Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson reportedly interested in Cal job

With California Golden Bears athletic director Mike Williams stepping down at the end of his contract, the Golden Bears are in need of new leadership in their department. Could Kevin Anderson be a person wiling to step in and be a part of the new regime?

There has been speculation that Anderson might be on the way out as Maryland Terrapins athletic director, and Cal might be the program he’s interested in taking over next. There have been conflicting reports about Anderson’s job status this weekend (a few say he’s fired, a few others say he’s staying), but there is word that Cal is a job he’s actively pursuing.

A San Francisco native, Anderson reportedly expressed interest in the Cal job when it opened in 2015 and again is believed to be a candidate for the job, which is vacant again; reports, which Anderson denied, surfaced in 2011 that linked him to Stanford's vacant AD position.

Anderson got his first start in college athletics a long time back in Berkeley. His first athletic director job came as an assistant AD at Cal from 1997 to 2002 before moving onto Oregon State, then taking athletic director jobs at Army (2004-10) and now Maryland.

At 62 years old, Anderson is probably thinking about the next phase of life, and being a Bay Area native and having those Cal ties, being in charge of Cal Athletics feels like a nice final move. Anderson was also on the shortlist for the Stanford job awhile back, so he has definitely been sniffing the West Coast for awhile.

Also, Maryland is literally the original Under Armour program.

If Anderson is interested in the Cal job, I’m hoping Cal moves swiftly to get him. Here are some of Anderson’s accomplishments at Maryland.

• Maryland was facing a deep athletic debt situation that Anderson has started to remedy with the move from the ACC to the Big Ten. Maryland’s revenues have been improving.
• Anderson has one major hiring flub in terms of hiring Randy Edsall as their coach. DJ Durkin seems like a better hire on that front.
• Anderson’s hire of Mark Turgeon in basketball proved to be a great move. Maryland has finished in the top three in the Big Ten the last three seasons.
• Anderson made a host of great hires in the non-revenue sports, including baseball. The Terps went to the College World Series a few years in a row for the first time ever!

However, one thing worth watching: Anderson also cut a ton of sports at Maryland to help stem athletic debt. Seven sports were cut in Maryland back in 2012, including men’s and women’s swimming, men’s tennis, women’s water polo and more. With Cal facing similar budgetary constraints, you could see Carol Crist gravitating to a hire who would be willing to do similar dirty work in deciding which sports at Cal are no longer financially feasible.