Searching for a New Athletic Director: Michael Cross

Recently the Buffalo news published a preliminary list of names rumored to be under consideration for Warde Manuel's old position.

In no particular order Bull Run will give a quick rundown of those names and of any others that pop up during the search. The second candidate inline is Dr. Michael Cross, who currently serves as the Athletic Director at Bradley University.

Cross took over the Bradley department last season. He came from Princeton, where he had been Executive Associate Director of Athletics since 2006. Before serving as Princeton's EAD he served as Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Intercollegiate Programming. In those roles Dr. Cross was a leading member of the senior management team that was responsible for the Ivy League university's 38 intercollegiate programs.

Tasked with rebuilding a basketball floundering basketball program at Bradley Cross poached Geno Ford from MAC powerhouse Kent. It's hard to know how things will play out after just one year but going after someone from a University with a bigger budget, and poaching their coach, was a solid move.

Bradley does not sponsor football so there has been no indications of how he would handle a football program.

While at Princeton he was a key figure in the committee that hired Bob Surace to take over the football program. Surace, a Princeton Alumni, had been an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.

So far, for Princeton, the hire has not went too well, but it's hard to guage the progress of a program as long suffering as Princeton after two years.

It should be noted that while at he was at Princeton the Tigers won the Ivy League's unofficial all-sports standings each year and has produced at least one individual team or national champion each year. During that time, Princeton teams have won 24 national championships and 153 Ivy League championships, more than any other Ivy League institution.

Cross received his master's degree in education from Buffalo in 1993 and a doctoral degree in higher education from the University of Michigan in 1999.

The lack of accomplishment with a football program gives some pause but he has held high ranking positions in two departments, one of which was a regular power in its class. The other 'hook' being mentioned are his ties to the University, is this a guy who will stick around based on his family roots and ties to the area?