U.S. Olympic Leadership Change Draws Sharp Reaction

The USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs. (ATR)(ATR) An abrupt change in leadership at the U.S. Olympic Committee is drawing concern from U.S. sports leaders as well as IOC members watching from afar the latest personnel drama involving the USOC.

Stephanie Streeter, a member of the USOC board and former corporate executive, was named USOC chief executive last week, with Jim Scherr suddenly ending his six years as CEO by resigning.

No exact reason was given for the coup in Colorado Springs. USOC chair Larry Probst told reporters that the change was a mutual decision and that the time was right for a change

Constituents the USOC serves, such as national governing bodies, are not so sure.

"I thought to myself, 'What horrendous timing,'" Jose Rodriguez, CEO of USA Judo, tells Around the Rings.

Rodriguez says the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics may suffer with the loss of a familiar face at the top of the USOC.

"I will always remember something that (Atlanta Olympics chief) Billy Payne used to say during his bid effort: All things being equal, friends vote for friends, and the important thing is to see as many friendly faces as you can.

"The Europeans are very much into the long-term relationships. Jim had been the face of the USOC for six years, and that's about the time that it takes for people in Europe to even remember your name."

Chicago is campaigning with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the 2016 Olympics.

The announcement Thursday that Streeter would replace Scherr was greeted with dismay by those who felt the U.S. had finally shed its image of revolving-door leadership.

"It's hard to describe this as anything but dysfunctional," said one insider, who like many others, did not want to speak on the record.

IOC Members React

A European IOC member said he was "astounded" by the turn of events.

He said Scherr was "a top-class guy who has woven his way into the Olympic family. They have to distinguish between what's best for the U.S. Olympic committee and the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. And they're not taking in the broader picture with this move."

But this IOC member – as well as IOC member Alex Gilady of Israel says the more important question is the outstanding negotiations with IOC over revenue-sharing. National Olympic committees as well as international federations are all counting on a larger share of the money – which could mean less for the U.S.

“The USOC solving the issues on the money distribution with the IOC/IF/NOCs…This may build or kill the USOC,” says Gilady.

But one IOC member from the Americas who knows Scherr said the changes were not "a healthy development. ... From the outside it certainly doesn't look good.

“Especially Jim was a force of stability and was considered a highly knowledgeable sports administrator. Continuity in leadership is necessary for USOC, after years of turbulence. I hope they can re-group soon and not make any more changes at this point."

National Governing Bodies Look for Answers

NGB leaders spoke Monday morning with Mike Plant and Bob Bowlsby, the NGB representatives on the USOC board to express their concerns.

Skip Gilbert, head of USA Triathlon and the chair of the NGB Council, and other NGB leaders will meet with Probst on Thursday in the San Francisco area. Gilbert requested a conference call with Probst on Monday, but Probst was unavailable.

USA Judo’s Rodriguez says the NGBs want a better explanation of what happened to the popular Scherr, an Olympian and former head of USA Wrestling.

"This is not about personalities, not about Jim, not about Stephanie," Rodriguez said. "It really is about process. There's a concern by many of the NGBs that Jim's replacement came very suddenly and that perhaps he wasn't given due process."

Rodriguez said that NGBs, like athletes, sponsors, the Chicago 2016 bid and the American public are all stockholders in the U.S. Olympic movement.

“I just wonder if all the stockholders were heard prior to a decision being made to make a change in the CEO position," he said. "It may be too late to bring back Jim, but it's not too late to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Streeter Makes Her Case

Streeter’s rise follows the naming of Larry Probst as USOC chair in October, replacing Peter Ueberroth, whose four-year term expired. Probst, a newcomer to the Olympic Movement, was hand-picked by Ueberroth to take the top spot.

Streeter, a board member since 2004, had been considered a contender for the position.

She is a former chairman and CEO of the Banta Jim Scherr served as USOC CEO for six years. (ATR)Corporation, a specialty printing company in Wisconsin. She left that job after guiding Banta through its acquisition by printing giant by R.R. Donnelley about two years ago.

Streeter has also served as a member of the Chicago 2016 board for two years.

Streeter is taking the CEO job on an interim basis - where she will be the first female CEO in USOC history -- although there is no plan at this time to launch a search for a permanent successor. Scherr received a compensation package of about $560,000, but Streeter has said terms of her employment are still being worked out.

This weekend, Streeter indicated that the decision for her to become USOC CEO was not a sudden move.

In an interview with Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune, Streeter said, "This is about being asked many times by my colleagues to take on this (CEO) role and basically, finally saying yes."

She would not say when she was first asked. Streeter did say she was considering moving to Colorado Springs, Colo., where the USOC is headquartered. The mother of 17-month old twins, Streeter, 51, had previously said she would commute from Wisconsin.

Streeter has said that her experience as a Stanford basketball player helps her relate to what athletes need. Scherr was an Olympic wrestler, the head of wrestling's NGB and Chief of Sport Performance at the USOC.

Streeter has denied that she went after Scherr's job once she joined the board of directors. According to insiders, she was highly critical of his performance. Stephanie Streeter,51, says she brings experience as a board member to the CEO post.

Streeter said she brings a different "set of skills," to the table, although Norm Blake and Lloyd Ward, two previous CEOs from the corporate world, did not succeed in the job.

"With all due respect to those other executives, I start this assignment with so much more information and experience with the USOC and IOC," Streeter told the Tribune.

“Four years with the (USOC) board. I have worked closely with management. I understand how the organization is structured. How it operates. How it interacts with the IOC, the NGBs, the athletes, Congress. I understand how the successes were achieved."

The Tribune said leaders of "some other NGBs said Streeter had made little effort to get to know them and in some cases did not even respond to e-mails inviting her to become more familiar with them and their sports."

She said she has met 25-30 IOC members.

Colleagues Call Scherr “Hero”

Staff members at USOC headquarters apparently reacted with concern over the sudden loss of Scherr at the helm.

Spokesman Darryl Seibel says Scherr responded with a note to them over the weekend "expressing his continued support for the USOC and appreciation for having had the opportunity to serve as CEO”.

Doug Logan, CEO of USA Track and Field, called Scherr "a real hero of the Olympic Movement. When he came in, he cleaned up messes that had been left behind and got the trains running on time and exercised some incredibly adult management over the organization and created an era of stability. We owe him a big debt of gratitude and I think he will be missed."

Added Harvey Schiller, head of the International Baseball Federation and a former USOC executive director:

"Jim should be congratulated for taking on the responsibilities of USOC CEO during a very difficult period. The USOC is an unusual creature for which every American claims ownership."

Logan said Streeter is taking on a tough job. He said Ueberroth told him it could be characterized as a job where "if there are eight plates in front of that individual, seven of them are ugly plates. You have difficult decisions to make, having to say no to people and having to take on controversial topics and make decisions that don't necessarily make you popular.”

"I'm sure that Larry and the board knew what they were doing, and we're here to be helpful and supportive. We're all playing on the same team,” said Logan.

Rodriguez hopes that the team will unite so it doesn't affect the Chicago 2016 bid effort.

"It took seven or eight years to get the world to begin to admire and respect who we are as an Olympic organization," he said. "I hope that with the strength of the leadership of Chicago 2016 that hopefully this little hiccup is not going to make much of an impact. We want to see Chicago win. We want to see the United States win. We need the Olympics back."

Written by

Karen Rosen

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