Four months after being named the University of Miami’s acting athletic director, Blake James has been given the job on a permanent basis.
James, 43, stepped into the position in October after Shawn Eichorst resigned to become athletic director at Nebraska. During a conference call Friday, James said he took a job in 2010 as UM’s senior associate athletic director envisioning that one day he would lead the university’s athletic department.
“When I took the job here, I hoped this day would come,” said James, the athletic director at Maine from 2005-2010. “I wasn’t looking for this to be a stepping stone to somewhere else. I took it with the idea that someday I would be in this chair.”
James takes over at a difficult time for the Hurricanes’ athletic department. UM is in the 23rd month of an NCAA investigation into impermissible benefits provided by former booster Nevin Shapiro to dozens of athletes.
UM has found itself in more hot water recently with reports connecting baseball strength and conditioning coach Jimmy Goins to a Miami clinic that provided performance-enhancing drugs to athletes. Former UM baseball players Ryan Braun, Yasmani Grandal and Cesar Carrillo have also been caught up in the scandal and the New York Times reported Thursday that Major League Baseball investigators are focusing on the Hurricanes’ baseball program, “which they suspect is the nexus” of PED use.
James declined to answer questions regarding either the NCAA probe or the situation surrounding Goins and the baseball team, citing on-going investigations.
The university released a statement Thursday saying that in more than 10,000 drug tests administered by UM and the NCAA since 2005, no athlete has tested positive for anabolic steroids. The school said it does not test for human growth hormones.
Despite the turbulence, James said he sees good days ahead for UM’s athletic department and expects to be around to see it through.
“This is the job I always wanted,” James said. “I plan to be here until I retire. I’m hoping that’s a good 20 years down the road.”
Noteworthy: The UM football team will begin spring practice on March 2. The spring game will be held at Sun Life Stadium on April 13. … Starting outside linebacker Eddie Johnson has been indefinitely suspended for unknown team rule violations.
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