Woodward will not pursue assistant director position

Scott Woodward announced yesterday that he has decided not to pursue the athletic director position at the UW, and will resume his position as the University’s vice president of External Affairs.

Woodward has been the school’s acting assistant director since Todd Turner’s resignation on Jan. 31, and was widely considered to be the leading candidate to take over the job permanently, had he decided to enter the race. Woodward said he had been leaning toward doing so, but UW President Mark Emmert convinced him he is more valuable in his current role.

“I’ve had numerous long conversations with President Emmert, and he thinks I’m needed in External Affairs,” said Woodward in a teleconference yesterday, adding that he will continue to serve as acting AD for as long as he is needed.

“[Emmert] expressed to me, not in emphatic terms, but in his subtle way, that he needed me in my current job, and I understand and I get that. It’s with mixed emotions that I make this decision.”

Woodward made it clear that he will still be at the forefront of the Husky Stadium restoration and renovation project, which he considers the athletic department’s top priority. The stadium committee plans to make its case for state funding to an interim committee composed of members from the state Senate and House of Representatives.

Woodward has confidence that the assistant director search committee will find a viable candidate.

“They’re very competent, good people on that committee who are friends of mine,” Woodward said. “And they can do a good job of finding a good AD.”

Woodward, who also worked in External Affairs at Louisiana State University while Emmert was the university’s chancellor, said that his time as acting assistant director will help him in his current role.

“That’s why I’ve been involved not only here at UW, but also at LSU,” Woodward said. “Athletics is an important external piece of our university and we have to be cognizant and visible about how we’re represented to the general population.”

In late February, Emmert appointed a 14-person search advisory committee chaired by the dean of UW Libraries, Lizabeth Wilson, to identify a small number of candidates to fill the assistant director position.