Thursday, March 22, 2007; E02

Keith Gill, a senior associate athletic director for administration at Oklahoma the past 2 1/2 years, has been chosen as American University's athletic director and will be formally introduced this morning at the Northwest Washington campus.

AU has been without a full-time athletic director since Joni Comstock stepped down last fall to work for the NCAA. Gill, who played football at Duke, will become the university's fifth athletic director in seven years.

"In Keith Gill we have the right blend of expertise and enthusiasm to lead AU athletics for years to come," Neil Kerwin, AU's interim president, said in a prepared statement yesterday. "We were impressed with Keith's strong commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement that we strongly embrace."

Gill, who is not expected to begin the job until June, did not return a phone message left at his office in Norman, Okla.

Gill was among three finalists brought to campus in recent weeks for formal interviews and to meet the coaches. One of the other finalists was from the University of Maryland's athletic department, sources said.

According to his biography on Oklahoma's Web site, Gill worked closely with the NCAA and Big 12 Conference while monitoring institutional and athletic department policy. He also supervised strategic planning efforts and directly oversaw the men's basketball and soccer programs.

Before arriving at Oklahoma, Gill was an assistant athletic director at Vanderbilt for a year and a half and director of membership services for the NCAA for four years.

-- Steven Goff