San Diego State athletic director Jeff Schemmel resigns amid controversy

San Diego State University athletic director Jeff Schemmel resigned on Thursday amid controversy surrounding his alleged use of a university credit card while on a trip that involved an extramarital affair with an Alabama woman.

SDSU President Stephen Weber released this statment:

“It is my sad duty to announce that Jeff Schemmel has resigned as Athletic Director effective today. I have accepted his resignation. Jeff and I agree that this is in the best interest of our athletic program and San Diego State.

I want to thank Jeff for his service to the university and for his willingness to do the right thing under these difficult circumstances. I believe our athletic program is headed in the right direction for which Jeff deserves considerable credit. This includes some great hires, several conference championships and increases in the graduation rates of our student athletes.”

Related: Hacksaw — Schemmel deserved a second chance

According to reports, Schemmel had attempted to get reimbursed for questionable expenses on a business trip earlier this year.

Schemmel earns more than $250,000 annually, and earlier this year his contract was renewed through 2013.

Jeff Schemmel (Courtesy of GoAztecsTV.com)

This is not the first time he has been surrounded by controversy. In 1999, Schemmel was an associate athletic director at the University of Minnesota. In March of that year, allegations of widespread academic fraud within the men’s basketball program rocked the university, and led to the resignations of Schemmel, head coach Clem Haskins, athletic director Mark Dienhart, vice president of athletics McKinley Boston and academic counselor Alonzo Newby.

Schemmel was hired by San Diego State in July of 2005.

Weber said that SDSU will conduct a national search for Schemmel’s replacement, beginning immediately. It is his hope that they will have the position filled by March of 2010.

Tags: Clem Haskins, Jeff Schemmel, Mark Dienhart, San Diego State University, SDNN, University of Minnesota

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 11:10 am and is filed under Aztecs, Sports News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.