EWU A.D. takes job with Huskies

A whirlwind courtship was completed on Friday when Eastern Washington University athletic director Scott Barnes accepted a job at the University of Washington.

Barnes will become the Huskies’ associate athletic director for advancement.

“It came up pretty quick,” Barnes said. “Their athletic director, Todd Turner, cornered me at the athletic director convention in late June and asked if I would be interested. It was real informal. It is just a real good opportunity for us.

“I’ve spent much of my career in I-AA. I miss the I-A level. There is such great history at the University of Washington. Todd has put together a great team. I’m looking forward to working with him.”

A native of Spokane, Barnes has been the athletic director at Eastern since July 1, 1999. He has been a finalist for several other jobs, including his alma mater Fresno State twice, most recently this spring.

“In this industry, as we’ve talked before, it’s hard to bring career aspirations, geography and family together,” he said. “This job does that. We do have family on that side of the state as well.”

At UW, Barnes will oversee all external affairs for the athletic department such as fund raising, media and ticket sales.

“Certainly we’re sorry to see Scott leave. He’s been very successful here, not only personally, but on behalf of the university,” interim president Brian Levin-Stankevich said.

“The trend in career paths these days is for A.D.’s at the Division I-AA level to go to an associate position at a I-A school if they hope to be a director at some point. So this is a very positive career movement for Scott, his family and his future.

“It’s a testimony to what we’ve accomplished here at Eastern that the University of Washington is coming here to recruit our athletic director. … They obviously like what we’re doing here and what Scott has accomplished.”

Under Barnes, the 14-sport EWU athletic department has operated in the black and has greatly increased fund raising, including a school-record $6.2 million in a recent campaign. Also, most sports have become successful and facilities have been upgraded.

“I’d like to think that maybe because of the great people we’ve brought together and the things we’ve put in place, things are much better here than they were,” said Barnes.

Barnes was athletic director at Humbolt State in Arcata, Calif., for two years prior to coming to Eastern. Before that he was in the athletic department at Iowa State (1994-97), University of the Pacific (1990-94) and the University of San Diego (1989-90).

Levin-Stankevich said the school would probably have to name an interim A.D. until a permanent president is selected. He said interest for a position that reports to the president might be limited if potential candidates didn’t know who their boss was going to be.

“It’s Friday and summer. It’s tough to get a hold of the right people,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in a position early next week to have an announcement about what we’ll be doing in the immediate future.”