Sterk leaving WSU

Jim Sterk, who has served as Washington State University’s athletic director since 2000, will be named to the same position at San Diego State University, sources close to the situation confirmed Friday. Sterk, reached by telephone, would not comment on the appointment, first reported on-line by the San Diego Union-Tribune, other than to say he is a candidate. “I can just confirm that I’m a candidate and that there will be announcement on Monday,” Sterk said. According to the Tribune report, Sterk was not one of three finalists selected by a 10-member search committee. His name was kept secret, the Tribune reported, because Sterk did not want his name revealed unless he was assured the position. A WSU source said Friday the report was correct, adding that Sterk had originally turned down the school. But when SDSU offered the job this past week, Sterk accepted. SDSU president Stephen Weber sent out an e-mail to staff members Friday saying the search was over and the athletic director would be named Monday. Sterk, a 53-year-old Western Washington University graduate, came to WSU from Portland State in July, 2000, picked by then-WSU president V. Lane Rawlins to replace Rick Dickson. Prior to Portland State, his first stop as an athletic director, Sterk had served in various athletic department positions at Tulane, Seattle Pacific, Maine and North Carolina. Sterk and his wife, Debi, have three daughters, one in college and two in high school. Sterk’s WSU salary was around $300,000 per year. WSU senior associate athletic director John Johnson, who has served as an athletic director at Eastern Washington and Weber State and was recently a finalist for the A.D. position at UNLV, is expected to be a candidate to replace Sterk. Also, a source in the WSU athletic department said former Oregon athletic director and Cougar football player Bill Moos is interested in the position, though Moos’ agreement signed with Oregon when he left Eugene may preclude that possibility. The noncompete agreement may have played a part in derailing Moos’ UNLV candidacy that eventually went to former WSU and Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood.