After two and a half years leading Miami’s athletic programs, Kirby Hocutt will be leaving the Hurricanes to accept the vacant Athletic Director position at Texas Tech University.
University president Donna Shalala announced the news in a press statement on Friday afternoon.
“I am deeply disappointed that after only two-and-a-half years of a very successful tenure as leader of our athletics programs, Kirby Hocutt has decided to accept the AD position at Texas Tech,” she said. “We did everything we could to convince him to stay, but in the end it was an intensely personal decision. I thank Kirby for his integrity, leadership, and dedication to the University.”
Reports of the possible hiring started forming Wednesday night, when there were reports that Hocutt was already in Texas to interview for the position. He was offered the job on Thursday, but there was no official confirmation of his decision until Friday afternoon’s announcement.
The last few months have been busy for Hocutt, with the firing of former head football coach Randy Shannon and the national search for his replacement that concluded with the hiring of Al Golden just two months ago. Hocutt has not yet made a statement announcing his decision.
Stay tuned to themiamihurricane.com as we await any updates regarding the situation.
Ernesto Suarez may be contacted at esuarez@themiamihurricane.com