Northwestern hires NCAA govt Derrick Gragg as AD

Northwestern employed NCAA govt Derrick Gragg as its athletic director Friday, the varsity’s second time filling the place in just a little greater than a month.

Mike Polisky, a longtime deputy AD at Northwestern, was promoted to the job Could 3 however stepped down amid backlash as a result of he was named in a sexual harassment lawsuit towards the Large Ten college by former Wildcats cheerleaders.

Polisky was employed to switch Jim Phillips, who left Northwestern final 12 months to change into commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Convention.

Gragg was athletic director at Tulsa from 2013 till final 12 months, when he left to affix the NCAA. He was named senior vice chairman for inclusion, training and neighborhood engagement in August and began the job in October.

“I’m thrilled and humbled to affix the Northwestern College household at this pivotal second in faculty athletics,” Gragg stated in a press release. “I sit up for becoming a member of an unbelievable roster of coaches and employees in Evanston on this collaborative mission to assist our Wildcats obtain on the highest stage as college students, as athletes and as individuals.”

The 51-year-old former Vanderbilt soccer participant has a 25-year profession in faculty athletics that features stints as an administrator with Missouri, Michigan and Arkansas. He was athletic director at Japanese Michigan from 2006-13.

Northwestern President Morton Schapiro, who initially defended the promotion of Polisky within the face of criticism from inside the Northwestern neighborhood, referred to as Gragg the “ideally suited particular person for the job.”

“It was important for us to seek out the appropriate chief for the following chapter at Northwestern – somebody who can construct each educational and athletic excellence at a time of fast change within the intercollegiate sports activities panorama, and in addition somebody who can create the very best surroundings for college kids, employees and coaches,” Schapiro stated in a press release.

Northwestern hires NCAA govt Derrick Gragg as AD initially appeared on NBCSports.com