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Purple Pride
January 24th, 2007, 12:19 PM
Dr. Brad Teague, the athletic director at Delta State University the last four years, will be announced today as the new athletic director at the University of Central Arkansas.

Teague, who graduated from Delta State in 1992, will succeed John Thompson, who resigned last week after eight months on the job to return to football coaching as defensive coordinator at the University of Mississippi.

UCA President Lu Hardin, citing professional courtesy to a friend, declined any comment Tuesday night. Hardin and his wife, Mary, interviewed Teague and his wife, Gina, last weekend at Memphis.

Teague is poised to become UCA's third athletic director in less than a year and sixth in the last eight years. Citing his desire for more stability, President Hardin had mandated a four- or five-year commitment to UCA for anyone who sought the position.

After his initial interview with Teague, Hardin said that he was impressed and the two expected to talk further early this week. Hardin said no offer was made last weekend. But Hardin said that if Teague expressed serious interest in the job after further thought and upon further contact, then he would go on a "short, short" list.

Hardin said he was impressed with Teague's resume, which included a doctoral dissertation on fund-raising in athletics and his ability to increase funds to the DSU Foundation by about $250,000 in three years. He has also spearheaded several major construction projects at Delta State.

During Teague's tenure at the university, Delta State teams have won five Gulf South championships and one national title and the league's all-sports trophy in the men's division in the GSC. In 2005-06, 10 of the 13 sports teams at Delta State were national ranked and six competed in NCAA Division II playoffs. In the last three years, 226 athletes at Delta State have received academic honors.

Teague was an All-America pitcher for the Statesmen from 1988-92 and still ranks third on the school's all-time victories list with 29 and his 13 wins in 1992 ranks fifth all-time at the university.

He served as assistant director of the DSU Alumni Foundation for four years before moving to an assistant athletic director's position at Ole Miss. He served as associate director of the Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation until he returned to DSU as athletic director.

A native of Jackson, Miss., he is married to the former Gina Beach of Tunica. They have two sons, Parker (7) and Cooper (2) and a daughter, Berris (5). Teague is also related to Sam Teague and John Workman, both of whom have served as Methodist ministers in Conway.
:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

TexasTerror
January 24th, 2007, 07:32 PM
The AD from Delta St. This is a quality addition as UCA tries to continue their move up to Div I sports...

Delta St is a great athletic program. I've wanted them in the SLC. A very successful Div II program...

bobcatfan06
January 24th, 2007, 10:46 PM
Wish we could get a new AD.

One that does more than breathe and rake in a paycheck would be nice.

Purple Pride
January 25th, 2007, 08:46 AM
Article in today's Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

