Hard to find a standout among AD choices

There are senior citizens with money and a history of being Gophers boosters that would like to see Glen Mason, the 65-year-old former football coach, as the new athletic director.

This is quite a hoot, since one reason the previous administration — university President Robert Bruininks and AD Joel Maturi — fired Mason was his jerkwater behavior toward certain people (mainly, other members of the human species).

Mason has transformed his image with his work on the Big Ten Network and in radio conversations with KFAN's Dan Barreiro. The latter is not a surprise, since Mason and Barreiro were such admirers of one another during Dan's days as a sports columnist at the Star Tribune.

Lobby though the Mason supporters might, I would think he has no chance. I don't think the leaders of women's sports would trust such a football guy to look at their programs as fully important.

Dan O'Brien, the assistant athletic director in charge of football, also is being mentioned. O'Brien has no people-skill problems as did Mason.

That said, Dan's main job has been to be an advocate for Jerry Kill's wants. The person running the athletic department should be in place to do more than the bidding for the football coach.

Also: Politically, how do you jump a person who was 3A/3B in the department with Mike Ellis, over Beth Goetz, who was No. 2 and is now serving as the interim athletic director?

Right now, the fellas with the money … I don't think they would be delighted with Goetz as the choice.

John Anderson, the 60-year-old baseball coach, also has supporters. It's hard not to love John, but I've also joked to colleagues that Anderson is the eternal martyr. There's always a mighty obstacle facing his program.

As the boss, those obstacles are so real I'm not sure John would be able to sleep at night.

Of these four, I'd say none is the preferred candidate.

People that would get the job done:

• Craig Thompson. A Gophers grad with history of solving crises and making deals as Mountain West commissioner since 1998.