In a news conference, Green said he would solicit opinion from several individuals, including former coach and athletics director Tom Osborne, during the search.
Here’s a look at six potential candidates, three of which have Husker ties. The other three prospects are current athletics directors with backgrounds at football schools.
TREV ALBERTS — Current athletics director and vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Alberts was a consensus All-American linebacker for Nebraska in 1993, the Butkus Award winner, the Big Eight Male Athlete of the Year and a CoSIDA Academic All-American. He was a first-round draft choice of the Indianapolis Colts in 1994, and Nebraska retired his jersey number 34 in 1994. He later worked as a college football analyst for ESPN and became UNO’s athletics director in 2009. He has overseen UNO’s classification to Division I, which was finalized in 2015, and built a new arena for the Mavericks.
DAVE RIMINGTON — Current president of the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which raises money to help support and generate awareness for cystic fibrosis. Rimington, a center, was a three-time first-team All-Big Eight performer and in 1981 he became the only offensive lineman in conference history to win Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year honors. He’s the only person ever to win the Outland Trophy twice as the nation’s top offensive lineman. The Rimington Award bears his name, which is named for the nation’s top center. Rimington was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997 and his jersey number 50 was retired at Nebraska in 1982. Rimington also was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-American Hall of Fame in 2004.
ED STEWART — Current senior associate commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. As a team captain, Stewart led Nebraska to its first national title under Tom Osborne in 1994. Stewart, a linebacker, was named the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American for the Blackshirts defense. He was a finalist for the Butkus Award that year. Stewart joined the University of Missouri in 1999 and became assistant athletics director for administration in 2001. He was hired by the Big 12 in 2006 and is one of four senior associate commissioners. Stewart is in charge of Big 12 football.
KIRBY HOCUTT — Current athletics director at Texas Tech. Hocutt is a 1995 graduate at Kansas State, where he played linebacker for Bill Snyder. Hocutt began his athletics administration career at K-State and then worked for the NCAA for a year. In 1998, Hocutt became the associate athletic director for external operations and sports administration at Oklahoma, where he supervised football and increased giving levels by 400 percent. Hocutt became athletics director at Ohio University in 2005 and left for Miami (Fla.) in 2008. Three years later, Hocutt was named Texas Tech’s athletics director. He since has supervised a program that generates more than $30 million in donations and serves as chairman of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Hocutt spent one year working on the committee alongside Tom Osborne.
CHRIS DEL CONTE — Current athletics director at TCU. Del Conte has ushered in a new era of TCU athletics, generating more than $300 million of donations into facility improvements. At the top of the list was the 2012 unveiling of new $164 million Amon G. Carter Stadium for the football program. In 2015, TCU spent $72 million to renovate its basketball arena. Del Conte also was instrumental in helping shepherd TCU into the Big 12 for the 2012 season. TCU is a football-first football program that has maintained a high level of success. Del Conte has given coach Gary Patterson all that he needs to win.
JOE PARKER — Current athletics director at Colorado State. Parker was in charge of finalizing plans to build Colorado State’s new 41,000-seat football stadium, which was opened on time and on budget. Parker has an extensive background in college athletics. He served as a senior associate athletics director at Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington State. Parker spent 5 years as deputy athletics director at Texas Tech until taking the Colorado State position in 2015. Parker was an All-American swimmer at Michigan and understands both the Great Lakes and Great Plains landscape.