Rothermel Among Finalists for UC Irvine Job : Administration: List of athletic director candidates is narrowed to ex-UNLV official, Arizona State’s Cegles and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Danforth.

Brad Rothermel, former Nevada Las Vegas athletic director, is one of three finalists for the UC Irvine athletic director job.

The others are Vic Cegles, an assistant athletic director for development at Arizona State, and Fairleigh Dickinson Athletic Director Roy Danforth.

The three were among five candidates interviewed on campus last week, and they will return for second interviews beginning Monday, a university spokesman announced.

Ed Green, formerly athletic director at Coastal Carolina, and Gary Ness, the outgoing athletic director at New Mexico, were eliminated after preliminary interviews with a nine-member search committee last week. The committee is headed by James McGaugh, a professor who is the director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

Irvine is seeking a replacement for Tom Ford, who resigned in July to become assistant executive director of the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches. Barbara Camp, an associate athletic director, is acting as athletic director but did not apply for the permanent position.

Rothermel, who resigned as UNLV athletic director in June, 1990, is a professor of kinesiology at UNLV and also teaches an undergraduate course in athletic administration.

He is well known by some members of the Irvine athletic department because UNLV and Irvine are members of the Big West Conference. Rothermel characterized his initial interview as an opportunity for both sides to assess their interest. He was particularly concerned about Irvine’s commitment to building a strong athletic program, specifically as it relates to university funding.

“I think there is a very strong commitment from the interim chancellor (L. Dennis Smith) and those subordinate to him,” Rothermel said after his interview.

Rothermel’s resignation at UNLV came during an ongoing conflict between the NCAA and Jerry Tarkanian, then UNLV basketball coach, and the NCAA’s investigation into the program’s involvement with former New York high school star Lloyd Daniels. Rothermel said that although he and UNLV President Robert C. Maxson disagreed over how to handle the conflicts, his resignation was not forced.

“It was my decision,” said Rothermel, who says he supported Tarkanian and does not believe there is evidence of rules violations by the former coach. “It was obvious to me that the agenda of UNLV was different from the one I had.”

Cegles, whose responsibilities at Arizona State include fund development, an area Irvine is stressing in its search, termed his first interview “a good opportunity,” and said he remains interested.

Danforth, a former basketball coach at Syracuse and Tulane, guided Syracuse to the 1975 Final Four. He has been athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson, a Division I school in Teaneck, N.J., since 1986.

The search committee will make final recommendations later this month to Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor for student affairs. Mitchell has said that he expects to name an athletic director by Nov. 1. However, an earlier announcement is possible.