Blake James' supporters say he is a bright young administrator who simply needed time to grow into his job as the University of Maine athletic director. His detractors saw a parachute on his back and believe he used that time to familiarize himself with the rip cord while he searched for a soft place to land far from Orono.

James may yet become the new athletic director at Florida Gulf Coast University. He was one of the six candidates called back last week for interviews out of a pool of 172. Tuesday, an advisory search committee on the Fort Myers campus sent James' name and three others to the university president, Wilson Bradshaw.

Bradshaw told the Fort Myers Free-Press he hopes to offer the job within 10 days.

The revolving door to the Maine AD's office keeps spinning and you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Before James was hired, no one had the sense to jam a field hockey stick or a baseball bat into its frame to get it to stop.

For years, Maine has needed someone to give all university teams a sense of the future. Yes, leaders and visionaries have been in short supply, but someone needed to invest sweat equity on Maine's behalf. James didn't send that message to Mainers when he pitched himself hard to FGCU. He's reinforced the perception that he is or was a short-timer.

Everyone should have the freedom to look for greener grass or simply test the marketplace. Joanne McCallie did when Long Beach State was interested in the new, young basketball coaching talent. Shawn Walsh was linked to a job opening at Ohio State. Over a year ago, the vacant head football coaching position at the University of Rhode Island caught Jack Cosgrove's attention. All three returned to Maine and continued winning.

Athletic directors are a different animal. They shape policy and give teams a personality through the coaches who are hired, kept, or asked to leave. Turn over athletic directors every three years or so and you're shaping nothing but the reputation of a university as a way station to somewhere else. Why fix the more difficult problems when you can hand them off?

The time for a public, or certainly campus-wide discussion, on what sports Maine can support is overdue. James has said he believes in giving his coaches more responsibility to make decisions. Great. But someone has to lead. Someone needs to support.

Al Bean became athletic director at the University of Southern Maine in 1995. That year, Sue Tyler was named Maine's athletic director. She was followed by Patrick Nero and then James. Bean is still at USM.

Yes, USM is Division III and scholarships based on financial need, and Maine is Division I and athletic scholarships. Tomatoes and potatoes. Except USM has a sense of what it is and Maine doesn't.

I was told last spring, before men's soccer and volleyball were axed, that Maine has 19 head coaches and 19 fiefdoms. That coaches who preached teamwork to their players weren't practicing it among themselves. That absent a strong leader or someone who knows how to build a consensus, turf wars can get ugly.

At USM there are successful teams and those that struggle. Good coaching hires and not-so-good hires. The constant has been Bean and a core of veteran head coaches who work very closely with him.

Maine gambled when it hired James. He'd bring new ideas, new energy and maybe a new commitment. He has worked to hold Maine athletes more accountable for their behavior off the field. He's worked to improve the graduation rate.

He's also worked to take credit for the on-field successes, including Maine's return to the NCAA playoffs in football. Too bad he didn't follow the lead of some Maine coaches and walk into Cosgrove's office more often and ask for advice.

Prior to 2000, FGCU didn't have a fulltime AD. It's a former model Division II program that moved up to Division I last year. It doesn't have football but may add it. James has separated...