How long will Joel Maturi continue as Gophers athletic director? Don't expect a quick answer, new university President Eric Kaler said Friday, his first official day on the job.
Maturi's contract extends through the 2011-12 school year, and at one point outgoing President Robert Bruininks talked of offering Maturi an extension before Kaler took office. But that was before Tim Brewster's failure as football coach necessitated a buyout last October.
Bruininks said after Brewster's firing that he would leave the question of extending Maturi to Kaler. The new president said he has met with Maturi several times to talk about the Gophers program but indicated he is not yet ready to make a decision, either on an extension or even whether Maturi would be back this fall.
"I'll give you the same answer to that as I would give to any question about administrative staff at the U," Kaler said when asked of Maturi's status. "I'm going to spend the next 90, 100 days listening, evaluating. I'm not going to make personnel changes in that time, period.
"I'm going to evaluate over that period of time. While I've been involved pretty heavily in, since we're talking sports, pre-gaming my presidency, this is my first day on the job. I need this period to listen."
