San Diego State Hires New Athletic Director

After a summer of searching for a new Athletic Director at San Diego State, the Aztecs found their replacement in John David Wicker. Wicker immediately comes from Georgia Tech, but has strong ties to SDSU where in 2011-2015 he served as Deputy AD under Jim Sterk.

His hiring essentially means the extension of the good times under Jim Sterk. Wicker oversaw the the general planning football, rowing and both men’s and women’s basketball. With the uncertainty of a suitable playing site for the football team and the economics of the Mountain West (read: Getting into a Power-5 conference) it seems imperative that Wicker builds upon the work of Sterk.

The hiring was a continuity move, but not without controversy.

The interesting angle for San Diego State is that Wicker is directly involved in the firing of former women’s basketball coach Beth Burns. Though the court case has ended with Burns awarded $3.35 million in damages for her wrongful termination, it just sends the wrong message that the university doesn’t care for Title IX and women’s programs, and hiring Wicker is meant to please the SDSU donor base.

The full press conference is linked below: