Michael Adams has a strained relationship – to put it nicely – with many Georgia fans. But facing a possible crisis in the athletic department, Adams has fared about as well as someone in his position can in the week since Damon Evans’ arrest. The upcoming search is still a big part of the process, so we’ll save the standing ovation until the new athletic director is in place. Mark Bradley is dead-on:  Adams “has been tone-perfect in this time of turmoil.”

What’s even more amazing is that an issue that could have been fumbled as badly and publicly as the Harrick mess has instead more or less been one of Adams’ better moments in his relationship with the athletics program.  From his measured response to the initial report to the appropriate settlement to the wise search plan laid out yesterday, consensus support has formed around Adams’ actions every step of the way. Now much of that might have to do with the graphic nature of the police report and Evans’ cooperation – how much choice did Adams have in the matter?

But moving beyond the incident and Evans’ resignation, Adams hit on every big note in his plan.  Frank Crumley might be reluctant to step into the limelight as interim AD, but he – like Dr. Carla Green Williams – are known as competent administrators who will be good stewards of the athletic department even if they aren’t finalists for the job.  Paul has already explained the quality of the search committee, and they’ll protect Georgia’s interests.

More important though is the vision to aim high and look beyond Athens or even Georgia for the successor.  This isn’t a situation where there needs to be a house-cleaning; the remaining organization is very solid.  But fresh perspective and a relative lack of political entanglements at the top won’t be bad things in Athens.  Cynics will claim that Adams just wants to hand-pick someone he can control, but that thinking doesn’t mesh with the goals Adams set out for the search nor the composition of the search committee.

The nature of the search’s vision reflects the reality that a modern athletic director is much more CEO than jock-in-chief. It’s no longer a place for the coach emeritus to finish out his career.  The new AD will have to fight for Georgia’s interests against other titans in the SEC.  They’ll have to scratch to grow the program in the face of strong regional competition and a down economy. Adams has set expectations high, and the new athletic director will be judged against that lofty vision.

Or, he could just send the search committee a photo of Mike Garrett with “the opposite of this” scrawled on it.  Same result.