Schultz May Trigger a Conflict Within USOC : Olympics: Walker’s likely endorsement of former NCAA chief could postpone voting and force his resignation.

In a rare and potentially contentious special session of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s executive committee Friday in Boston, President Leroy T. Walker is prepared to endorse Dick Schultz, former NCAA executive director, from among finalists to become the USOC’s executive director.

But if critics of the selection process gain enough support to postpone a decision, sources close to Walker say he will interpret that as a vote of no confidence and might resign as chairman of the search committee, perhaps even from the presidency that he has held since 1992.

“Leroy feels some of the frustrations he’s had to put up with are unacceptable,” one said. “He doesn’t feel people have second-guessed the previous presidents like they have him.”

Walker, who did not return phone calls Tuesday to his Durham, N.C., office, was criticized for the search committee’s deliberate pace in an effort to find candidates to replace Harvey Schiller, who announced last summer that he was accepting a job, starting last October, as president of Turner Sports.

John Krimsky, USOC deputy secretary general, has served since as acting executive director. But with the expectation--realized last Friday--that Salt Lake City would be awarded the 2002 Winter Games, the search committee accelerated the process.

With a new executive director, Krimsky can return to his primary role as the USOC’s financial administrator, the first responsibility of which will be to negotiate a joint marketing agreement with the Salt Lake City organizers.

After the search committee identified five finalists, Walker called the special executive committee session for Boston to coincide with meetings there over the weekend among representatives of the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) for Olympic and Pan American Games sports and the USOC’s Athletes Advisory Council (AAC). Besides Schultz, finalists are former USA Gymnastics and U.S. Skiing president Mike Jacki, Colorado Springs, Colo., school superintendent Kenneth Burnely, former CBA commissioner Terdema Ussery, and former Michigan State athletic director Merrily Dean Baker.

But the fact that this is the executive committee’s first special session since one was called in 1991 to discuss conflict-of-interest charges against Robert Helmick, who ultimately resigned as president, and that there has been almost no communication between Walker and the executive committee has created concern among some members that the search committee is acting too urgently. It was first believed that the vote would be taken at a regularly scheduled executive committee meeting on July 22 in Denver.

“If Leroy can communicate effectively and explain the process and lead the executive committee to concur with the search committee, then it’s possible he will get his vote,” one NGB representative said. “But there’s been such a poor job of communicating with the NGBs and the AAC that there’s a sense this is being pushed down our throats.”

There also is a movement by some NGB representatives, sources said, to expand the list of finalists to include USA Hockey’s executive director, Dave Ogrean, and international swimming federation Vice President Ross Wales.

Schultz was the NCAA’s executive director until he resigned under pressure after it was revealed that University of Virginia athletes received improper payments while he was the school’s athletic director.

USOC executive committee members have not made an issue of that because no evidence was discovered that he knew of the situation, but there are concerns about his ability to lead the USOC through the Salt Lake Olympics--he will turn 66 in September--and his interest in a sports-related consulting firm. He has assured the search committee, members said, that he will do whatever is required to remove even the appearance of conflict of interest.

In his favor, he was highly respected as a USOC executive committee member while serving the NCAA and was credited with breaking down barriers between the organizations. Besides Walker, Schultz is believed to have support from Krimsky and USOC Vice President George Steinbrenner.