Rothermel Won’t Pursue UC Irvine Job

Brad Rothermel, one of two finalists for the job of athletic director at UC Irvine, has withdrawn from consideration because his demands for dramatically increased athletic funding will not be met, Rothermel said Monday night.

The remaining finalist is Vic Cegles, an assistant athletic director at Arizona State. Cegles said late Monday he has not been offered the job, although he had a lengthy discussion about department funding with Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor of student affairs, earlier Monday. A third finalist, Fairleigh Dickinson Athletic Director Roy Danforth, had withdrawn earlier for unspecified reasons.

Rothermel, the former Nevada Las Vegas athletic director, had been seeking an increase of more than $1 million to UC Irvine’s $2.8-million athletic budget, saying that winning is “a matter of economics.”

Rothermel said he removed himself from contention during a conversation Monday night with Mitchell.

“He indicated to me what they felt was the best the university could do,” Rothermel said. “I withdrew my name.”

Rothermel declined to say what Irvine’s final position was, although the two sides had beennegotiating during the past week.

“I came in with a particular position,” Rothermel said. “I didn’t deviate. It sounds boastful, but I know what it takes to run a (successful) athletic program. I have carefully studied it, and I learned early on that you get about what you pay for. If you can’t pay for it, you can’t reap dividends.”

Irvine’s financial commitment to athletics emerged as a critical issue in the university’s selection of an athletic director, not only because of Rothermel’s hard-line stance, but because the other two candidates raised the issue as well. Funding was also an issue that contributed to the resignation of former athletic director Tom Ford in July.

Cegles, who was not contacted by Irvine officials for about two weeks after his final interview while Irvine focused its efforts on Rothermel, talked with Mitchell by telephone for 30 to 45 minutes Monday, focusing largely on Cegles’ assessment of the department’s need for increased funding, Cegles said. It was his second recent conversation with Mitchell.

Mitchell had a similar conversation last Thursday with Rothermel, who has said from the beginning that his interest in the job was contingent on dramatically improved financial support. Though Rothermel was unwilling to come down substantially on the dollar figure, he indicated he would consider a phase-in period of several years for the new funding.

Cegles, who specializes in fund development, also says additional financial support is “critical,” but he has not publicly made it a condition of accepting the job and he has not been as specific about the amount he believes is required.

The pressures for increased athletic funding come at a time when there have been budget cuts across campus, making it politically difficult for Mitchell and acting chancellor L. Dennis Smith to authorize new spending in athletics.

Irvine is hoping to name an athletic director by Nov. 1. Now, unless the search is re-opened, Cegles apparently will be the choice.

“We talked; I certainly am still a candidate,” Cegles said. “There has been no job offer. There was no conclusion, just some discussion.”