UMaine taps Miami U official to serve as athletic director

ORONO, Maine (AP) — The University of Maine has hired Miami University’s deputy athletic director and chief of staff to serve as its athletics director.

Jude Killy signed a five-year contract at UMaine with an annual salary of $250,000, the university announced Wednesday.

“I cannot wait to get to work and it will be my privilege to serve the Division I flagship institution for the state,” Killy said.

He will lead UMaine athletics during a transformative era marked by a $90 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation to upgrade sports facilities. But he’ll also have to manage an athletics budget that’s among the lowest in the conferences in which UMaine participates, the Hockey East, America East and the Colonial Athletic Association.

Killy replaces Ken Ralph, who departed to take the job as athletic director at Southwestern University in Texas.