Interim AD John Morris leaving Colorado State for Tufts

John Morris, CSU's interim athletic director since August, is leaving to become AD at Tufts University, an NCAA Division III school in Medford, Massachusetts.

Morris informed Colorado State University's athletic department staff of his decision Thursday, volleyball coach Tom Hilbert said Friday.

Morris will remain at CSU until a new athletic director is hired, school officials said. CSU President Tony Frank said recently that he was pleased with the quality of candidates who have applied for the AD job, and school spokesman Mike Hooker said Friday he expects the 21-member search committee and the national search firm it's been working with to "wrap up its work within the next month."

Morris has been running the CSU athletic department since early August, when former AD Jack Graham was fired. He helped Frank hire new football coach Mike Bobo in December and has overseen the most successful run ever by the Rams' four major sports programs.

The football team went 10-3 and played in a bowl game for the second consecutive season, the volleyball team won a Mountain West championship and went 31-3, the men's basketball team is 24-5 with two regular-season games remaining and the women's basketball team is 21-6 and in first place in the MW, also with two regular-season games remaining.

Morris was a candidate to become the Rams' new athletic director, Frank said, and was expected to interview soon with the search committee, Hilbert said. CSU delayed the process of hiring a new AD until this spring, in part because of the confidence Frank and others had in Morris' ability to handle the job on an interim basis. CSU has 16 varsity sports programs and an annual athletic budget of about $36 million.

Many in the department considered him a strong candidate to land the job on a permanent basis.

"I'm tremendously thankful to John for all that he's accomplished at CSU during his time as both interim athletics director and deputy athletics director," Frank said through a school spokesman. "John has been a rock solid performer, and I encouraged him to stay in the candidate pool for the permanent athletics director role. But John believes that this move is best for him both personally and professionally, and I respect that. I will personally miss his leadership and friendship, and the entire Ram family joins me in wishing John and his family the very best in the future."

Morris called the Tufts job "a terrific opportunity" for him and his family. He's replacing Bill Gehling, who is stepping down July 1 to move into a fundraising job at the school.

Morris and his wife, Taylor, have two young children, a son in grade school and an infant daughter.

"It is very difficult to leave a place as special as Colorado State," Morris said in a news release. "Fort Collins has been a great home for us, and it has been an honor to serve at this world-class university under President Tony Frank's leadership. I am pleased that the timing of my move to Tufts will enable me to help assure a smooth transition for the new AD."

CSU formed a 21-member search committee, headed by longtime university administrator and former University of Tennessee Provost Loren Crabtree, last August to help select a new athletic director and paid DHR International, a search firm, $70,000 plus expenses to help in the process. Frank decided in the fall to postpone the search until after a decision had been made on whether or not to move forward with building an on-campus stadium for the school's football and women's soccer teams.

The $220 million stadium project received final approval from the school's Board of Governors in December, and a financing plan was approved earlier this month.

Morris came to CSU in June 2012 as the deputy athletic director under Graham. Hilbert said Morris was well-liked and respected among the athletic department staff.

"John's one of the most-diplomatic people I've ever worked with," Hilbert said. "… He's one of the best communicators and genuinely nice people I've ever worked with."

Morris previously served as a senior associate athletic director at the University of Washington for eight years, overseeing several sports programs as well as the NCAA rules compliance program and student-athlete academic support unit. He had a similar role before that at Sacramento State for 2 1/2 years and spent three years with the NCAA as the organization's primary interpretations contact for various Division I conferences.

Morris, a native of St. Louis, has a law degree from Vanderbilt and worked as an attorney in private practice in Orlando, Florida, before getting involved in intercollegiate athletics as a compliance assistant at Vanderbilt for the 1997-98 academic year.