Athletics director chosen

Most indications are that IU President Myles Brand will name Colorado State athletics director Tim Weiser IU's next athletics director, possibly by the end of the week.\nTrustee Stephen Backer said he wouldn't be surprised if Brand names Weiser to the position.\n"I think he was No. 1 on the list," Backer said. "That's what I was hearing."\nIU board of trustees President John Walda said Brand has made his decision regarding the University's next athletics director but declined to confirm the identity.\n"I have learned we've reached a decision," Walda said. "We're going to announce what it is sometime in the next week or two."\nMichael McNeely, vice president and chief operating officer of the San Diego Chargers, was the other name on the final list forwarded to Brand by vice president for administration Terry Clapacs, who headed the committee.\n"I'm sure an announcement will be soon," Clapacs said. "There's a certain point that a search reaches when it's critical to just not say anything until it comes together completely. That's where we're at right now."\nWeiser attended a senior football dinner with his wife at a Ft. Collins restaurant Tuesday evening, where one coach said he acted nervous. \nSusan Weiser declined to confirm that her husband has been offered a position at IU.\n"He makes all those decisions and if he thinks it's a good situation, then it's a good situation," she said. "I don't feel comfortable speaking for him, though. That's about all I can say."\nWeiser could not be reached for comment by press time.\nA spokesman for the Chargers said McNeely has not resigned from his position. McNeely, through public relations officials for the Chargers, declined comment.\nWalda said he has been kept abreast of situations as they have developed. But trustee Ray Richardson said he didn't know the names of the two finalists, and many of the trustees didn't want to know the names.\n"I did make sure they were both pros," Richardson said. "I did ask that both candidates had been in the athletic business for some time and do their job and that's what was important to me, that the AD had been in athletics."\nClapacs and the committee interviewed more than 12 applicants for the position before forwarding the names of Weiser and McNeeley to Brand.\nThe CSU athletic department has financially flourished under Weiser's direction. It was in debt when he took the reigns. The department increased fundraising and earned profits in each of Weiser's first two years there.\nUnder Weiser's watch, Colorado State athletics have seen one of their best runs in the University's history. The CSU football program has won two Mountain West Conference titles -- a conference Weiser helped create -- and have advanced to the postseason in six other sports in three years.\nColorado State women's basketball coach Tom Collen compared Weiser's choice to decisions he has made when choosing coaching jobs.\n"There's only 320 Division-I AD jobs in the country, and Colorado State is certainly a good job," Collen said. "But when the opportunity to make it at a program that's a little more high-profile, you certainly have to look at it. It's a lot like the coaching profession"