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Penn State Hires the 2nd Worst Athletic Director In the Country

Barbour's Legacy: Empty Seats at Cal's Memorial Stadium - Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Penn State announced today that they have hired former Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour as their new athletic director. She replaces Dave Joyner who recently announced his retirement and who took over at Penn State after the Sandusky child abuse scandal.

The only way they could have made a worse pick is if they had hired Dan Guerrero.

Barbour was basically run out of Berkeley over the financing issues created by the renovation of Memorial Stadium which became problematic after attendance dropped due to the football team's poor performance at the end of the Tedford era and the beginning of the Dykes era.

At the same time, the Cal graduation rate in football plummetted to 44 percent which was the worst in the country.

Despite these struggles which ultimately and rightfully cost her her job with Cal, Cal teams won 19 National Championships during her ten-year tenure and the school finished in the Directors' Cup top ten six times. These are comparable to UCLA's Dan Guerrero whose UCLA teams have won 25 National Championships and finished in the Director's Cup top ten 10 times. Guerrero started at UCLA two years before Barbour took over at Cal.

The on-field success has been similar including the fact that revenue sports have struggled under both.

Ultimately, what appears to have done her in at Cal, was the hiring of a new chancellor. On November 27, 2012, the UC Regents confirmed Nicholas Dirks as Cal's next chancellor, replacing Robert Birgeneau. Just over a year later, Barbour was out as Cal's AD, proving that a change in the Chancellor's Office may be what is need to get a change at the Morgan Center.

We wish Penn State the best of luck with their new hire.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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