New AD takes over early at MSU
The final piece of a 16-month saga involving control of Mississippi State’s athletic department has been solved.
MSU transferred control of the day-to-day operations of the department to Greg Byrne on June 11, MSU interim president Vance Watson confirmed Thursday. Byrne, 37, has been MSU’s athletic director-in-waiting since the state College Board confirmed his hire on Feb. 21.
Larry Templeton was to have served through June 30, when his contract expires. But Watson said Templeton approached him last month at the Southeastern Conference’s spring meetings about making the transition earlier.
“He came to me there and told me that since he had the role in Omaha with the baseball committee he actually wanted to go ahead and transfer the day-to-day responsibilities,” Watson said.
Templeton is chairman of the Division I baseball committee. He left Starkville for the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., on June 9 and won’t be back until next week.
“It was going to happen and I was getting ready to be gone for almost three weeks,” Templeton said. “It just made sense on the part of the staff to know who they were reporting to and what was going to take place.”
Templeton cleaned out his office prior to his leaving and Byrne moved in last week.
“He’s in charge,” Watson said. “We completed all the legal work, the paperwork handover that athletic directors have to have.”
clarionledger.com
6/20/08
