Chuck Neinas: Headhunter who may head Big 12

The Big 12 reportedly may hire Chuck Neinas as its interim commissioner. Commissioner Dan Beebe sounded like he was on his way out as of Wednesday night.

Neinas certainly knows the people in the Big 12, and everywhere in college football. He is well-liked by university administrators because he is discreet.

Neinas was the commissioner of the Big 8 Conference from 1971 to 1980. From 1980 to 1997 he was president of the now-defunct College Football Association, negotiating television contracts with major networks. Ever since 1997, he has headed Neinas Sports Services.

Just this week, Neinas said he has been working on a partnership with the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA for football, to play in east and west divisions.

But linking coaches and athletic directors to job openings has been Neinas' mainstay the last 14 years, and he's been a middleman on some blockbusters, like Bob Stoops to Oklahoma, Mack Brown to Texas, Les Miles to LSU, and Urban Meyer to Florida.

He has also been involved with some that didn't work out particularly well over the long haul for the schools, like Randy Shannon at Miami, Butch Davis at North Carolina, Ron Prince at Kansas State, Ty Willingham at Notrte Dame, and Chuck Long at San Diego State.

Neinas' many paychecks collected from San Diego State were scrutinized in this 2006 San Diego Union-Tribune story.

As this Wiz of Odds post tells us, then-San Diego State Athletic Director Jeff Schemmel was hired in 2005 on the strong backing of Neinas. The Wiz wrote:

Schemmel was hired in 2005 by San Diego State on the strong backing of headhunter Chuck Neinas. The Wiz noted:

Schemmel had been a senior administrator at Minnesota when it was embroiled in a massive academic fraud case, one of the most notorious scandals in NCAA history. An independent investigation identified Schemmel as one of four administrators responsible for a lack of institutional control, but he somehow kept his job until Neinas found him a soft landing spot at San Diego State.

Here is a 2006 USA Today profile of Neinas. It included this passage:

Once he draws up his short list, he delivers a verbal, never a written, report to his client. Why? "You guys are too snoopy," he says about the media. (Castiglione notes it also protects Neinas from having his written recommendations revealed to the media, public and coaches through open-records laws). The athletics directors and school presidents ultimately make the hiring decisions and handle the contract negotiations. But Neinas says they'll often seek his advice before making their coaching pick.

Here is a 2009 ESPN "Outside the Lines" feature on Neinas: