Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
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Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns
3:46 PM, January 24, 2014 |
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Tracy Huth gave almost 35 years of his life to Oakland University.
Today, he announced that itʼs time to take some for himself.
With his two children in college or beyond, and his wife living 2,300
miles away, Huth, 52, decided to step down from his job as
Oaklandʼs athletic director, effective next week.
“Iʼve been looking at this for at least several weeks, if not months,”
Huth said in an exclusive interview with the Free Press. “It was
time. Itʼs as much a family decision as it is anything else.”
Since marrying Jenny Roulier in 2010, a year after she was fired as
an OU womenʼs basketball assistant coach, Huth has tried to
balance his family and the school that is so much of his identity.
With Jenny getting a job as an assistant at UCLA in May 2011, at
some point, a decision had to be made. So Huth is snipping ties
with OU on Jan. 31.
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1/28/14 12:01 PM
Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20140124/SPORTS08/301240083...
could reach
Oakland University athletic director Tracy Huth. / Rob Widdis / Special to the DFP
By Mark
Snyder
Detroit Free
Press Sports
Writer
FILED UNDER
Sports
Other Colleges
2 of 7
“Though Iʼve been here for more than 30-some years, Iʼve never
done the same thing for an extended period of time,” he said.
“Whether thatʼs who I am, wanting to be involved and have different
things going on, eventually this was going to happen no matter
what.”
Faculty representative Robby Stewart will serve as the interim AD.
A search for a new AD is expected to begin soon.
Grammys
Grammys m
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1/28/14 12:01 PM
Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
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http://www.freep.com/article/20140124/SPORTS08/301240083...
Huth will serve as a part-time liaison through
June. With his departure, OU will lose a large
part of its heritage. His low-key manner
deflects the attention, but he might be as
important to the fabric of Oakland athletics
as anyone in its history.
He arrived in 1980 as an elite swimmer and
remains the most prolific athlete in OU
history, winning 24 All-America honors and
13 Division II national titles, the only
swimmer in NCAA history to win the 200 and
400 individual medley in four straight
U-M's Staus
congratulatio
That led to becoming the head coach of the OU womenʼs swimming
program for 11 years, with which he won five straight Division II
national titles and finished in the top three nine straight years.
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Jan. 25, 2014
PHOTO GALL
seasons.
From there, he rose to assistant athletic director in 1998 and
assumed the AD chair in 2006 — full-time in 2007.
SPONSORED
Heʼs the only individual inducted as both an athlete and a coach
into schoolʼs Lepley Hall of Honor (which, coincidentally, will induct
its 2014 class tonight). And he figured into every prominent moment
of the departmentʼs rise from a Division II afterthought to an
accomplished Division I mid-major program.
bRIGHT Swit
NEST of Ligh
bRight Switch
His hands were everywhere, from leading the charge for OU to host
NCAA menʼs basketball tournament games, modernizing facilities
and, just this year, transitioning into the Horizon League.
Skeptics may tie his departure to last summerʼs scandal involving
former womenʼs basketball coach Beckie Francis. After her players
accused her of mental abuse, Huth suspended her and fired her
following an internal investigation. At the time, Huth may have been
Francisʼ boss but his boss was Francisʼ husband, school president
Gary Russi, who announced his resignation the same day as the
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Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20140124/SPORTS08/301240083...
firing.
Crisis management was not new for him. In 1997, he was the
womenʼs swim coach and in the athletic administration when the
menʼs and womenʼs swim programs were suspended after an
alcohol-fueled party preceded a car accident that killed a university
student.
“For me, itʼs the ability to not get too low when thereʼs low points,
not get too high when thereʼs high points and try to stay in the
middle as much as possible,” Huth said. “If thereʼs ever a job where
you have to be able to handle that, itʼs as an athletic director,
because it doesnʼt matter whatʼs low and whatʼs high. There will
always be situations that present themselves.”
For the first time in decades, Huth enters the great unknown. Until
the summer, heʼll be helping OU. Then heʼll move to Los Angeles to
unite his family.
Clinton Town
While he guided OU through the turbulence of the past year, he
feels his greatest impact will come after he leaves.
“Thatʼs how I see my job as athletic director,” he said. “You hope
you have people there that, no matter what the situation and what
youʼre dealing with, theyʼre prepared.”
Contact Mark Snyder: [email protected]. Follow him on
Twitter @ mark__snyder.
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Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20140124/SPORTS08/301240083...
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1/28/14 12:01 PM
Oakland U. AD Tracy Huth resigns | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20140124/SPORTS08/301240083...
Oakland U. AD Tracy
Huth resigns
By Mark Snyder Detroit Free Press
Sports Writer Filed Under Sports
Other Colleges
Jan. 27
freep.com
Tracy Huth gave almost 35 years of
his life to Oakland University.
Today, he announced that it’s time to
take some for himself.
With his two children in college or
beyond, and his wife living 2,300
miles away, Huth, 52, decided to step
down from his job as Oakland’s
athletic director, effective next week.
“I’ve been looking at this for at least
several weeks, if not months,” Huth
said in an exclusive interview with the
Free Press. “It was time. It’s as much
a family decision as it is anything
else.”
Since marrying Jenny Roulier in
2010, a year after she was fired as an
OU women’s basketball assistant
coach, Huth has tried to balance his
family and the school that is so much
of his identity.
With Jenny getting a job as an
assistant at UCLA in May 2011, at
some point, a decision had to be
made. So Huth is snipping ties with
OU on Jan. 31.
“Though I’ve been here for more than
30-some years, I’ve never done the
same thing for an extended period of
time,” he said. “Whether that’s who I
am, wanting to be involved and have
different things going on, eventually
7 of 7
1/28/14 12:01 PM