The University of Louisville has hired the most expensive search firm available to find the school’s next athletic director.
Board of trustees Chairman J. David Grissom recently called the university’s financial future “ominous.” The committee then chose the search firm that submitted the highest bid, which was $100,000 more than the second-highest bid.
Makes sense:
Barely a month after board of trustees Chairman J. David Grissom described the University of Louisville’s financial future as “ominous,” the committee charged with screening the school’s next athletic director hired the search firm that submitted the highest bid.
Documents obtained through a public records request show that Korn Ferry’s base fee of $150,000 exceeds the second-most expensive proposal by $50,000 and is nearly twice the average bid of the other seven companies that competed for the contract signed on March 1. Additionally, Korn Ferry will be paid an administrative service charge of $6,000 and up to $30,000 in expenses.
Connecticut-based Academic Keys submitted the lowest bid: $35,000.
U of L interim President Greg Postel, who chairs the search committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment placed through a university spokesman. But citing Korn Ferry’s prominence among college search firms, Academic Keys’ Valerie Woodruff said, “I’m not really surprised.”
DHR International’s Jeffrey Cohn, a Louisville native whose mother was once a U of L homecoming queen, declined comment on his company’s unsuccessful $100,000 bid except to say, “We wish the university the best of luck.”
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