Vanderbilt hires NBA development league president as new AD

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt has hired NBA G League President Malcolm Turner as its new athletic director, opting for a business executive over candidates with experience in college athletic administration for the Southeastern Conference’s only private university.

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos said current and former athletic directors were among the diverse candidates Vanderbilt considered before choosing Turner.

“Malcolm didn’t come up through college athletics but I think he is a great fit for Vanderbilt,” Zeppos told the Associated Press.

Turner will start Feb. 1 and replace David Williams, the first African-American athletic director in the SEC, to cap a search that started in September.

“Vanderbilt is a really special place and offering that rare combination of student-athletes and that commitment to an opportunity for excellence on and off the field was just a very compelling proposition for me,” Turner said.

Zeppos introduced Turner on a conference call with reporters Tuesday and said Turner was a top candidate from the first names suggested by the search firm used by Vanderbilt. Zeppos sees Turner’s experience will give him a sense of where college athletics are going.

“The strategic thinking and the ability to kind of say this is where this should be going, it was very, very important to me,” Zeppos said.