Former N.C. Governor Can’t Find Teaching Job, Considers Another Run

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A new interview with North Carolina’s former governor, Pat McCrory has revealed he’s gotten the cold shoulder from academia, has to drive for himself that he’s considering running again despite his defeat in the last election.

The revelations were made during a recent sit-down interview with Spectrum News’ Capital Tonight that aired Friday.

McCrory called his life after losing his bid for second term “a drastic change.”

When asked about his transition to private citizen, the conversation turned to McCrory having to drive himself for the first time in four years. “I had to buy a car,” he said, adding that he was in an accident in the first week behind the wheel. “I am learning how to drive again because I haven’t driven in four years,” he said. “I’m a horrible driver.”

McCrory, who said he is currently working on boards, said he had hoped to transition into the private sector would include employment in academia.

“The one thing I wish I could have done if I wasn’t governor, I wish I could have taught in a university,” he said. “I wasn’t invited to Harvard,” to speak at the Kennedy School like most former governors typically are, he said.

He’s also felt the collegiate cold shoulder closer to home. “I was hoping to teach at the Public Policy school at Duke,” he said. “Within 15 minutes of being on the campus, the students and professors objected,” he said. “That’s kind of a sad commentary on the culture of our universities now because I would have loved to teach public policy.

“That’s the only thing that I don’t have that I wanted,” he said.

As for making another bid for the governor’s seat in 2020, McCrory was coy, saying he would need to see where he was health wise and in the private sector in two years. “I’ll do an evaluation much later on,” he said.

You can watch the entire interview here.

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Image via NCDOTcommunications, via Flickr