Hoyas AD Langwill retire July 1

The upheaval in Georgetown’s athletic department continued yesterday when longtime athletic director Joe Lang announced his retirement effective July1.

Lang, who arrived at Georgetown in 1972 as an assistant track and field coach, was named athletic director in 1995. He becomes the fourth prominent member of Georgetown’s athletic department to leave this year, following fired men’s basketball coach Craig Esherick; assistant athletic director Denis Kanach, now AD at Randolph-Macon College; and women’s soccer coach Diane Drake, now coach at George Mason University.

“I appreciate the opportunity that Georgetown provided me to spend my career working to enhance the undergraduate experience of our student-athletes,” Lang said in a statement on Georgetown’s Web site. “The chance to work with an outstanding group of colleagues, students and alumni has been one of the great blessings of my life.”

Adam Brick, the senior associate director of athletics for legal affairs, will serve as Georgetown’s interim AD. A formal search process for a permanent athletic director will begin soon.

Lang essentially was moved out of the picture when Georgetown started a search process to find Esherick’s replacement. Retired AD Frank Rienzo and an unnamed member of the university’s board of directors led the process.

Lang’s role was to sit in on interviews with university president John J. DeGioia. As it turned out, neither Lang nor the search committee was needed when Georgetown hired John Thompson III, eldest son of Georgetown’s former Hall of Fame coach, John Thompson.

During Lang’s tenure as athletic director, 28 Georgetown teams won Big East regular-season championships. Lang was instrumental in the Big East’s recent expansion to 16 schools beginning in 2005.