Colin Mullaney / Editor-in-Chief

Executive Athletic Director Bill McGillis has been at USD for the past seven years, since December 2016. In a public statement announcing his departure, McGillis focused on the last several years of his career at USD. McGillis did not make any comment on the recent hazing allegations, or the lawsuit filed by USD football quarterback AJ Perez.

“I decided that now is the right time to step away, hit reset and embark on exciting new opportunities that are ahead,” McGillis said, according to USD News Center. “I have treasured my seven years at the University of San Diego. USD is a special place with a community of amazing students, faculty, staff and alumni. I will be forever grateful to President Harris, our Board of Trustees, university colleagues, our outstanding Athletics administrative team and an incredible group of head and assistant coaches for the opportunity to serve together in supporting our 400+ scholar-athletes. I am especially proud of the extraordinary achievements of our scholar-athletes and coaches.”

USD President James T. Harris III also commented on McGillis’ departure.

“I want to thank Bill McGillis for his tireless efforts on behalf of USD, as well as his dedicated support of our student-athletes,” Harris said. “We wish Bill, his wife Margie and their family the very best.”

Last month, McGillis sat for an interview with USDtv’s News Director, Drew Corbo about student attendance at athletic competitions. McGillis prefaced the interview by stating he would not speak about the hazing allegations with USD student media. At that point, hazing allegations were already acknowledged by President Harris in one email to all students and another email to faculty, but the allegations against USD football had not yet been made public in a lawsuit.

The USD Vista has a copy of the 14-page lawsuit filed against USD and will provide more extensive coverage about the details of the hazing allegations and lawsuit in a forthcoming article next week.