Former NIU General Counsel George Shur temporarily will fill the role vacated by outgoing Athletic Director Cary Groth until a permanent replacement can be found.

Shur retired from NIU last year but recently headed a committee to review NIU’s recruiting rules and investigate an alleged recruitment party held at Amnesia, 1000 W. Lincoln Highway, in December. Shur also has served 20 years on the university’s athletics board and has a background dealing with Title IX and NCAA regulations.

“I’m inheriting a very well-run department where there are very good people in all positions that have a lot of integrity,” Shur said. “I think my job will be to try and maintain that, so the new permanent AD will be able to take over a well-functioning department.”

Shur said he was unsure whether NIU President John Peters considered anyone else to fill the interim position but said it works out better for members of the athletics department who may be considered to fill the position permanently.

“To put an existing associate athletic director in the position puts them into a distinct disadvantage,” Shur said. “Having an outsider like me come in preserves their opportunity to apply for the job.”

NIU currently is looking for a search firm to assist in finding Groth’s permanent replacement. Shur said he won’t be a part of the search committee but hopes to serve as a resource in the transition to warming up the new athletic director.

Although Shur wasn’t given a definite date as to when a permanent replacement would be hired, he said he expects it to be completed sometime during the summer.

Shur said NIU will pay him $10,000 a month during his duration as interim athletic director.

“NIU’s athletic program presents a very attractive opportunity, and I have no doubt that we will attract a number of very exciting candidates,” Peters said in a statement on Thursday.