Interview is second for Long
Posted on Sunday, September 9, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE - When Pittsburgh Athletic Director Jeff Long flew to Fayetteville on Friday with his wife, Fanny, it marked his second meeting with UA officials in the past few days.
Long met with Arkansas Chancellor John White, UA System President Alan Sugg and board of trustees Chairman Stanley Reed about a week ago at an undisclosed location, Reed said on Saturday.
The fact Long had a followup meeting and visited Fayetteville with his wife is a strong indication he's set to succeed Frank Broyles and become Arkansas'next athletic director, but Reed declined to confirm or deny if a job offer has been made.
"No contract's been signed,"Reed said. "We've talked with [Long ] and we certainly have an interest in him, and I think he's got an interest in us.
"We haven't finalized any arrangement... We want to get to the point where whoever we offer is going to accept, and we're not necessarily to that point yet.
"We're close, but we've still got some things to work out. It's a process that we're still involved in. No decision has been made."
Long returned to Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon and attended the Panthers' game Saturday against Grambling State, which Pittsburgh won 34-10.
"I think the issue is whether or not he's going to be able to leave Pitt,"Reed said of Long's interest in Arkansas. "He's dealing with that as we speak, I guess.
"I know they were going to put pressure on him to try and keep him, and I guess that's good. That means he's a good man, or they wouldn't want to try and keep him.
"They said they're going to match everything we can come up with, if we decide to make an offer. We'll see how it goes."
Long told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Saturday that he met with Arkansas officials on Friday, but wouldn't say whether he's been offered the job.
"I went to Arkansas and had a conversation with them about their athletic director's position,"Long told the Tribune-Review before the Pittsburgh-Grambling State game. "We had a visit and really, beyond that, there isn't much more to say."
Long said he told Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg of Arkansas' interest before the visit.
"They had an interest in me and I felt it was a situation where I needed to at least have a conversation with them,"Long said. "I did share that with Chancellor Nordenberg before I left. Now I'm back in Pittsburgh, my focus is on the student-athletes who are performing here [Saturday ]. My energies are focused on Pitt, and that's the way it's going to be.
"Beyond that, I'm not going to say anything. I don't want to have any further comment on it."
Long is in the final year of his contract at Pittsburgh and has an annual financial package of about $ 200, 000, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He has been negotiating for a contract extension, but a deal hasn't been finalized. Broyles'annual package at Arkansas is about $ 260, 000.
White began leading a search for Broyles' successor in February when Broyles announced he was retiring effective Dec. 31, 2007, after 50 years at Arkansas.
Broyles, 82, was Arkansas'head football coach from 1958-1976 and has been athletic director since 1973, but hasn't been involved in the search for his successor.
Broyles was in Fayetteville on Friday, but said he didn't visit with Long.
"I didn't even know he was here,"Broyles said. "No one told me he was coming."
Broyles said it didn't come as surprise White declined to ask him to meet with Long.
"It's different than what I would have expected a few months ago, but I'm not surprised now,"Broyles said. "Everything is being done so secretly."
White has said previously he personally would handle the search for a new athletic director "to maintain the confidentiality of the process"and consult with Sugg and Reed.
"That's the way the process has been set up from the beginning,"Reed said Saturday. "John lays the groundwork and screens the candidates, then we get involved in the interview process.
"I think it's been working very well. John has done a great job."
Long, 48, has been Pittsburgh's athletic director since May 2003. Prior to that he was an associate athletic director at Oklahoma, athletic director at Eastern Kentucky and associate athletic director at Michigan and Virginia Tech. He also has held football coaching and administrative positions at Rice, Duke and North Carolina State.
A native of Kettering, Ohio, Long graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1982 with a bachelor's in economics and earned a master's degree in education in 1983 from Miami (Ohio ) University, where he was a graduate assistant football coach.
"He has a pretty impressive resume,"Reed said. "He's been around a lot of different places and gotten a lot of good experience in athletic development work and fund-raising and compliance.
"He's a very impressive, articulate, to-the-point type person.
"He seemed very genuine and pleasant [during last week's meeting ]. I think he'd be easy for people to talk to and get to know. His wife is a very charming person."
The fact Long brought his wife to Fayetteville on Friday shouldn't be overlooked.
"We don't want to have another Dana Altman issue,"said Reed, referring to the Creighton basketball coach who accepted the Arkansas job in April, then a day later backed out after his wife and youngest daughter came to Fayetteville for the announcement. "We want to be sure they make an informed decision."
Reed declined to say if Long is the only candidate Arkansas officials have interviewed for the athletic director's job, but said Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson has not interviewed.
Dickson has been mentioned in the Democrat-Gazette as a possible candidate.
Reed said he hopes a new athletic director will be named within the next two weeks.
"But we want to make sure we get the right person for Arkansas,"he said. "We're still in the process of working on that."
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