Shawn Eichorst: The Next Nebraska AD?

So if you've been around the Twitter-verse this morning, you've likely seen this nugget by Brett McMurphy from ESPN...

Shawn Eichorst resigns as Miami's AD; expected to replace Tom Osborne as Nebraska's AD, sources told @espn

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) October 4, 2012

Well that was quick, eh? Of course if you've followed sports for any length of time, you know that rumors are part of the game. Obviously there's some questions here. Namely, do we REALLY want Miami's ex-AD as OUR next AD? Why him? Why now? Why don't they make another Superman movie? I'll attempt to answer a few of those questions for you, my dear blog reader.

QUESTION #1: Who the hell is this guy anyways?!

Well, first of all, here's his bio courtesy of the University of Miami: Mr. Shawn Eichorst

If you read the bio, you know that he worked under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin. So you can bet that's how Eichorst's name entered into the conversation. I'd bet lots of dollars that Barry made a call to both Harvey and TO and said something to the effect of: "Hey guys. There's this FANTASTIC young, bright, go-getter down at the U of M and I really, really think you need to take a look at him!"

So those of you that may be initially uncomfortable with this (he's not hired yet, by the way) your fears may be assuaged somewhat because he has Barry Alvarez vouching for him. That's always a good man to have in your corner.

QUESTION #2: But, but Mister Mike!! What about all the shenanigans and goings on at Miami with Nevin Shapiro?! We can't have an athletic director who was involved with THAT!

Ah yes. However Mr. Eichorst didn't actually come to Miami until after all the crap with Shapiro had already happened. He ended up inheriting it. If you read his bio, you'll see that he wasn't named AD until April of 2011. Yeah so he's only been there for about 18 months. Not long. But he's also accomplished some great things at U of M in his short time there as AD. That indicates to me that he knows how to get shit done.

QUESTION #3: But what about all the empty seats at the Miami football games?! How come he can't get people to come to the stadium?!

First of all, anyone been to Miami? There is literally a ton of shit to do down there. College football is about the last thing on their "to-do" list down there. Hell, they don't even support the Dolphins half the time. Or baseball. Why would they? Their teams all pretty much suck (save the Heat) and why watch a boring ol' football game when you can be chasing hot girls on the beach? Or boating? Or jet-skiing? Or clubbing? Or...(insert activity here).

Second, the stadium in which Miami plays is literally about an hour away from campus. Students interested in partying are not going to travel an hour to a football game, get drunked up, then travel an hour back. Also, a good portion of their student base is from the Northeast, which is very baseball centric. Football doesn't even register. Especially when your team sucks.

QUESTION #4: What about Jamie Williams?

Well, I'll be honest that is a good question. Many people thought (myself included) that when TO created a position for him, that he was the next AD apparent. That he was being groomed by TO. Now, I'm not saying that Jamie Williams won't be the next AD, but given recent developments, I now consider that highly unlikely.

At any rate boys and girls, we'll have more for you as this story develops.