National Collegiate Hockey Conference commissioner Jim Scherr has been in discussions with organizers of the 2015 European Games about a job with the group, but he said a report that he has accepted the position is premature.
Inside the Games reported that Scherr would become the chief operating officer for the organizing committee of the inaugural European Games, scheduled for Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2015.
Scherr, however, said he has not yet accepted the position.
“The announcement in Inside the Games is premature and incorrect at this time,” Scherr told USCHO via email on Monday.
He did confirm that he has been in discussions with Baku 2015 about the chief operating officer position.
Scherr got a 4½-year contract with the NCHC in early 2012 and has been assembling a staff ahead of the eight-team league’s debut in the upcoming season.
North Dakota athletic director Brian Faison, chair of the NCHC board of directors, issued a statement: “The NCHC Board of Directors is well aware that Commissioner Scherr has been approached with another job opportunity. The recent published reports that Jim has already accepted a position are erroneous. He has been forthcoming with information regarding a competing bid for his services. Since this is an internal personnel matter, the conference will offer no further comment at this time.”
If Scherr accepts the position with the Baku group, it would represent a return to Olympic-level administration for the former United States Olympic Committee chief executive officer. A former Olympic wrestler and USA Wrestling executive director, Scherr left a marketing and public relations firm in Colorado Springs, Colo., to join the NCHC.
“Being commissioner will have all my attention,” Scherr said when he was hired by the NCHC. “With the commitments shown by the schools, coaches and programs, this has a chance to be the premier single-sport conference in the NCAA. They’ve done this right.”
Scherr recently was part of NCHC and commissioners group meetings in Naples, Fla., where the league unveiled its board of directors officers.
“I could not be more pleased with our first meetings in Naples,” Scherr said in a news release. “It was great to get everyone in the same place and on the same page as we prepare for our inaugural season. We have some tremendous individuals at each of our institutions that are highly motivated and very professional. Our board of directors is an impressive, well-respected and passionate group that will lead us through the 2013-14 season. We are just a couple of months from dropping the puck on opening weekend and I could not be more excited to get the season under way.”
