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The UNF athletic director search committee gathered for its first meeting Sept. 15 after this summer’s announcement that former athletic director Dr. Richard Gropper would be moving on.

The meeting was the beginning of a series scheduled to continue the second week in November, after the initial screening of applications is completed.

The committee’s goal is to have a field of approximately five applicants visit the campus in January and to have UNF President John Delaney’s choice for the new athletic director begin work around the beginning of March.

The committee spent a majority of the meeting narrowing specifications on what it is generally looking for from applicants.

The general consensus was the next athletic director should be someone who has experience working with Division I programs and who can help UNF continue to make the transfer to Division I.

“We’re looking for someone who has had a lot of experience and can bring a different perspective to UNF athletics,” Delaney said in the meeting.

Some of the preferences the committee is including on the application are Division I experience, athletic program experience, a master’s degree and six years of administrative experience, or a bachelor’s degree and eight years of administrative experience. However, sometimes the person best fit for the job doesn’t always fit all the criteria, Delaney said.

“Sometimes there’s a superstar applicant who leaves an amazing impression, but might not fit all the criteria on the application; that was my situation when I applied for the president position,” Delaney said.

Another topic the committee discussed was the possibility of hiring a private search agency to put together a group of applicants to choose from.

The group agreed university contact with applicants can often be hard due to the guidelines of the Sunshine Laws. It was one of the only topics on which the group could not come to a conclusion.

It was noted there is a big difference between going out and actually recruiting possible applicants as opposed to waiting for people to apply.

Head women’s basketball coach Mary Tappmeyer pointed out it is important to sell all that UNF has to offer applicants to draw in interest.

One of these things is a desire to win.All members of the search committee agree whoever is brought into the open position should have a winning attitude.

“Five years ago this hire would have been a different priority,” Delaney said. “But now, we are all about winning.”

Committee meetings are open to the public, as well as any information discussed or presented at the meetings.

E-mail John Weidner at sports@unfspinnaker.com.