Given the impending retirement of UWM Athletic Director Bud Haidet, four candidates have been selected as finalists to fill the position.

The four finalists are:

* Vince Sweeney, current senior associate athletic director for external relations at UW-Madison

* George Koonce Jr., current senior associate athletic director at Marquette University and former Green Bay Packer

* Paul Schlickmann, executive associate director of athletics at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y.

* Montgomery Porter, associate athletic director at Western Michigan University

UWM Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Helen Mamarchev said that Athletics Director is one of the most important positions on campus.

“The Athletics Director position is extremely important at UWM,” she told the Post via e-mail. “The person in this position is responsible for overseeing the entire athletics program.”

Mamarchev said that the new Athletic Director will be responsible for supervising staff, hiring coaches, budget management and “ensuring that our student athletes are successful in the classroom.”

Perhaps the reason why the Athletic Director is such an important job is due to the importance of the UWM Athletics department, said Mamarchev.

“Athletics provides a great opportunity for UWM to showcase [its] many wonderful talented student athletes,” she said. “It also serves as a force to unite the campus community by building school spirit and helping to raise the visibility of the University as students are recruited into academic programs.”

Haidet announced his retirement Sept. 15, 2008, after serving 20 years as UWM’s Athletic Director. He will officially leave the position in July 2009.

Haidet was hired by UWM in 1988. He is credited for creating the University’s Panther mascot, as well as taking baseball and women’s soccer from club sports to Division I.

“Bud Haidet has done an outstanding job as UWM’s Athletics Director,” said Mamarchev. “He has helped raise the quality of each of the individual programs in his department.”

But Mamarchev said Haidet’s most significant contribution to the University could be his leadership abilities.

“More importantly than any of the numerous trophies and championships is the integrity that Bud has helped instill into our athletics program,” she said. “He has been an excellent role model for student athletes and coaches and he will be greatly missed.”

Each of the four candidates will meet in front of the campus community – one finalist each Monday for the next month. The schedule is as follows:

* Porter –Feb. 2 from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

* Koonce – Feb. 9 from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

* Schlickmann – Feb. 23 from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

* Sweeney – March 2 from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.