The University of Oklahoma has established a 12-member committee to lead a national search for the person who will have the huge task of succeeding the most successful athletic director in OU history, Joe Castiglione.

Joe C., who has held the position since 1998, announced his upcoming retirement on June 8. He will remain involved in an advisory role during the search process and will transition to Emeritus Athletics Director once a successor is named and begins duties on campus.

The search committee will partner with a search firm and includes representatives from across the OU community:

• Randall L. Stephenson, Chair of Football and Special Advisor to the President and the Director of Athletics (Chair)

• Hollye Hunt, Vice President of Executive Affairs and Chief of Staff

• Armand Paliotta, Vice President and General Counsel

• David Surratt, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

• Bob Stoops, Executive Director and Special Advisor to the Athletics Director

• Amy Noah, Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer, OU Foundation (Designee from outside the university)

• Steve Gensler, Gene and Elaine Edwards Family Chair in Law, President's Associates Presidential Professor (Faculty representative)

• Kasie Crall, Associate Registrar (Staff representative)

• Kinzie Hansen (Student representative)

• Sam Bradford, former OU quarterback (Designee from outside the university)

• Sherri Coale, former OU head women’s basketball coach (Designee from outside the university)

• Dorothy Anderson, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (Ex officio member)

The university did not provide a timeline for the search.

Who is most likely to become the next AD at Oklahoma?

Colton Sulley from The Oklahoman put together a list of possible candidates in a story July 7 — and Mississippi State’s Zac Selmon was at the top of the list. Selmon is of course a famous family name across Sooner Nation thanks to his father, Dewey, and his uncles LeeRoy and Lucious.

However, Sulley also included Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt, Florida State’s Michael Alford, Florida’s Scott Stricklin, and West Virginia’s Wren Baker.

Keep a close eye on Hocutt. He was at OU during the early years of the Castiglione era, and those early years were the best years for football and both basketball teams. What Hocutt has done at Texas Tech has been especially impressive.

Be sure to subscribe to the daily newsletter from Oklahoma Memo. You’ll get one email per day — a daily round-up of the best journalism from across the state M-F at 7 a.m. CT.

Photo by Alex Batchelor on Unsplash