Sept. 8, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

PROVO, Utah -- BYU fired its men's and women's athletic directors Wednesday and merged the two departments, the result of an internal review commissioned in May.

The school didn't renew the contracts of Val Hale, the men's athletic director, and Elaine Michaelis, the women's AD. They were immediately replaced by a team of department officials, including former California football coach Tom Holmoe. K. Fred Skousen, the school's advancement vice president, said a formal search for a new athletic director would not begin for three to six months.

Skousen said the changes were not related to an ongoing investigation by the Utah County Attorney's office into a 17-year-old girl's claim that she was raped by several people she believed to be BYU football players.

Hale, a BYU graduate, was the men's athletic director since 1999 and was an associate AD for 10 years before that.

Michaelis was in her 10th year of overseeing BYU's 11 women's sports. She also coached volleyball, basketball, softball and field hockey for the Cougars.



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