McKinley Boston, a Minnesota football player in the mid-1960s and more recently athletic director at Rhode Island, returned to Minnesota Tuesday as men`s athletic director.
The university`s board of regents voted 12-0 to approve President Nils Hasselmo`s choice of Boston, who was recommended over former Gophers tennis coach Jerry Noyce.
Boston, who will receive a five-year contract at an annual base salary of $100,000, becomes the first black AD in the Big 10. Hasselmo said race had nothing to do with the choice.
”If you`re asking me if McKinley Boston was selected because he is black, the answer is no,” he said. ”His qualifications can stand on their own. He`s proven that the term `scholar-athlete` is not an oxymoron.”
Said Boston: ”There are now two Division I-A black athletic directors at 293 predominantly white universities-Charles Harris at Arizona State and myself. I am not a martyr. I have a strong feeling about institutional racism. But I`m not going to get on a soapbox.”
Boston, 46, succeeds Rick Bay, who in September became president of the Cleveland Indians.
A defensive tackle on the Gophers` last Big 10 championship team in 1967, Boston was popular with many Minnesota boosters and alumni.
His first order of business is hiring a football coach to replace John Gutekunst, who resigned under fire last month.
Boston, who said he hoped to hire a football coach within three weeks, agreed that his first decision probably will his biggest as athletic director. ”We prefer to have a coach who has demonstrated an ability to succeed, someone who can start running as opposed to learning the trade,” Boston said.
