NCAA

Michigan State’s board of trustees voted to hire Merrily Dean Baker, an assistant executive director of the NCAA, as athletic director, the first woman to head both men’s and women’s athletics for a Big Ten school.

The Board hired Baker, 49, to the $118,000-per-year job by a 6-2 vote. She replaces George Perles, Spartan football coach.

The only other women who hold the position at major universities are Washington’s Barbara Hedges and UC San Diego’s Judith Sweet.