Joel Maturi
What's your favorite Joel Maturi moment during his tenure as athletics director?
 Firing men's basketball coach Dan Monson
 Hiring coach men's basketball Tubby Smith
 Firing football coach Glen Mason.
 Hiring football coach Tim Brewster.
 Firing football coach Tim Brewster.
 Hiring football coach Jerry Kill.
 A contract extension for men's hockey coach Don Lucia.
 None of the above.
 All of the above.
 
 

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An emotional Joel Maturi said today he would retire as University of Minnesota athletics director when his contract expires June 30, ending a decade in which he rehabilitated a men's basketball program shattered by scandal, brought football back to campus and endured withering criticism for several coaching decisions.

During a news conference at TCF Bank Stadium, first-year university president Eric Kaler described the parting as a mutual decision he and Maturi reached in recent weeks, calling it "simply the right time." He called Maturi "a terrific human being" and praised him as "tireless." But Maturi, who turns 67 next week, acknowledged the demanding job was wearing on him.

"The 14-, 16-hour days have become more difficult. It makes a lot of sense," Maturi said. "We have a new president and an old athletic director."

With tears welling and his voice cracking, Maturi added: "It's been a great 10 years, a wonderful journey."

Kaler said Maturi would remain at Minnesota in a non-athletic capacity, teaching classes at the College of Education and Department of Kinesiology and assisting in fund-raising.

Kaler said a national search is underway to replace Maturi, saying he is looking for candidates with Division I athletics experience and "business acumen," someone who can "engage well with the external community," meaning boosters and other alumni.

"We are looking nationally, and that includes inside the university," Kaler said. "I'm going to listen to


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what people have to say."
Maturi has been under fire in recent years for some of his high-profile decisions, particularly regarding football coach Tim Brewster.

Brewster had no college or pro football experience as a head coach or coordinator when Maturi hired him after firing Glen Mason. Brewster lasted 3-1/2 seasons before he was fired during the 2010 season. Former Gophers football players took out a full-page ad in the Minnesota Daily expressing a lack of confidence in Maturi hiring the
new coach.
Maturi was hired in 2002 to help clean up a program tainted by an academic fraud scandal involving the basketball team. Under his watch, the Gophers built TCF Bank Stadium for football, and he hired a high-profile men's basketball coach in Tubby Smith.

Moreover, Gophers athletes have won more than 40 Big Ten or WCHA championships during Maturi's tenure.

But his highest-profiled teams have struggled.

Last season, his football team, his men's and women's basketball teams, and his men's hockey team all failed to make a national postseason appearance. The last time all four teams did not make a bowl or NCAA tournament was 1997-98. The last time there was no bowl, NCAA tournament or NIT or WNIT appearance was 1983-84.

Meanwhile, the university lost a lawsuit by Jimmy Williams, who claimed Smith had offered him an assistant coaching job. And it is embroiled in a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by former Gophers women's assistant golf coach Kathryn Brenny.

Maturi also took some heat at first for re-signing men's hockey coach Don Lucia after last season - but the Gophers are ranked No. 1 in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. Maturi also was ripped when he replaced Brewster with Jerry Kill, who never had been a major college head coach or assistant or player - but Kill's coaching history and success, his stable of stable assistants, and his discipline and pragmatism and energy quickly quelled the criticism.

"I know the job," Maturi said when asked

to judge his tenure. "Many base my success on wins and losses. I'm not worried about Joel Maturi's legacy. I leave ... feeling good."
Kaler says contract negotiations for coaches, most notably Smith, would remain on hold until a new athletic director is hired by July 1.

"I think that makes sense," he said. "That new person is going to have to manage those transitions."

i think the contract extension to lucia was a great idea. he can say he's retiring but he was on his way OUT anyway!!!!!

heard on the radio this morning that the U is going to form a "search committee" to look for a new AD.???? WHY  thats why some of these clowns are gettin paid the big bucks!