ATHENS, Ga. --- A University of Georgia Athletic Association committee accepted Damon Evans' resignation Monday, four days after the Georgia State Patrol arrested him on a DUI charge during which Evans reminded the trooper about the powerful job he held.
The athletic association's executive committee voted unanimously to approve the terms of Evans' departure after a 15-minute meeting Monday morning held by teleconference and closed to the public and press.
Evans submitted his resignation Sunday after a meeting with Ed Tolley, a lawyer who represents the university. Evans and University of Georgia President Michael Adams signed it Sunday, and it went into effect Monday.
The separation agreement that the committee approved includes a severance deal that will pay Evans about $237,500 -- a $100,000 longevity bonus after his six-year stint as athletic director, plus three months' salary.
Speculation immediately turned to who Evans' successor might be. Much of the talk focused on Greg McGarity, executive senior associate athletic director at the University of Florida.
Adams plans to talk about the future leadership of the athletic department today at a previously scheduled media briefing.
Anticipating a large turnout, university administrators moved the regular briefing from where it's normally held -- a small conference room in the Administration Building on North Campus -- to the spacious Mahler Auditorium in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
Besides McGarity, possible candidates to replace Evans might include senior athletics administrators already at Georgia, including Carla Williams, senior associate athletic director, and Frank Crumley, executive associate athletic director.
McGarity, a native of Athens, is already the choice for many in the Bulldog Nation.
"I sure hope they consider Greg McGarity," said Dan Magill, former Georgia tennis coach and ex-sports information director who has known McGarity since he was a child.
Magill described him as an extremely competent athletic administrator at Georgia before he left to take a job at Florida.
"I think he'd be the best choice for the job," agreed Charlie Berry, of Chickamauga, president of the Chattahoochee-Northwest Georgia Bulldog Club, one of the largest Georgia booster clubs. "I sincerely hope he gets it."