Athletic Director Danny White is one of three finalists for the AD opening at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and will interview for the job Monday in Chicago, according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel.
The report said UCF President John Hitt will also interview DeWayne Peevy, Kentucky deputy director of athletics.
White signed a five-year contract extension with UB last fall in order to show “commitment to the Buffalo community and this university,” he told The Spectrum at that time. White was the highest paid athletic director in the Mid-American Conference in the 2013-14 fiscal year with a pay of $301,625, according to USA Today.
White’s original contract included $75,000 to assist with relocation expenses, which he owed back to UB if he voluntarily ends his employment before June 3, 2017.
UCF’s search for an athletic director comes after interim AD and football head coach George O’Leary resigned from both positions during the past month. White’s father Kevin White is the athletic director at Duke and has a connection to O’Leary. Kevin hired O’Leary as football coach at Notre Dame in 2001 when he was the university’s athletic director, but O’Leary resigned five days later after inaccuracies in his resume came to light.
UCF has had its own struggles. The university’s football team is currently winless (0-10) and saw $1 million drop-off in ticket sales, according to Orlando Sentinel.
White has had relative success with Buffalo’s football team on and off the field in the four seasons he’s been at UB. The team got to a bowl game in 2013 and is still in contention for a bowl game this season after a losing season in which White fired head coach Jeff Quinn in 2014. Buffalo’s football attendance ranked first and second in the MAC, respectively, the past two seasons.
During his three-plus years in Buffalo, White has rebranded UB Athletics through the New York Bulls Initiative, or NYBI. Buffalo’s logo and jersey now prominently feature the words “New York” as opposed to “Buffalo” in order to emphasize UB’s standing as the largest public university in the SUNY system.
White has also emphasized bringing in donations through the Blue and White Fund, leading to renovations like expanding the Murchie Family Football Center and the construction of the Edmond J. Gicewicz Club, a premium-seating club in UB Stadium that opened this season.
He often speaks of securing funds for the construction of a field house on campus, as UB is currently the only school in the MAC without such a facility or set plans to build one.
White has also brought in many of his own coaches in his three years at UB, as he has fired eight coaches that were in Buffalo before he arrived in May 2012.
Buffalo has won a total of three team Mid-American Conference Championships under White, including the men’s basketball team’s first-ever conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance last season.
Tom Dinki is the editor in chief and can be reached at tom.dinki@ubspectrum.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tomdinki.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
