Athletics hires compliance director from outside firm

Interim athletic Director Dick Thompson announced yesterday that the University is contracting with The Compliance Group to fill the athletic department's top compliance position. Jane Mullens is a member of the Kansas-based compliance consulting company, but will be at the UW fulltime as acting compliance director.

The position of compliance director was left vacant earlier this month when Dana Richardson resigned to pursue other opportunities. Richardson was cited for writing the inaccurate memos former football coach Rick Neuheisel is relying on in his lawsuit against the University.

Thompson also announced yesterday plans to hire a senior associate athletic director to oversee the compliance department. In the new configuration the head compliance officer would report directly to the athletic director, whereas the compliance department previously reported to a senior associate athletic director and faculty athletic representative.

"I think the best possible management model for compliance is to elevate the director's position to that of a senior associate director," Thompson said in a release. "That is not a universal approach, but with a department as large as the one at Washington, it is appropriate. Having the position report to the athletic director will certainly strengthen our department's overall commitment to the various and important areas that fall under compliance."

The new senior associate athletic director position could mean the duties of the faculty athletic representative could change. For at least the past 20 years, the faculty athletic representative has had a heavy hand in the compliance of the athletic department.

"(Current Faculty Athletic Representative) Rob Aronson happened to be an attorney," said Jim Daves, assistant athletic director for media relations. "His background allowed him to work fluently with the compliance department."

The representative before Aronson, currently the English department chair, had specific experience NCAA bylaw compliance as well.

The University is looking for a representative to replace Aronson, who served two 5-year terms.

"I'm not exactly sure what [the relationship between the compliance department and the faculty athletic representative] will be," said Daves, adding it will probably depend on who is the next representative.

Thompson was not available to answer questions yesterday but Daves said Mullens will not be paid directly for her help with the athletic department. Mullens, Daves said, will remain a member of the compliance group and the University will pay the group for her services.

Daves did not know how much the services would cost.

The UW's athletic department is working with The group on a separate audit of its compliance program. As part of the self-imposed sanctions put in place in response to the Pac-10's allegations last fall. The Compliance Group was hired to audit its compliance program.

The University is waiting for the final results of the group's audit, Daves said.

The athletic department is looking for two people to restock the base of its recently vacated compliance department. While Mullens fills in as compliance director, the athletic department will be trying to fill two assistant compliance directors.

"Right now the process is pretty much at the point of posting for those jobs," said Daves. "We have hourly staff working in those positions right now."