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We'll always have brunch... or I miss Bubba Cunningham already
Published: 10/14/2011 7:14 PM
Last Modified: 10/14/2011 7:14 PM

I've been around town for less than four months, so I don't know Bubba Cunningham very well.

But in the few interactions I had with him, he seemed more honest and humble than your average college athletic administrator.

I joke about the "Bubba Brunch," Cunningham's monthly meeting with the Tulsa media. But in all honesty, I found that gathering one of the most endearing things about working in Tulsa.

It's a level of access every college athletic director in a competitive market should offer to the local media. It was always helpful to have an administrator's perspective on the issues facing college athletics.

I'll be intrigued to see if Cunningham continues it now that he's one of the "big dogs" at a place like North Carolina.

Although there is never really a wrong time to take a better job, the timing of Cunningham's departure is difficult for Tulsa.

In the news release announcing Deputy Athletic Director Ross Parmley as its choice for interim director, Tulsa said it would hire a new president before hiring a full-time athletic director.

A new president may not come on board until the summer, and that's a long time for the athletic department to wait for full-time leadership -- especially given Friday's announcement of a Conference USA/Mountain West football merger and the potential for Boise State, Air Force, Houston and SMU to receive Big East invitations.

A friend of mine who works in college athletics told me Tulsa is an attractive enough destination the school can hire a sitting athletic director if it wants. It wouldn't hurt the school to hire an experienced, well-known athletic administrator who can position the Golden Hurricane in a realigning college athletic world.

Cunningham obviously fit that description -- well enough to have Kansas and UNC seek his services in less than a year.

Without Bubba, brunch just won't be the same. Anyone for "Rapping with Ross?"

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The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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