Panel on schedule to pick AD finalists in late April

Two months after the search for Joel Maturi's successor began, the four-person committee conducting the manhunt for Minnesota's next athletics director is on schedule and is "confident we will meet our goal of having finalists identified by late April," a university spokesman said Friday.
"[We] are excited by a robust candidate pool," Matt Hodson, a media relations associate at the university, said via email, a group "that meets the values and attributes we require of our next AD."
After seeking input from the school's faculty, students and staff, as well as boosters and alumni, the large 21-person advisory committee has compiled and reviewed the various opinions and forwarded them to the quartet appointed by President Eric Kaler that is considering the candidates and narrowing the list. Once two finalists are identified, Kaler and both committees will interview them, with Kaler selecting the new athletics director in early May.
Maturi's contract, and his 10-year tenure as AD, ends on July 1.