Joel Maturi may continue as the Gophers athletic director beyond the expiration of his current contract that ends in 2012.
Maturi told Sports Headliners he and incoming University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler will determine his future. Kaler officially succeeds president Bob Bruininks on July 1.
Bruininks offered Maturi a two-year contract extension last year but Maturi didn’t think it was in the best interests of the new president or the University to accept the offer with the changes going on in school leadership. The refusal was an example of Maturi’s integrity, a character trait that endears him to associates and friends.
During an interview Maturi said he and Kaler will use the new president’s first year as an opportunity to make a mutual decision about whether he should continue to lead the athletic department. Maturi, 66, is in good health, and has set no specific retirement goal. He said “if it’s good for the University” he’s interested in a contract extension.
Kaler and Maturi are already working together. “We’ve had meetings and discussed concerns (in the athletic department),” Maturi said.
Kaler is a sports fan and his commitment to athletics was among the reasons University regents approved of him as Bruinink’s successor. Whether he and Maturi determine it’s the right fit for Maturi to continue as athletic director will probably be decided before the calendar year ends.
Maturi, a native of Chisholm, has been athletic director since 2002. He is credited with uniting the men and women in his department, operating a 25 sport program that is both fiscally and ethically sound, and helping to build TCF Bank Stadium. He’s been nationally praised as an outstanding athletic director, although in Minnesota he has many critics who are unhappy with the performances of his three marquee sports–men’s basketball and hockey, and football.