Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos abruptly announced his retirement Friday, saying he will step down next week.
The announcement came as a surprise because the 70-year-old Moos has said publicly he wanted to stay in the job until he was comfortable the Cornhuskers football program had been turned around.
“To understand just how special Nebraska is, you need to spend time here, meet our people, visit our cities and towns and sit in Memorial Stadium in a sea of red on a Saturday afternoon in the fall,” Moos said in a statement. “I step away completely content, knowing that our athletic program is reborn and rebuilt and that it has a solid, stable foundation.”
Moos hired 12 head coaches since leaving Washington State for Nebraska in October 2017. The highest-profile hires were Scott Frost in football and Fred Hoiberg in men’s basketball.
Moos also was part of a major fund-raising project to improve football facilities, though former university system president Hank Bounds took the lead role in the effort.
Moos said much of what he accomplished was “hard to quantify and even harder for our passionate fans and supporters to see” but he said the work has “laid the groundwork for success that will soon be evident on the scoreboards.”
Moos did not immediately respond to a text message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
