By Mark F. Gray, Special to the AFRO

Only history will judge whether the hiring of Damon Evans as the new athletic director was an act of desperation or sign of progress by the University of Maryland. That Chancellor Wallace Loh would hire the second Black man to succeed the first in Kevin Anderson – who some say was forced to resign while on sabbatical last April – is a sign that diversity really does mean something in College Park. It could also mean that the candidates they really coveted do fear the turtle.

Evans’ credentials are impeccable and there is no doubt he has proven leadership skills while previously running a major college program. At the University of Georgia, he oversaw a program that was a blue blood in arguably the nation’s top conference.  However, for a school that has been reluctant to take chances on athletes with a checkered past it is an incredible roll of the dice to name Evans as the leader of the athletic department.

Maryland athletic director Damon Evans hugs his wife Kerri following an introductory news conference in College Park, Md. Evans, who joined the school in December 2014, replaces Kevin Anderson, who resigned in April. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

He knows how to fill big shoes after succeeding the legend that was Vince Dooley at Georgia.  Herschel Walker’s college coach, who led the Bulldogs to the 1980 national championship, walks on water from Athens to Atlanta and groomed Evans to be his successor as the athletic director. He was successful until an unfortunate personal hiccup.

Evans ran a department that won 13 national championships and 19 Southeastern Conference title during his six years at the helm.  He oversaw a program with an $85 million athletic budget featuring a staff of 250 people with 600 student-athletes.   Evans was instrumental in Georgia’s fundraising efforts as well.  He added $56 million to its athletic reserve fund that marked an increase of nine million dollars over six years.

At a time when the athletic department continues hemorrhaging money because the football team hasn’t been major bowl eligible for over a decade and the men’s basketball program is hit or miss for the NCAA Tournament Evans acumen for raising cash makes this hire a no brainer for Maryland.  So why did Chancellor Loh spend $120,000 with an outside firm to conduct a national search to find Anderson’s successor?

One glaring stain on his sparking resume does remain, however.  Evans was caught in 2010 driving under the influence of alcohol 70 miles away from the Athens campus in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell. He was with a woman other than his wife – Courtney Fuhrman – whose red panties were in his lap, according to published accounts of the police reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Evans reportedly claimed that she had taken them off as he was trying to take her home, but she was also charged with disorderly conduct after not complying with police orders to stay in the car.

The irony was that the affable Evans had just authored a new tougher policy for UGA students regarding DUI charges that required them to miss 10 percent of their season if caught.

Evans has been the Executive Athletic Director since Anderson’s official departure and by all accounts has done a masterful job. He will be remembered for helping Maryland navigate through investigating the death of football player Jordan McNair and an FBI investigation into whether the basketball program was complicit in an alleged $14,000 payment to ex-player Diamond Stone. He also may have to make a critical hire if things don’t change for the basketball program, perhaps as early as next year.

Reports say that Evans was Loh’s choice from the start. Time will tell if it was a good one for both.