Before going in front of a room full of donors, coaches and athletic department employees Monday afternoon, Bill Scholl was given a Cardinal-head lapel pin. He affixed it to his charcoal gray suit, ready to look the part of Ball State's new athletic director.
President Jo Ann Gora announced Scholl's hiring Monday in a press conference. When Scholl begins work April 30, he will replace Tom Collins, who in January announced his intention to leave Ball State at the end of his contract in June.
Scholl, 54, has been Notre Dame's deputy athletic director for the last three years and has spent 22 years working in the Fighting Irish athletic department. As a Notre Dame alumnus and longtime resident of South Bend, Scholl had to leave his home for his first opportunity to become an athletic director.
"Professionally, I'm so excited about this opportunity," he said. "I feel so good about the move I'm making."
Despite Scholl's excitement about the job, he did not initially respond to Ball State's job posting. Instead an intermediary from Ball State reached out to Scholl and invited him to apply, said Frank Hancock, a member of the eight-person search committee.
Scholl said he decided to apply for the job because he thought Ball State approaches college athletics with a similar mindset as he does.
"I really believe Ball State's got it right," Scholl said. "In terms of kids going to college and, oh yeah, they're playing a sport, too. Trust me, I want to win. I want to win a lot. I have no doubt our coaches want to win a lot, but never at the expense of the academic side of the university."
After Scholl applied, Gora said he was a leading candidate throughout the two-month process. He was the first of 15 candidates who had phone interviews.
"He set the bar," Gora said. "To the end he established the standard that was used to evaluate the other candidates."
After the phone interviews, Gora and the search committee culled the pool to six candidates for in-person interviews. This time, Scholl went last. Still, he stood out for the committee.
"At the end of his interview, we all looked at each other and said, 'That is the strongest candidate we have spoken to,'" Gora said.
Gora said she spoke to many people about Scholl, both on and off his list of references. Among that group was Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who recommended his assistant.
The interview process culminated Friday with a lunch meeting between Scholl and Gora in her office in the Administration building. There, he was offered the job. He returned to South Bend to talk with his wife, Julie, before accepting the offer Saturday afternoon.
Hancock said he and the other seven members of the search committee were thrilled to be able to hire Scholl.
"We didn't have a second place," Hancock said. "We had a couple of thirds. I think if he hadn't accepted the position the search committee would have had to have gone into seclusion and started all over again."
The search officially ended Monday morning when Scholl signed his contract, worth $235,000 annually for three years. The $235,000 salary would have ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference last year and is an increase of $49,160 from Collins' salary in 2011, according the USA Today athletic director salary database.
Collins also was not working on a multi-year contract. Gora said Scholl received a three-year deal because he was leaving a "very secure position" at Notre Dame.
"[We] wanted to give him a greater sense of security than a one-year contract represents," Gora said.
During his introductory press conference, Scholl focused on two themes: placing an emphasis on the student in student-athlete and fundraising. Scholl said his most immediate need, however, is to quickly fill the two current coaching vacancies at Ball State.
His emphasis on academics was a welcome sign to football coach Pete Lembo.
"I think philosophically we believe in a lot of the same things," Lembo said.
After a meeting with Collins about the state of the hiring process for the two coaches, Scholl returned to South Bend. He will spend much of the next two weeks finishing work at Notre Dame so he can jump into work at Ball State in two weeks.
"My boss in South Bend, Jack Swarbrick, is very open to understanding the needs I've got to meet down here," Scholl said. "Probably most of next week I'll be back in South Bend, trying to finish stuff up from a Notre Dame perspective."
Once Scholl has everything wrapped up in South Bend, he will be ready to return to Ball State to dig into his new job. And armed with his lapel pin, he will, at the very least, look the part.
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