Ohio University Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt announced his resignation Friday, the same day the University of Miami in Florida named him their new director of athletics.

Hocutt will officially begin his duties at the University of Miami on June 1, and said yesterday afternoon that he plans to meet with OU President Roderick McDavis early this week to discuss when he will actually leave Athens and how much aid he will provide during Ohio’s transition to a new athletic director.

“My focus is leaving Ohio University in the best way that I can,” said Hocutt, 36, who returned to Athens today.
Hocutt added that he would like to help the athletic department as much as possible with the NCAA investigation that is supposed to begin this week in to allegations that baseball players were involved in a sports gambling ring, the search for a new head volleyball coach and Ohio’s NCAA certification report, which is due May 1.

“Those are three big tasks that I’ll be involved in to the extent that Dr. McDavis would like me to be,” said Hocutt, who earned a yearly salary of $176,851 at OU.

Plans for Hocutt’s successor will be announced in the near future, according to an OU news release.

In his two-and-a-half years at OU, Hocutt dealt with numerous controversies, including the drunk driving conviction of football coach Frank Solich and the misuse of department purchasing cards by former director of business and internal operations Rob Andrey.

He had to reconstruct Ohio’s student-athlete code of conduct and disciplinary procedures following the arrests of 17 football players in a nine-month period during his second year. Most recently, Hocutt suspended three baseball players for their alleged involvement in a sports betting operation.

But it was Hocutt’s decision to cut four sports in January 2007 that brought the most criticism.

“I knew it was going to adversely affect 87 student athletes but I knew — and still believe — it was the right decision for the university and the department,” Hocutt said. “Every decision I’ve made at Ohio University I remain confident in to this day that they were and are the best decisions for the university.”

Hocutt did provide some stability to the financially-strapped athletic department he inherited, which has seen a 75 percent increase in donations since 2006 when he created the Ohio Bobcat Club, a fund raising arm of the department.

“Ohio University faced and still faces significant financial stress within its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics,” Hocutt said. “We made steps with a plan we put in place last year, but we’ve got to finalize that long term plan and it will be up to whoever follows me to see that through.”

The University of Miami has been searching for a new athletic director since fall and university President Donna Shalala is enthusiastic about hiring the youngest athletic director in Division I.

Hocutt “understands sports,” Shalala said. “He understands what a locker room smells like. He’s got a real smell for sports.”

Hocutt will replace retiring University of Miami Director of Athletics Paul Dee, who has held the position for the past 15 years. Dee tried to bring Hocutt to the University of Miami as an associate athletic director back in 2002 when he was still at the University of Oklahoma.
       

— Campus Staff Editor Laura Bernheim contributed to this report from Miami.