From The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN):
http://www.startribune.com/512/story/931572.html
The University of Minnesota is spending nearly $80,000 with a search firm to find a new head football coach and head men's basketball coach.
Southern Methodist University president R. Gerald Turner is quoted in the article:
R. Gerald Turner, president at Southern Methodist University and co-chair of the Knight Commission, a college athletic watchdog group comprised primarily of current and former college administrators, said search firms have become "almost mandatory" in the hiring process the past five years.
"I think constituents would criticize an athletic director for not getting the biggest sweep possible [if a search firm wasn't used]," Turner said. "It becomes rather parochial if you do the search yourself."