Huskies close to hiring A.D.

SEATTLE – After making two visits to campus this week, former Vanderbilt athletic director Todd Turner appears close to taking over at Washington.

School officials refused to confirm whether Turner had been offered the job and cautioned the situation could change quickly, as when Utah athletic director Chris Hill turned down the position earlier this month.

“It’s possible the search could conclude in a short period of time,” search committee chairman Michael Eisenberg said Friday. “It’s possible the incoming president could request some additional work. I haven’t had any final word one way or another.”

Washington’s new athletic director will take over amid turbulent times. The school faces the possibility of major NCAA sanctions in a gambling investigation, and a federal probe is continuing into practices by a former softball team physician.

Interim athletic director Dick Thompson, who took over when Barbara Hedges announced an early retirement in January, is under contract through September but is not a candidate for the position.

“A lot of people have asked, ‘Why don’t we just appoint Dick?’ ” Eisenberg said. “He’s been great, but he’s made it clear he doesn’t want the job permanently.”

Turner’s position at Vanderbilt was eliminated last fall, when university administrators made a major overhaul by integrating the athletic department under the school’s central administration.

The 53-year-old Turner was Vanderbilt’s athletic director from 1996-2003, overseeing a program that included 14 varsity sports and 300 student athletes at the private school in Nashville, Tenn.

Eisenberg refused to confirm the names of finalists, which besides Turner reportedly include Stanford associate athletic director Debi Gore-Mann and Notre Dame associate athletic director Jim Phillips.

The search committee has scheduled no additional interviews, Eisenberg said, “but it doesn’t mean that we couldn’t do that.”