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Show COUGARlMTli r - - f-- j i JASON OI.SONCoupir Nation MERRILL BATEMAN: Speaks at a Nov. 29, 1 998, press conference announcing the Liberty Bowl's invitation to BYU for its 998 game. decision-makinthan past university presidents. Dating back to Bateman claims he isn't any more involved in e Ernest Wilkinson and including every one since (Dallin Oaks, Jeffrey Holland, Rex Lee), BYU presidents have been Cougar enthufootball front the the Center. the sidelines Marriott and at row on siasts, showing up 1 day-toda- y athletic-departme- g high-profil- Rondo was involved in skouring the country for a replacement, quietly bringing candidates in for interviews and sifting through resumes. There was a small committee developed in the end, but it was a normal process. In the end there were probably three or four very good candidates. Rondo felt strongly about Steve and a number of us felt really good about him. And that's who we hired. tor. I have no interest in being the athletic director, nor do I try to be involved in major decisions early on. I don't think I'm any more involved in our athletic department than Bernie Machen is at the University of Utah. In fact, at the U, (athletic director) Chris Hill reports directly to President Machen now. Here, Fred Skousen, as Advancement Vice President, has direct responsibility for athletics. CN: So it would be inaccurate to call you BYLTs real athletic director? MB: It would be very inaccurate. I have too much on my plate to be the athletic direc CN: Rondo has said that BYU is no different, really, than universities around the nation, where presidents have taken a larger role in athletics. MB: Athletics are an impor- tant part of the university. If we can do well with athletics with the quality of students who are right for our university, it makes a major statement about who we are and what the church is about. Our hope is the students will be representative of us in terms of behavior and academics as well as on the field. That would represent us well. Ninety-nin- e percent of our people are absolutely wonderful in upholding our standards. We're trying to refine our process to help students more up front. To help them make good choices from the start ' from the start. That's been done for a long time. We think we can improve on it. We don't think anyone's tried to subvert the process, that anyone's told athletes or students to come here without making them aware of what's expected. We're excited about Paul Warner, Bob Anae and the rest of the people at the new Student Athlete Center. They've already saved a couple of athletes. CN: How do you feel about stories about athletes like Junior Mahe, who have run Continued on Page 6 |