The rumors are true, UNLV fans. The Rebels are on the lookout for a new athletic director.
#BREAKING: Tina Kunzer-Murphy to step down from UNLV athletics director role after June 2017 https://t.co/A0ixzQe5Ki pic.twitter.com/TVyuZjwLCH
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) October 24, 2016
Tina Kunzer-Murphy, whose contract expires in December, will be retained until June of 2017. Initially hired on an interim basis in 2013 before being promoted to the job full time, the first woman to run the Rebels athletic department will be reassigned to a new position with the UNLV Foundation starting June 1st, 2017.
Under Kunzer-Murphy’s leadership there’s been plenty of change at UNLV. This year the school received a $10 million dollar gift from the Fertitta Family for a new practice and wellness facility. That gift is the athletic department’s largest single gift in school history.
Kunzer-Murphy was responsible for the hiring of former Bishop-Gorman football head coach Tony Sanchez to the same position at UNLV in 2014. That move was widely praised by the UNLV fan base. She also hired Chris Beard as head basketball coach in 2016. That was not. In a fairly embarrassing moment for the Rebels, Beard quickly reneged on the offer and became the head coach at Texas Tech. Marvin Menzies was later hired to the position.
No information on the search for a new AD was immediately available.