Roy Danforth Withdraws as Finalist for UC Irvine Job

Roy Danforth, one of three finalists for the athletic director job at UC Irvine, said Monday he has withdrawn from consideration.

Danforth, athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson, said he mailed a letter to school officials withdrawing his name on Oct. 9, a few days after returning home to New Jersey after a second interview on the Irvine campus.

His decision leaves Brad Rothermel, formerly athletic director at Nevada Las Vegas, and Vic Cegles, an assistant athletic director at Arizona State, as the remaining candidates.

Interestingly, several key Irvine officials said Monday they were unaware that Danforth had removed himself from contention. Danforth’s letter presumably was addressed to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Horace Mitchell, who is out of town on business until later this week. An attempt to reach Mitchell was unsuccessful.

James McGaugh, chairman of the nine-member search committee that narrowed the field to three, said he did not know Danforth had withdrawn. McGaugh, a professor of psychobiology who is the director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, said his committee had not met since forwarding its recommendations to Mitchell. McGaugh noted, however, that the committee has not been dismissed.

Danforth declined to be specific about why he withdrew.

“I’m not going to get into comparing programs, saying what’s good and what’s bad,” he said. “I think Irvine has a first-class organization and great people. The (interview process) was very thorough and very fair. After a great deal of evaluation and lengthy thoughts, I feel that I’m better off here.”

Danforth previously has been athletic director at Tulane, and coached basketball at Tulane and Syracuse.

Irvine is seeking a replacement for Tom Ford, who resigned in July to become assistant executive director of the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches.

One of the factors contributing to Ford’s resignation was the department’s low level of funding, and sources have said that all three candidates expressed concern about the university’s financial commitment to athletics.