Despite interviewing for vacant AD job, Washington State's Pat Chun not a candidate at Northwestern per report
Apr. 19—One day after it was learned that Washington State's Pat Chun had interviewed for Northwestern's vacant athletic director position, it appears the Wildcats are planning to go in a different direction.
Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News reported Monday morning Chun is not expected to be a candidate for the Northwestern job. Less than 24 hours earlier, a separate report from Wilner linked Chun to the vacancy in Evanston, Illinois, and indicated he was one of two sitting athletic directors in the Pac-12 to interview for the position, along with Cal's Jim Knowlton.
Other candidates for the Northwestern job include UNLV's Desiree Reed-Francis, SMU's Rick Hart and Rice's Joe Karlgaard, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported Sunday.
It marked the second time in three weeks Chun's name was linked to a Power Five athletic director job after his name surfaced as a potential candidate for the open position at Kansas. Contrary to one report, a source confirmed to The Spokesman-Review Chun never interviewed for the Kansas position.
Some believed Northwestern's AD job would be a more viable option for Chun, who spent 15 years working in the Big Ten Conference, at Ohio State, after graduating from the school in Columbus. As of 2017-18, previous Northwestern AD Jim Phillips was the second highest-paid AD in the country, earning an annual salary of $1.75 million. It's unclear if Northwestern would've been able to match that salary for their new AD, but Chun, who currently makes $650,000 annually at WSU, would've been in line for a substantial raise nonetheless.
