ATHENS, Ga. - After a rancorous year and months of transitional leadership, the deadline date set long ago by the president finally arrived.
The official transfer of sovereignty passed peacefully June 30. The former leader was out of the country, having moved out of office several days ahead of schedule. The new man in charge was already dealing with the messy details of his authority.
Directorship of the University of Georgia athletics program officially passed from Vince Dooley to Damon Evans as of midnight Wednesday. The first black athletic director in the Southeastern Conference, and the youngest, will take four boxes of stuff and his computer into his new corner office shortly after lunch today.
"We're playing it pretty low key," said Sharon Kelley, the administrative assistant to Evans who is overseeing their move about 100 feet down the hall in the Butts-Mehre Building to room 401.
There was no protest. No ceremony. No signed proclamation. Evans won't be handed any symbolic keys to Sanford Stadium or Stegeman Coliseum.
"Same old Damon," he said. "Just going to work."
This power shift has been anything but ordinary since university President Michael Adams refused Dooley's request for a contract extension last year. It has pitted Adams against Dooley and the Board of Regents against the fund-raising UGA Foundation. Control of the entire university, much less the athletics program, has been fought over in boardrooms, back rooms and chat rooms.
None of that vitriol was evident Wednesday. Adams was in England. Dooley was in Canada, along with the entire sports communications department. Football coach Mark Richt was on vacation. The UGA Foundation was in Atlanta caving into Adams' authority in order to keep from being dissolved.
Evans was practically alone in the athletics administration building on the day of transfer. His appointment schedule was as packed as his personal effects.
If Evans is overwhelmed by the moment, he isn't showing it. He'll start his first day on the job by attending his 5-year-old son's graduation from swimming lessons before heading to work.
"I'm going to get up like every other day and come to the office and do what I was hired to do," Evans said, taking a break Wednesday from meeting with Georgia basketball coach Dennis Felton.
"I'll work just as hard in these areas as I have in my current capacity."
Evans has essentially been on the job since he was officially hired to replace Dooley on Dec. 19, 2003. This was the man Dooley wanted to succeed him and the best choice for the job considering all the discourse Dooley's forced retirement has caused in Bulldog Nation.
He has kept Evans by his side for much of the past six months, helping the transition go as smoothly as possible. Evans has jumped right in, handling the athletics department side of the controversy of the week involving the denied admission of ex-football recruit Michael Grant.
"To me, when you've been here six years, it doesn't seem to be that different," Evans said of his new responsibilities. "The only difference is the buck stops with me now. If something goes wrong, it all falls on me."
At the other end of the fourth floor was Dooley's vacant office - stripped of any signs of the 40 years he has served Georgia as a coach and administrator. The Mayflower movers took everything out Tuesday, hauling four decades of mementos and horticultural books roughly 200 yards away, across the football practice fields, to his new office in the Rankin Smith student-athlete academic center.
From his window in room 223, Dooley can look over a crepe myrtle and through the goalposts at the new practice field. He could also wave to Evans as he takes care of the business of Georgia athletics from the office he filled for so long.
The barren work space he left behind is a strange sight for Becky Stevens, Dooley's administrative assistant for the past 13 years who seems close to tears every time she talks about her boss being gone. She was reluctant to let go of the last vestiges of Dooley's reign, including his tattered appointment calendar.
"I don't know why it's so hard for me to turn loose," she said.
It's been hard on everyone, but the time has come to move on. The authority has been transferred to a leader intent on building a new Georgia much like the old one.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
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