Hathaway Steps Down as UConn Athletic Director

University of Connecticut Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway announced his immediate retirement Friday afternoon, following the signing of a separation agreement with the university.

According to a statement released by the university, Hathaway will remain employed by UConn through September 15. Senior Associate Director of Athletics Paul McCarthy will then serve as director until an interim director is named.

Hathaway will receive one year of his salary, valued at $351,717, as well as the rate he typically earns in annual speaking engagements, $179,860, for a total of 531,717, as well as up to 120 vacation days, based on his annual rate, and one lump sum payment from the university for 18 months of continuing health care coverage under COBRA. He will also receive tuition remission for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years for one family member to attend the university (the full details of Hathaway's separation package is attached as a PDF). 

“I have been proud to serve the University of Connecticut for nearly two decades, including the last eight years as Director of Athletics,” said Hathaway in a statement released by the university. 

“It is an honor and privilege to have led this outstanding Division of Athletics and to have worked with so many remarkable student-athletes, coaches, staff members and colleagues at the University, the Big East Conference and NCAA. It has been incredibly rewarding to have collaborated with so many exceptional individuals during this proud period of academic and athletic excellence. After 20 years of being associated with UConn, I felt the time was right for me to pursue new challenges. I wish the very best to all those associated with UConn Athletics, and to this great University, now and long into the future," he said.

, who , had ordered a "360” evaluation of Hathaway earlier this summer. According to the settlement agreement, the evaluation had been terminated before its completion.

The evaluation came on the heels of a successful year for the UConn athletics program.

• The Huskies football team ;
• the women’s basketball team  (and along the way  when it surpassed a winning streak held by the UCLA men's basketball team since 1974);
• the men’s basketball team ; and the
• university’s baseball team made an appearance in the NCAA Super Regional.

Outside of competition, UConn athletics made national headlines in January, when  demanded the return of $3 million he had donated to the university, calling it a “slap in the face” when Hathaway did not consulted him in the search for UConn's new head football coach, . “We want our money and respect back,” he wrote in a letter to Hathaway.

Burton has since , and his name still adorns UConn's practice facility. 

And in February, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions  for going against NCAA athletic policies, and suspended head coach Jim Calhoun for the first three conference games of the 2011-12 season.

“I want to thank Jeff for his long service to UConn and our Division of Athletics,” said Herbst in a statement released by the university.

“The university has had unprecedented success on the field, on the court and in the classroom for more than a decade and he has a great deal to be proud of during his tenure. I join so many others at the university in thanking him for his service and in wishing him well," she said.