‘Ask Trev:’ NU interim president offers little insight on Alberts’ departure, promises full search

Chris Kabourek, the NU system’s interim president, said his intention is to engage a national search firm to aid in the search. And while Kabourek carries the interim title, he said he has already spoken to all members of the NU Board of Regents, who approved the plan for him to move forward with the hiring process.

“I’m confident we will get great candidates and we will go through a quick process and get someone named as quickly as we can,” Kabourek said in an interview. “But we will take as much time as we need, as well, to get the right person.”

Kabourek put no timeline on the hiring process. He also offered little insight behind the reasons Alberts decided to leave his alma mater for the same job at Texas A&M.

Kabourek said he spoke with Alberts several times in recent days about the opportunity he had at Texas A&M.

He said Alberts did not ask for anything in those discussions, nor did he express frustrations with his current job.

Alberts liked the leadership at Texas A&M and the vision the school laid out “and was very excited about that,” Kabourek said.

“You’ll have to ask Trev in terms of why he felt this opportunity had his name on it, was the right time for him to make this move at this point,” Kabourek said.

Alberts’ departure, coming on the heels of NU President Ted Carter’s decision in August to leave for Ohio State, adds to the leadership uncertainty within the university. Alberts, under a change the regents enacted last year, had reported directly to system president Carter rather than the University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor. 

But Kabourek said he saw the two departures as unrelated to each other and that they don’t suggest deeper issues or concerns within the university.

“I can see why people might want to connect those dots,” he said. “Any concerns about the culture or leadership at the university are unfounded, in my opinion.”

The regents are now nearly seven months into the search for Carter’s successor and have offered no recent update on its progress. Regents also made no public comments Wednesday regarding Alberts’ departure. 

Alberts resignation also comes as the university is in the early stages of a planned $450 million overhaul of Memorial Stadium.

Kabourek dismissed suggestions Alberts’ departure could be related to issues with that project. The regents voted unanimously for it, Kabourek said, and it is moving ahead.

Kabourek said his interest now is looking forward rather than back.

He said his immediate concern is seeing to the needs of the university’s athletes and coaches. He said he expected to meet with them as soon as Thursday and to soon name an interim athletic director.

He said he already has potential names in mind for the new permanent athletic director, saying the university was “not caught flat-footed” by Alberts’ sudden move. And he said he was sure there will be strong interest because of the “tremendous” opportunity at Nebraska and the department’s current momentum.

“I’m looking forward to finding the next great leader of Husker athletics,” he said.