• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Northwestern Athletic Director resigns

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
This is a strange story. Just 10 days ago, longtime Northwestern Athletic Director Jim Phillips retired. Then Northwestern promoted deputy athletic director for external affairs Mike Polisky to become the new AD. But suddenly, that choice came under fire and drew protests from students and faculty because Polisky is one of 4 defendants named in a lawsuit by a former Northwestern cheerleader alleging sexual harassment, and claims that some administrators, including Polisky, did not appropriately address the complaints, Read about it here-
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...eport/2425614/
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...otion/2508876/

So after only 10 days on the job as the new AD, Polisky has stepped down and will leave Northwestern. That now leaves the school with two positions open- Athletic Director, and Polisky's old position of Deputy Athletic Director for External Affairs.

Could this affect Bradley? If Northwestern decides they want to hire someone to fill those positions who is from outside of their university to avoid any connection to the current alleged sexual harassment scandal, they might look at a highly accomplished AD downstate who, prior to 2015, served as Northwestern's Deputy Director of Athletics for Operations and Administration.
Let's hope not.
 
shhhhh1.jpg
 
Thankfully, it doesn't appear that Dr. Chris Reynolds was ever a serious candidate in Northwestern's search for a new Athletic Director. They just hired Dr. Derrick Gragg, who previously served as the NCAA's senior vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement as their new AD.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-vice-president-as-its-new-athletic-director/

As noted in the top post in this thread, when Northwestern's long-time AD Jim Phillips retired at the beginning of May, they immediately replaced him with their own Deputy Athletic Director for External Affairs Mike Polisky to become the new AD. However, he was pressured to resign after just 10 days when it became known that he was a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a former cheerleader regarding sexual harassment by alumni and fans that Polisky allegedly knew about and failing to act on.
In the end, Northwestern opted for someone (Gragg) who has a background in enforcing proper administrative behavior. He also has experience running Division I-AA FBS college football programs as he formerly served as the Athletic Director at the University of Tulsa (2013-20) and at Eastern Michigan (2006-13).
 
Having someone as well respected and as gifted as Dr. Reynolds in the first place is even better news.

I sincerely hope you remain at Bradley for a long, long time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top