NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell has named Clarence Hudson to fill the space left by former Huskie Associate AD Jerry Ippoliti.

O’Dell also denied rumors that he had applied for the vacant AD position at Kansas State. He said he does not know where the rumor started, and he reaffirmed his commitment to NIU athletics.

“I heard that (rumor) and I laughed like crazy,” O’Dell said. “I have not applied for any job anywhere else nor do I have an interest in any job anywhere else.”

O’Dell said he would rather talk about Hudson, which brought up another tender issue, Walt Owens. The Northern Star reported last week that Owens, a long-time NIU faculty member, was disappointed about not getting an interview for the associate AD spot.

“The screening committee evaluated the candidates and, based on criteria, Walt Owens was not one of the final three candidates,” O’Dell said.

Hudson, the candidate who did meet the screening committee’s criteria, was a college football teammate of O’Dell’s at Southeastern Oklahoma State where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences in 1972 and a Master’s Degree in Behavioral Studies in 1974.

Hudson, 38, comes to NIU from a four-year stint as a divisional rental manager with Ruan Transportation. He also has eight years experience as a Division I assistant coach. Hudson said his business knowledge will help him in his new job more so than his athletic experience.

“What I liked when I was an assistant coach was how to run a business more than the X’s and O’s,” Hudson said. “By going into the business world, a lot of doors were opened that are not normally open to an assistant football coach. My confidence from being successful in business has grown.”

Hudson likes what he has seen of NIU so far but was hesitant to predict the future of Huskie athletics.

“I’m not a visionary,” he said. “I’m not Nancy Reagan’s astrologer. (But) I see progress. After meeting with some of the coaching staff, I was very impressed with their attitude and aggressiveness.”

“My main function will be to aid the coaches in administering their sports to a point where they can concentrate on their jobs, which is to win games,” he said. “My job is to take the pressure off the coaches.”

Hudson’s first collegiate coaching experience came as a receivers coach from 1976 to 1978 at Wichita State. He served as offensive coordinator for Minnesota in 1983 after four years at Iowa State. Hudson served as a running back coach at ISU, where he worked with two-time Big Eight rushing leader and eventual New York Jet Dwayne Crutchfield.

Beside playing football in college, Hudson lettered in track, basketball and baseball as a high schooler in Oklahoma.