CONWAY - Central Arkansas introduced Brad Teague as its new athletic director on Wednesday, completing an inadvertent swap of athletic department officials with the state of Mississippi.
Teague, 36, arrives at Central Arkansas from Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., where he has been athletic director for four years. The hiring comes nine days after John Thompson announced that he was taking a football coaching position as defensive coordinator at Ole Miss after less than nine months as UCA’s athletic director.
Teague will be the third athletic director at Central Arkansas in less than four years and its sixth in the past eight, as UCA transitions from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I, completing a mandatory five-year NCAA probationary period before it can be eligible for postseason play as a member of the Southland Conference.
The Southland Conference competes for Division I championships in all sports except football, where it is designated as I-AA, one level below the top rung.
Perhaps the largest task ahead of Teague is fund raising, and it was his expertise in that area that first piqued interest. Teague’s doctoral dissertation was written on college athletic department fund-raising, which is especially important for a program that has 27 more football scholarships at its disposal and added five sports - men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and men’s crosscountry - during its probationary period on the way to being certified as a Division I school.
Central Arkansas’ athletic budget for 2005-2006, its final year as a member of the Division II Gulf South Conference was $5.1 million, according to university officials. This year’s athletic budget as a partially funded Division I program is $6.7 million, meaning that the full number of available athletic scholarships were not filled. To fully fund all scholarship and recruiting expenses, the school would need more than $7 million a year, according to Paul McClendon, Central Arkansas’ vice president for finance.
“I don’t know all the details, but I know how much they’ve raised and what they’ve done,” Teague said. “Fund raising is vital. There is always some way or someone to ask for more money.”
Teague said the move to Conway is a long-term commitment and that he has no plans to skip out on Central Arkansas President Lu Hardin, who endured the loss of Thompson after Vance Strange was on the job for three years.
“I want to be here for a long time,” Teague said. “Plus, I’m scared of him.”
Teague was joking when he said he feared Hardin but the instability in the athletic offices at Central Arkansas is no laughing matter. Teague is the sixth athletic director at Central Arkansas in the past eight years.
“Dr. Teague and I discussed the present situation,” Hardin said. “This isn’t a six-month transition; this is a several-year transition and we need someone here for that.
“[Teague] and I have a handshake agreement for him to be here at least four to five years and we are discussing a contract to formalize that.”
Teague will be on the job by March 1, and his annual salary will remain the $110,000 that both Thompson and Strange earned under the 2006-2007 budget. Several members of the board of trustees met in executive session with Teague and Hardin on Wednesday to discuss possible incentives and bonuses for fund-raising goals and length of tenure.
Hardin said he was just glad to be announcing Teague’s hiring.
“I think that he is one of the outstanding young athletic directors in the nation,” Hardin said. “Not only that, he’s one of the most outstanding young men in this country. I can tell you that when we were talking to him, there were several [schools from] other athletic conferences that were talking to him as well.”
Before becoming AD at Delta State Teague worked at Ole Miss as associate director of the Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation from 1998-2003. He worked for the foundation as a graduate assistant from 1996-1998. Teague worked in Delta State’s alumni foundation office from 1992-1996 after graduating from the school with a degree in mathematics.
During his playing days Teague was an All-American pitcher for the Statesmen. He won 29 games from 1988-1992, including 13 in 1992. In 1992 he was awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy by the Gulf South Conference as the conference’s top male athlete.
“I’ve spent the past 15 years working in higher education. I know I don’t look that old, but I have,” Teague said. “Eleven of those years have been in athletics and it’s an area where I am very comfortable.”

UCABEARS75
January 25th, 2007, 09:41 AM
Wish we could get a new AD.

One that does more than breathe and rake in a paycheck would be nice.

We feel your pain bobcatfan, we have had an interesting run with AD's over the past few years. I think we got us a keeper this time, hope so anyway.

aggie6thman
January 25th, 2007, 11:53 AM
Why has everyone bolted in the last year? Do they use the job as a stepping stone and then leave town? Hopefully this one stays for a while. I enjoyed watching you guys last season. Good Luck!

Purple Pride
January 25th, 2007, 01:16 PM
Why has everyone bolted in the last year? Do they use the job as a stepping stone and then leave town? Hopefully this one stays for a while. I enjoyed watching you guys last season. Good Luck!

This last AD was completely our fault. When the previous AD resigned, we conducted a 5 DAY SEARCH.xidiotx We ended up hiring a "has-been" coach that's had 15 jobs in 25 years (I think Spurrier fired him after 3 weeks). All the fans knew he would bolt as soon as he got an offer, regardless of what he said. Speaking of which, this ought to tell you a little about his honesty and integrity.
http://www.ucafans.com/redesign/article.php?article_id=149

I kind of feel sorry for Ole Miss. He'll never stay through his contract, I don't care what they pay him.

Keep you eyes open. He'll probably be applying at a school near you soon.xlolx xlolx :nod: :nod:

UCABEARS75
January 25th, 2007, 03:44 PM
Why has everyone bolted in the last year? Do they use the job as a stepping stone and then leave town? Hopefully this one stays for a while. I enjoyed watching you guys last season. Good Luck!

Combination of things. One guy was old and retired. Next guy left to move closer to home and became a conference commissioner. Next guy loved UCA but got into some differences with staff. Then Thompson left to go back to coaching.