Tom Crowley had yet to celebrate his one year anniversary at Niagara University as their new Athletic Director and Tuesday he was relieved of his position. The questions is why?
Niagara has issued no press release nor explanation for the sudden change and inquiries have produced nothing other than Crowley’s release was not due to misconduct. To let your Division I Athletic Director go one month into the fall semester with no explanation is indeed unusual.
Niagara University has a new President in Father James J. Maher who came to Niagara from St. John’s of course. Maher did not hire Crowley so it’s anyone’s guess as to what role he played in the release.
Certainly Crowley’s handling of the departure of men’s basketball coach Joe Mihalich could have been better. Mihalich left for Hofstra after his team won the MAAC regular season championship and Crowley allowed two Mihalich’s top players to go with him.
Tom Crowley then replaced Mihalich with Chris Casey from Division II LIU-Post, which raised plenty of eyebrows among the NU Alumni. Casey was handed a tough job in trying to reassemble a competitive team after the departure of Mihalich and the departure of the nucleus of a championship calibre squad.
Steve Butler will now once again be acting as interim AD for Niagara until a replacement for Crowley can be hired. Butler is the associate director of athletics/external relations and served as interim athletic director when Ed McLaughlin left Niagara to take the top job at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Filed under: Local Headlines
Tagged with: Niagara University, Tom Crowley
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