Nicholls names finalists for AD job

Nicholls State University is getting closer to naming the new leader of its athletic department.

University President Dr. Bruce Murphy announced this week that the school has narrowed down its search for a new athletic director to four candidates – all who have impressive resumes in athletic administration throughout their careers.

The candidates are K. Matthew Roan, the deputy director of athletics at Eastern Kentucky; China Jude, the assistant vice president and director of athletics at Queens College (NY); Christopher Walker, the associate athletic director at Washington State University; and Kent Hegenauer, the senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Murphy said he was pleased with the candidate list, adding that the process to narrow things down wasn’t easy.

The candidates started undergoing on-campus public interviews last week with Roan and Jude getting the chance to state their respective cases to university supporters.

Today, Walker will get the chance and on Monday, Hengenauer will take his turn.

The interviews take place at 3:15 p.m. at Ridley Gros Auditorium on campus.

“The four finalists are the result of a months-long national search with an outstanding and diverse pool of candidates,” Murphy said. “We are looking for a professional with proven experience in intercollegiate athletics administration. We encourage public participation in the search process and hope the faculty, staff, alumni and the community come out and get to know the candidates as we prepare to make this important decision for the future of our athletics program.”

For the Colonels, a quick glance at the finalists shows that each has enjoyed successful experiences working in athletic departments around the country.

Roan was a former football player and team captain at Southern Utah University. Out of college, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he helped the Wildcats football operations department while obtaining his law degree.

Upon graduation, Roan moved back to Southern Utah where he was named the deputy director of athletics at his alma mater. But he quickly found his way back to Kentucky to serve as Eastern Kentucky’s deputy director of athletics in 2013.

While there, he drew the approval of university president Michael Benson, who said Roan was a good worker and a bright, intelligent athletic mind.

“In a very short time, I am confident people will come to appreciate how bright, hard-working and conscientious he is and how much he loves this part of Kentucky,” Benson said. “He will be an incredibly valuable asset to EKU.”

Jude is the only woman on the finalist list and is the only black candidate of the four still being considered.

She’s been at Queens College for the past six years as the school’s AD and Assistant Vice President – titles she earned in Aug. 2011.

At Queens College, Jude oversaw 19 varsity sports, while helping the New York City-based university to improve both on the field and in the classroom.

In 2015, Jude was named the Division II Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA).

In her tenure, Queens won countless conference championships, while also doing $11 million worth of renovations in athletic facilities.

Before getting into athletic administration, Jude served in the United States Navy.

“I really believe my story is a little bit non-traditional,” Jude said in a story on NCAA.org.

Walker is currently the candidate farthest away from Thibodaux on a map, but he has more than two decades of experience in athletic departments around the country.

Before taking over his current role at Washington State University in 2008, Walker traveled the country and served at several colleges and universities. During his 20-plus-year career, he’s worked at UNC-Wilmington, Southern Methodist and Florida State – the school that gave him his first gig in 1996 as an associate sports information director.

At Washington State, Walker has been known for his ability to interact with alumni and friends of the program, which has generated significant revenue for the Cougars.

His current title is Associate Athletic Director for Major Gifts – which speaks to his fundraising prowess.

Of the four candidates, Hegenauer is the only one with experience in south Louisiana.

He graduated from Indiana University in 1996 and moved to New Orleans where he worked in Tulane’s ticket office.

From there, he worked ticket operations at Michigan State, TCU and South Carolina from 1999-2008 before getting directly into athletic affairs.

He was named the associate athletic director at Southern Mississippi in 2008. In 2012, he got a promotion and was named the university’s Senior Associate Athletic Director and Director of Internal Operations.

Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeff Hammond said at the time of Hegenauer’s promotion that he was a huge asset to the Golden Eagles’ operations.

“He is smart, creative, dedicated and possesses all the necessary qualities to make a significant difference in our overall athletics operations.”

After the interviews are done, Nicholls is expected to move quickly to make its hire.

The new AD will be the Colonels’ first since Rob Bernardi left the school for Tulane over the summer.

Since Bernardi’s resignation, women’s basketball coach DoBee Plaisance has held the job on an interim basis.

Nicholls State University President Dr. Bruce Murphy

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