Eaton takes over July 10
Three days after Debbie Yow announced her decision to take over as athletic director at North Carolina State, the University of Maryland named Randy Eaton as its interim replacement. Eaton will take over on July 10, when Yow’s departure becomes official.
Eaton, 49, has been at Maryland since 2003, arriving as the athletics business director. Since 2008, he has worked as the senior associate athletics director and chief financial officer, monitoring Maryland’s $55 million athletics budget.
“I’m happy to serve the university in this role, and I’m honored to be asked,” Eaton said in a statement. “The entire ICA staff will be part of ensuring a smooth transition. Debbie has left us in good shape administratively. I hope to keep everything moving forward while the president’s office conducts a national search.”
Eaton, a Texas native, came to Maryland after serving as associate AD at Houston. He also worked for Ohio State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas-San Antonio and East Tennessee State.
Eaton could hold the job for a while. The retirement of president C.D. Mote on Aug. 31 complicates the hiring process. Mote is assembling a search committee that will identify candidates for the AD position, but likely will leave the decision to his successor.
Upon her departure, Yow lobbied publicly for Connecticut athletic director Jeff Hathaway to be her successor. Hathaway, a former Terps basketball reserve for one season (1978-79), served at Maryland before moving to UConn to work for former Maryland AD Lew Perkins.
When Perkins left UConn in 2003, Hathaway — then the athletic director at Colorado State — returned to Storrs to take over Perkins’ job.
In his first year, the UConn women and men won NCAA basketball championships. Under Hathaway, UConn also made a successful transition to Division I-A football. Recently, however, Hathaway has come under fire as the Connecticut basketball team faces a possible sanction for recruiting violations.
Immediate concerns for the new Maryland AD will be the department’s $5.5 million deficit (whittled from $51 million by Yow), the status of head football coach Ralph Friedgen, who is coming off a 2-10 season and has two years left on his contract, and the status of Maryland in the changing landscape of college sports.
