decision to give up coaching after the 1990 season. “I thought I’d be coaching the rest of my career, but this job will present a tremendous challenge and I look forward to it.”

The 48-year-old Single was credited by university officials with motivating the school’s return to football competition. The Mustangs resumed playing football last year after the NCAA suspended the program after the 1986 season.

“We chose Doug Single to be director of athletics because of his integrity, academic excellence and creativity,” Pye said in a prepared statement. “He has lived up to every expectation. Special Olympics is giving him an extraordinary opportunity to bring his charisma and dedication to sports in the international arena.”

Single begins work for Special Olympics on Monday.

The NCAA sanctioned SMU on Feb. 24, 1987, canceling the school’s football season that year and restricting the number of scholarships for 1988 because of recruiting violations connected with the pay-for-play scandal.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded Special Olympics 22 years ago, announced Single’s selection as president and chief executive officer of the training and athletic competition for individuals with mental retardation.

“Doug Single has brought drive and integrity to every sports organization he’s led,” said Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz. “He’ll be great for Special Olympics, a one-of-a-kind combination of athlete, administrator, spokesman and all-around leader for a program unique in the whole world of sports.”

Single was selected from a field of more than two dozen candidates, resulting from what the sports organization called an exhaustive search lasting more than a year.

“Doug Single is a great athletic director, fund-raiser and athlete, but the greatest thing about him to me is this,” Shriver said. “For many years, he has been a volunteer for Special Olympics. To me, that makes him very special indeed.”

Single was also credited with helping to revitalize the SMU’s basketball program. School officials said he raised more than $3 million to finance renovation of the football stadium and to provide start-up costs for returning the football program to active status.

A national search committee that included Donald Keough, Coca-Cola Co. president and chief executive officer, made the recommendation for Single.

“It will take a dynamic individual to continue to lead and inspire the professional staffs and 500,000 unpaid volunteers who administer the programs each day around the world,” Keough said. “After a yearlong search, Doug Single has been identified as the sports leader who can best guide the continued expansion of Special Olympics.”

Single, at 29 the nation’s youngest athletics director, was also credited with reviving Northwestern’s athletic program.