Associate Vice Chancellor for Students and Dean of Students Justin Carroll will take over the athletic director position on an interim basis starting March 1 following former athletic director Josh Whitman’s move to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, announced last week.

Carroll will serve as interim athletic director through the end of June 2017, an unconventionally long period for a temporary replacement. Washington University leaders in charge of the transition chose the timeline as a way to stabilize the athletic department in the months leading up to and during the the opening of the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center in August and the presidential debate that will be hosted in the Field House in October. The national search for a permanent director will not begin until January 2017.

“I wanted Justin to be able to make all of those important decisions that an athletic director needs to make…knowing he’s going to be here for at least a year and a half,” Vice Chancellor for Students Lori White, who asked Carroll to take the position, said.

Since first being appointed to dean of students in 1992, Carroll has directly overseen the athletic department. At different points over the past 24 years, he has served as a member of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Delegates Committee, Chief Operating Office of the UAA and the vice chair of the UAA Executive Committee. That extended involvement made Carroll an obvious choice for the appointment, White said.

“Because athletics reports to Justin, that means he has to be intimately involved with all the major decisions surrounding the athletic department, and, of course, now the recreational sports department,” White said.

She added that appointing Carroll for the interim position is an added benefit because he won’t be vying for the permanent position, which will avoid complicating the search for the new athletic director. Still, Carroll’s familiarity with the department will ease the process through the debate and grand opening.

“Being already here and working with that department—I know all the people, I’ve been really involved with the programs and the building and everything else, so I don’t have a learning curve that somebody else would have to have,” Carroll said.

A learning curve, he added, that would include preparing to host the presidential debate in October and putting together the finishing touches on the construction of the new Sumers Recreation Center.

“I’ve been involved with all that as being something that reported to me, and it just seemed to make sense that it would be really hard for someone new to come in at this time,” Carroll said. “That’s why we sort of set the goal as get through the fall and then begin a national search with the goal of someone joining.”

Carroll added that the June 2017 deadline for his replacement isn’t fixed and can be adjusted depending on the results of the national search.

Carroll, who has spent 35 years at Wash. U., will remain in his current roles as vice chancellor and dean of students. He will, however, move his office from the Danforth University Center to the athletic department for this period of time.

As interim athletic director, Carroll plans on continuing initiatives started by Whitman in Whitman’s 18-month tenure. He doesn’t plan on starting anything particularly new but rather will focus on making sure the new athletic center’s opening runs smoothly and successfully.

“[I’m] excited to have the opportunity to be kind of more involved on an interim basis, and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Additional reporting by Aaron Brezel.