Photo-Credit: Idaho State Journal
Logan Ramsey
Associate Editor
ISU athletic director Jeff Tingey has been placed on administrative leave, and it is unknown if he will return after his leave of absence by June 2019 when his current contract expires. ISU President Kevin Satterlee’s reasoning behind the dismissal remains unclear.
Tingey’s leave was announced in a Friday evening press release one week before the ISU football season was set to kick off. The university said it will continue to pay Tingey’s $150,467 annual salary while he is on leave.
“During the course of an operational review of the Idaho State athletic department, President Kevin Satterlee felt that it was in the best interest of the university to place Tingey on administrative leave,” read a press release from Stuart Summers, Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications.
Summers has declined to comment on any reasoning behind Tingey being put on leave beyond the operational review of the athletic department.
The university is now looking for an interim athletic director to fill Tingey’s absence, which suggests he may not return before his contract expires, but Summers would not say if the university planned on bringing Tingey back before then. Summers said they would make their selection “soon.”
“ISU is committed to the success of its athletic teams and student-athletes,” Summers’ release said. “The university will provide continued support and oversight to the department during this period.”
This is the first significant administration change Satterlee has made since he took over as ISU’s president in June.
During the Arthur Vailas Administration, ISU was subject to infighting between faculty and administrators, as well as a number of other scandals to hit the university, which was not limited to athletics.
One of the big questions facing ISU faculty when Satterlee was hired was if he would make any major shakeups to the administration. Summers declined to comment if there will be any other major changes in the near future.
Tingey and the ISU Football Alumni Team (F.A.T.) have had disagreements in the past. In August 2017, F.A.T. threatened to withhold $80,000 in booster money until Vailas and Tingey were removed from their positions. It turned out that F.A.T. didn’t have the $80,000 to withhold and they eventually transferred the $58,500 to the university in the form of an endowment fund.
Don Neves, F.A.T. President declined to make any comments on Tingey specifically, but said he feels “bad for anyone that loses their job.”
“Mr. Satterlee is educated, and he makes decisions based on fact, and I have a lot of faith in his decision making,” Neves said.
Jason Whitmer, a F.A.T. board member, said that he didn’t have any ill-feelings towards Tingey, but that he had full faith in Satterlee.
“In the last month, Satterlee’s garnered more ISU support in the community and in the fans and boosters than there has been in the last eight or nine years,” Whitmer said. “I’m optimistic that the changes that are going to be made are going to benefit ISU athletics.”
