The first step to naming a new athletic director for Auburn University was taken Monday morning as a six-person advisory committee was named.
“We’re excited to see the high caliber of leaders interested in the position,” said Auburn President Steven Leath in a statement.
“Jay Jacobs deserves great credit for leading Auburn athletics, and his successor can build on a department that’s already excelling in many ways,” Leath said. “We’ll move quickly, but it’s more important to do it right.”
The search committee is chaired by Gaines Lanier, a three-year football letterman at Auburn under Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan. Lanier is a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and the Tigers Unlimited Board.
Former Auburn women’s golf coach Kim Evans serves as committee vice chair. The five-time SEC Coach of the Year led the program to eight SEC Championships and seven top 10 finishes.
Other committee members are Jason Dufner, Adrienne “AJ” Lee, Beverly Marshall and Quentin Riggins.
Dufner is a former Auburn men’s golf All-American who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the PGA Championship in 2013. Lee is a former Auburn gymnast with a doctorate in higher education administration from Auburn. She now works as a leadership training consultant for “game on Nation.”
Marshall is the SunTrust Bank Professor of Finance in Auburn’s Harbert College of Business. She is the former president of the Eastern Finance Association and researches the financial decision-making of managers.
Riggins was an All-SEC linebacker for Auburn in 1988-89. He is a senior vice president at the Alabama Power Company and a member of the Auburn Board of Trustees.
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