Sources: SMU expected to hire Maryland AD Damon Evans

[AfricanMustang]

Maryland athletic director Damon Evans has emerged as the target in the SMU athletic director search, sources told ESPN.

While there are steps remaining to formalize the hire, sources told ESPN that Evans' hire at SMU is expected to come together in the upcoming days.

Evans is a veteran athletic director at both Maryland, where he has been the athletic director since being named interim in 2017, and at Georgia from 2004-2010.

The hire comes at a compelling time for Maryland. The school's men's basketball program is a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and plays No. 13 Grand Canyon in the NCAA tournament on Friday in Seattle.

The Terps also are in the process of attempting to secure men's basketball coach Kevin Willard on a long-term deal. Willard has drawn interest from Villanova in that school's search to replace Kyle Neptune.

"Obviously it's difficult right now because I think we know (Evans') situation," Willard said Thursday. "He's probably going to SMU, so it's kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that's maybe not here. But I need to make fundamental changes to the program. That's what I'm focused on right now. That's why probably a deal hasn't got done because I want to see -- I need to see fundamental changes done. I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country, I want to win a national championship, but there's things that need to change.

"When you're at a place for three years and you put your heart and soul into it, you kind of sit there and say okay, wait a second for us to be really successful X, Y and Z needs to change and first and foremost, I need to make sure that we are where we are with NIL and rev share is not where we've been with NIL over the past two he years. We've been one of the worse, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years. So that's first and foremost."

Evans has been at Maryland since 2014, when he was hired as a senior associate athletic director after four years out of the business. He was named as the school's interim athletic director in 2017 and later promoted to permanent athletic director the following year.

He'll replace SMU athletic director Rick Hart, who will depart at the end of the year. The school announced that departure in February. Hart oversaw SMU's move to the ACC and hired Rhett Lashlee as football coach, moves that paved the way for SMU's unlikely appearance in the 12-team College Football Playoff this season.

The hire of a sitting Big Ten athletic director would continue SMU's aggressive push into big-time college athletics. It comes at a time when a separation looms within college sports, perhaps in the next decade, between the schools that are the most invested and successful and those that aren't.

SMU's decision to go to the ACC includes a decision to essentially forgo television revenue for nearly a decade in order to secure admission to the league. That came thanks to deep-pocketed boosters, such a billionaire David Miller, who helped spearhead raising hundreds of millions to fund SMU's move and assure a spot on the right side of the river in college athletics.

SMU hired Texas president Jay Hartzell in January, a move that raised eyebrows in education circles.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... relay-wins

[SMUguy]

Having been AD at Maryland and Georgia is a solid pedigree. Georgia is, of course, one of the elite athletic programs in the country, and Maryland is solid. Hopefully he's ready to play at Georgia's level in terms of fund-raising and NIL.

[TwoTimeGrad]

Another win for us if it happens.

[indianmustang]

Damn SMU
putting big boy Pants

[Arkpony]

Damn SMU
putting big boy Pants

Go Ponies!

[highlander]

Loved him on The Jeffersons!!!

[CBpony]

I don’t get this hire. He was at Georgia during its mediocre years and Maryland has been horrible in football and mediocre at best in basketball. Questionable to lackluster coaching hires in both

[soccermom]

Idk much about him but I’m on the fence. When I heard we were interested in him I didn’t feel great. I hope he works out.

[CA Mustang]

I don’t get this hire. He was at Georgia during its mediocre years and Maryland has been horrible in football and mediocre at best in basketball. Questionable to lackluster coaching hires in both

The football coach he hired isn't inspiring, but presumably (hopefully?) SMU won't need to hire one for several years. As for basketball, isn't Willard one of the hottest names this year in the coaching carousel? If he was average, Villanova and others wouldn't be angling for him.

The coaching situation he may need to address in Year 1 is WBB but beyond that, fundraising will be his primary responsibility.

[orguy]

From all accounts I have read, he is a great fundraiser.

[White Helmet]

Are we not going to mention why he left Georgia? Not a great look on many levels.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5354373

[CA Mustang]

Are we not going to mention why he left Georgia? Not a great look on many levels.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5354373

That's public knowledge and it happened 15 years ago. How much more do you want to talk about it? Or do you think that should prevent someone from ever holding an AD position in the future?

[White Helmet]

Should it disqualify him as an AD, maybe not. It would disqualify me from my job. Maybe Im oversensitive. It's poor judgement on a number of levels though.

[Charleston Pony]

Are we not going to mention why he left Georgia? Not a great look on many levels.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5354373

Certainly an ugly incident that cost him what was probably his dream job at the time but apparently not his wife and family so I assume he learned from that mistake and moved on from it years ago.

[EastStang]

With Willard talking about bolting, Terp fans are livid. First, they're mad Evans left, now mad that Willard is leaving. Didn't Evans boot Turgeon who was of course cursed with following godlike Gary Williams. But that left a bad taste in some mouths at College Park. The Terps are going to have a tough time getting a new coach without an AD in place. Hoping for the best and welcome about Damon.