George Koonce believes he has a plan to make UW-Milwaukee the envy of all other Horizon League schools.
The former Green Bay Packers linebacker admits it won't be easy in the current economic climate, but he thinks he can tackle the fund-raising challenge at UWM if he is named the school's athletic director.
Koonce spoke at a public forum at the UWM Student Union on Monday, as one of four candidates to replace retiring athletic director Bud Haidet.
Other finalists for the job are Montgomery Porter, associate athletic director at Western Michigan; Paul Schlickmann, formerly at Yale and now executive associate director of athletics at Stony Brook in New York; and Vince Sweeney, senior associate athletic director for external relations at the University of Wisconsin.
The 40-year-old Koonce, currently a senior associate athletic director at Marquette University, said his previous experiences give him a unique perspective on a college athlete's life and goals. He played football at East Carolina University and later nine pro seasons with the Packers and Seattle Seahawks, and he was a member of the Packers' 1996 team, which won the Super Bowl.