Throw another big name in Kansas Athletics history behind KU alum Mike Harrity as a candidate for the Jayhawks’ open athletic director job.
KU basketball legend Danny Manning, who, himself, has expressed interest in KU’s vacant AD position, has now thrown his support behind Army’s Deputy AD/Chief Operating Officer.
Harrity, you may remember, [received a similar endorsement from former KU football coach Mark Mangino][1] last week.
“KU needs a Jayhawk as the new AD who has an elite level of broad experience in college athletics,” Manning tweeted on Turesday. “Mike Harrity is what WE need.”
Manning continued: “As an alum, Mike shares the same pas-sion and will invest the energy to restore Kansas Athletics to what it needs to be – humble/hungry as we strive for excel-lence in all that we do.”
Harrity grew up in Kansas City, Kan., and earned a journalism scholarship to KU, where he became the first person in his entire extended family to graduate from college.
After graduating, Harrity worked in KU’s athletic department for a handful of years and was responsible for developing, co-ordinating and executing the Kansas Athletics staff’s commu-nity involvement, outreach and relationship-building while also heading up relationship-building and outreach to former stu-dent-athletes who have achieved success in professional ath-letics and business.
After leaving Kansas, Harrity spent several years as an Asso-ciate AD at Notre Dame, where he started in 2011.
In 2017, Harrity was selected as one of 25 senior-level athlet-ics administrators from across the country to participate in the NCAA Pathway Program.
The year-long program is designed to prepare those currently in senior-level positions to gain insight into every facet of an athletic department, preparing them to become well-rounded leaders who are equipped with the tools an effective athletic director needs.
Hired by Army in February of 2020, Harrity currently oversees several of the day-to-day functions Army’s athletic department, including all external units — fundraising/development, ticket-ing and strategic communication, which includes Army’s ath-letic communications, marketing and fan engagement en-deavors, digital and social strategies and creative video and broadcasting.
He also has been involved with Army’s plans to embark upon a major capital campaign to enhance Michie Stadium and as-sisted with the administration oversight for Army Football in addition to serving as a sport administrator for other varsity sports teams.
Throughout his career, Harrity has worked in college athletics programs in the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Patriot League.
**Here’s a quick look at some of the latest chatter I’ve heard about KU’s AD search:**
• The Journal-World has learned that well-known search firm, TurnkeyZRG, will assist Kansas in its search for a new athletic director.
• Multiple sources have told me the process is moving fast — perhaps even faster than expected — and that KU Chancellor Douglas Girod’s March 10 timeline of making a hire “within the next few weeks” is still in play.
• As of last Sunday, it was still too early to consider any candidate the leader.
• A couple of names worth adding to [our original list][2] include: Travis Goff, Deputy AD at Northwestern; Missy Conboy, Senior Deputy AD at Notre Dame; Mike Bohn, a KU graduate who is now the AD at USC; and Mark Alnutt, the current AD at Buffalo.
https://twitter.com/CoachDManning/status/1371869262323847172
https://twitter.com/CoachDManning/status/1371870053256298496
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2021/mar/11/deputy-ad-at-army-with-deep-ku-ties-gets/?templates=desktop
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/mar/10/few-early-names-watch-kus-search-new-athletic-dire/?templates=desktop
