CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- As Bubba Cunningham settles in as North Carolina's new athletic director, his predecessor -- Dick Baddour -- seems content to fade into the background with some lower-profile work.
Yet Cunningham said he wants to keep Baddour "engaged" as he takes over, with one of his first tasks to choose a permanent football coach. Baddour, who plans to teach among other work at the university in the coming months, said he's ready to assist when asked as the 28-sport department transitions to a new boss for the first time in 14 years.
"I'm not worried about the institution or an adjustment period," Baddour said. "Bubba will do things his way. He should. Sometimes it's just good for an organization to have a change and to think about things in a different way. And that's an asset he brings. That's not a liability."
Baddour announced in July that he would step aside as athletic director after the school fired football coach Butch Davis amid an NCAA investigation into the program. Baddour was in the last year of his contract and said his status could hinder hiring a new coach as opposed to letting a new athletic director make the hire.
The school turned to Cunningham, who had spent six years in the same position at Tulsa. He was hired in October and started work here two weeks ago, with Baddour staying on long enough to represent the school in a hearing with the NCAA infractions committee Oct. 28.
Now that the regular season is complete in football, Cunningham must determine whether interim coach Everett Withers will stay on permanently. Cunningham has hired the same search firm -- Carr Sports Associates, Inc. -- to assist that helped UNC find Cunningham.
"My evaluation of the football program will be mine and I'll ask Bill (Carr) to help us in the search process," Cunningham said. "And then obviously Everett's a candidate. I've talked with Everett about it and said ...'I hope you're interested and want to be a candidate' -- which he does. So I'll interview him along with others."
Withers led the Tar Heels (7-5) to bowl eligibility, as well as the chance to match the 8-5 record from each of the previous three seasons under Davis. North Carolina beat Duke 37-21 in the regular-season finale last weekend.
Cunningham needed only days to hire Todd Graham in 2007 and Bill Blankenship earlier this year at Tulsa, though both of those searches had to move quickly because the openings occurred in January. At Ball State, however, he took several weeks before hiring Brady Hoke -- now at Michigan -- in December 2002.
"I guess I don't have a cookie-cutter approach to say, `OK, here's how we're going to do it,"' Cunningham said. "Now we're in a situation where have an interim coach who has qualified the team for a bowl game and we're going to participate in a bowl. I do want the coaches and staff and the players to stay motivated through the bowl. So that's a different nuance that I need to keep in mind as we go forward as well."
Cunningham has enrolled in a crash course on the university, from attending a recent board of trustees meeting and taking tours of campus buildings to visiting practices and the coaches now working under him.
North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams said he came away "extremely impressed" after recent meetings with Cunningham and joked that he hoped Cunningham wouldn't void his new Baddour-issued contract extension through 2018. Williams has also praised Baddour, saying he probably wouldn't have left Kansas to take over here in 2003 if not for the way Baddour handled the situation.
"He sort of fell on the sword here, if you'll allow me to use that terminology, and did what he thought was best for the University of North Carolina," Williams said. "And that's what I would've expected from Dick. I hated to see him go."
Baddour, 67, said he plans to teach a seminar in sports administration next semester. He also plans to do guest lectures on topics such as leadership or marketing and public relations sessions for at least nine university departments that expressed interest. He also plans to work with the Carolina Leadership Academy for athletes, coaches and staff that he implemented.
He's still deciding how he'll spend retirement after his contract expires in June.
"I'm anxious to get on with it," he said. "I told somebody the other day: I still have this sense of urgency. I guess if you've lived and worked for 45 years, you don't just drop this sense of urgency. It is definitely there. But of course, I'm not the decision-maker, so I think I can shake all that in time."
