In mid-June, Georgetown University hired Bernard Muir to fill the position of Athletic Director, and though students may have glossed over the news, the hire represents a changing of the guard for Georgetown Athletics.
Muir was an extraordinarily well-qualified candidate, and the University was right to hire him. Instead of pulling a candidate out of the existing athletic department, the university found a man who has worked as deputy director of athletics at Notre Dame. Though the school is a Big East rival and it hurts us to compliment them, Notre Dame tends to take sports far more seriously than Georgetown, which often focuses on basketball alone.
At Notre Dame, Muir oversaw campus athletic facilities, among his other duties, and that experience may prove valuable as construction continues on the multi-sport facility and as plans move forward on a new basketball stadium.
Furthermore, in the eight years prior to joining the department at Notre Dame, Muir worked with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and even directed the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship-which is exactly where the Hoyas hope to be this year.
Muir is a graduate of Brown University, where he was co-captain of the men’s basketball team, and holds a degree in sports administration and facility management from Ohio State University.
A man who respects Georgetown for athletic competitiveness, Muir replaces Joe Lang, the much-loved AD who retired in June 2004. Lang spent nine years at the helm of the department and saw it rise in the rankings while raising money to enhance Georgetown’s often-lacking athletic facilities and resources.
Lang came under fire from students late in his stay at Georgetown for comments concerning the mediocrity of the men’s basketball team under Coach Craig Esherick. Lang said that it would be unreasonable to demand an NCAA tournament berth every year, and copies of his comments were posted around campus.
Soon before Lang’s tenure ended, Esherick was fired and John Thompson III hired to coach the team. Thus far, the change has proved positive, and Muir joins an athletic program that, along with the construction of new facilities, appears to be on the upswing.
Toward the end of Lang’s career, Georgetown’s athletics-which revolve around the Men’s basketball team-seemed to languish. Hopefully, Muir will not make the mistake of accepting mediocrity from Georgetown.
As students, we can only hope the hiring of such a well-qualified applicant as Bernard Muir breathes even more new life into Georgetown Athletics. But things are certainly looking up.
