Nero Named Athletic Director at Maine
March 12, 2003
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Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – ORONO — Patrick Nero, the senior associate athletic director at the University of Miami, will return to his native New England to become the University of Maine’s director of athletics. UMaine President Peter S. Hoff announced today that he haschosen Nero from among the three finalists who visited the university earlier this month. Hoff said today that he would recommend Nero’s appointment to Chancellor Westphal and the Board of Trustees.
“Patrick Nero embodies the attributes we were looking for in an athletic director,” Hoff says. “He has an impressive record of achievement in a 15-year career during which he has worked in successful, well-managed athletic departments at topacademic institutions. Patrick was destined to get an athletic director’s job very soon. We are pleased that it will be at the University of Maine.”
Nero is a Rhode Island native and a 1987 graduate of Providence College, where he was a classmate of UMaine baseball coach Paul Kostacopoulos. He began his athletic administration career at his alma mater, where he worked as director of athleticdevelopment from 1988-92. From Providence, Nero moved to Lamar University in Beaumont, Tex., where he was assistant athletic director for two years. He worked as assistant A.D. at Marquette University from 1994-96, when he moved to the Universityof Miami.
He expects to begin work at UMaine on April 15.
At Miami, Nero oversees the external operations of the athletic department, including functions such as fundraising, corporate sales, marketing, sports information, ticket sales, retail licensing and e-commerce. He manages a staff of 42 employees.Nero’s success in fundraising includes direction at Miami of a $100 million capital campaign, which has so far yielded funding for a student-athlete weight training facility, a soccer/track stadium, a new basketball arena (to be completed inDecember) and a baseball stadium renovation scheduled to begin at mid-year.
“While we were looking for someone with a fundraising track record, that was only part of the equation,” Hoff says. “We have talked with Patrick and many others who are familiar with his work and his background and we are very pleased with allaspects of his background and experience. He has a very good sense of the position of athletics in an academic environment; he has excellent management skills; and he has demonstrated outstanding leadership ability.”
The other finalists who visited UMaine for interviews were Robert Corran, the athletic director at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Jody Mooradian, the senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at NortheasternUniversity.
Hoff extended his thanks to Corran and Mooradian, along with the other candidates in the original pool of 50 applicants, for their interest in the UMaine position.
“The extensive interest in this opening and the extraordinary group of finalists indicate the high regard in which Black Bear athletics and the University of Maine are held,” Hoff says.
Nero will replace Suzanne Tyler, who stepped down from the UMaine athletic director’s job last May. Paul Bubb, UMaine’s senior associate athletic director, has severed as interim A.D. since then.
The search was conducted by an eleven-member search committee chaired by Diana Lawson, associate dean in the UMaine College of Business, Public Policy and Health. Betsy Alden of Alden and Associates in Amherst, Mass. worked with the university as asearch consultant.
Editors note: President Hoff and Patrick Nero will hold a news conference at UMaine on Thursday, March 13 at 12 noon. The news conference will take place in the Treat Room of Buchanan Alumni House.
