Search for new president begins this weekend with special trustees meeting

When board of trustees president Frederick Eichhorn first learned that IU president Myles Brand was leaving IU to become the president of the NCAA, Eichhorn said he was surprised and disappointed, but soon realized the University must begin a period of transition.\nWith Brand leaving, the University must begin the search for an interim president.\n"We will move quickly to form a search team and make this problem into an opportunity," Eichhorn said. "We'll be working out the process over the next few days."\nThe process begins with a search by the trustees for an interim president to take over Brand's responsibilities. Eichhorn said the interim president would most likely be hired from within the University.\n"The interim president may very well be named so that he or she may begin to get acquainted with what needs to be done, but may not take office until Myles Brand leaves," Eichhorn said. He said an interim president could be named within a few weeks.\nEichhorn first learned of Brand's candidacy for the NCAA position Monday, but said he wasn't sure why Brand left IU. He speculated better pay conditions and the dread of fighting over state funding each year may have played a role.\nWhen he learned that Brand decided to take the position Thursday afternoon, Eichhorn told Brand he wanted him to stay put.\n"We thought he was doing a great job, and we wanted him to stay," Eichhorn said. "That is not to say we're going to suffer a setback because we won't let that happen. I don't think the University will miss a beat because we have great people in place."\nBrand will meet with Eichhorn and the trustees Saturday to discuss his resignation. Afterwards, the trustees will discuss the next step for the University.\nAfter the trustees select an interim president, a committee will be formed to search for a candidate to permanently take over the presidency. Eichhorn said the interim president could also be a candidate for the permanent president.\n"I suspect there will be a search committee that surveys the larger field," Eichhorn said. "We'll want to find the best possible candidates and thoroughly check backgrounds and accomplishments. I would think that within six months we would have a new president."\nBrand will serve as an administrator until his term expires Dec. 31. Brand, a unanimous selection by the NCAA search committee, will assume his position with the NCAA Jan. 1. \nIU spokesman Bill Stephan said Brand wasn't looking for another university presidency, which proved to be true in September when Brand was one of five final candidates for the presidency at Rutgers University. At the time, Brand told the IDS he wasn't interested in that job. \nBut the opportunity with the NCAA was different, Stephan said.\n"This was a unique and critical opportunity to work in higher education, but now on a national level," Stephan said.\nEichhorn said he predicts Brand, who was a strong supporter of academics over athletics during his tenure at IU, will transfer his views to the NCAA.\n"His emphasis on athletics is that they be part of the University and not an island unto themselves," Eichhorn said.\nBloomington Faculty Council President Robert Eno said Brand was a strong executive leader during his 8-year tenure at IU and will move his focus toward athletics in this new role.\n"Myles was a strong advocate for the reform of intercollegiate athletics," Eno said. "His style of management matched in certain respects the vision he had for Indiana University to be one university."\nAlthough Brand is leaving, Eichhorn said that when he talked with Brand shortly after he was appointed head of the NCAA, Brand felt that if he were to remain a university president, he wanted that university to be IU.\n"I think he's been a good leader, and I think we've made some significant progress," Eichhorn said. "And we would have gone further under his leadership"