A.D. Search Nears Conclusion

An announcement of who will replace Harvard Athletic Director William J. Cleary ’56 is expected soon, possibly as early as next week, sources close to the search said.

Finalists for the position visited Cambridge last week, touring campus, meeting with University officials, and learning about the athletic department.

According to an article published Monday in the Boston Globe, the three finalists are Colgate University Athletic Director Mark Murphy, Vanderbilt University Senior Associate Athletic Director Brad Bates, and “dark horse” candidate Brian Hehir ’75, a vice chair of Merrill Lynch in New York.

However, internal sources say Harvard Senior Associate Director of Athletics Patricia Henry also remains as a possible candidate.

For now, the final decision remains for Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and President Lawrence H. Summers.

The announcement is one of the most immediate decisions for Summers, since the athletic department had hoped a replacement would be in place on July 1.

The chair of the search committee, former athletic director John P. Reardon ’60 was on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment.

Cleary has been said to favor coaches with Division I experience, and Bates and Murphy both fit that bill.

However, Hehir, a former Harvard varsity football player, has worked at Merrill Lynch for more than 20 years and has no experience in intercollegiate athletics at any administrative level.

In 1999, he was appointed vice chair of investment banking. Prior to that, Hehir had been co-head of Equity Capital Markets.

Hehir did not return phone calls this week.

For his part, Bates said he was attracted to Harvard because it offers “the opportunity to excel at the highest level athletically and intellectually.”

“Philosophically, Harvard is trying to achieve the purest idea of intercollegiate athletics,” he said.

In the past year, Bates has also been a candidate for the top athletic job at the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley, universities that he said share Harvard’s philosophy.

Murphy has not returned telephone calls from The Crimson over the past two weeks.

Colgate Associate Athletic Director Nancy Little said Murphy is a “terrific administrator” and highly regarded at the university, where he has overseen a department ranked in the top ten nationally for its athletes’ graduation rate. She said that he would be a great catch for Havard and would be sorely missed at Colgate.

A former free safety in the NFL, Murphy captained the Washington Redskins team that won Super Bowl XVII.

Since he arrived at Colgate in 1992, the Colgate football team overcame a 0-11 record in 1995 to make back-to-back appearances in the NCAA 1-AA playoffs and the men’s basketball team has twice qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard’s search committee is made up of Reardon, Associate Dean of the College Thomas A. Dingman ’67, Professor John E. Dowling ’57, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, former University Provost Jerry R. Green, Professor Barbara Gross, Associate Dean of the Faculty Nancy L. Maull, and University Overseer Joseph O’Donnell.

Committee members have declined to comment on the status of the search.

—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.