While his subordinates gave him low marks in an anonymous survey, UND President Charles Kupchella gave UND athletic director Tom Buning a glowing letter of support in May.
Buning requested a four-week leave from UND last week, following speculation that a change in leadership in the athletic department was coming. The leave time period would end during the middle of October.
In the May 7 letter, which was obtained by the Herald through an open records request, Kupchella told Buning:
"This is to acknowledge receipt and my review of your annual report in athletics. I know it has been a while since I received it, but I did enjoy going through it and seeing documented the great success that our athletic teams have enjoyed in the past year or so.
"We've had great success on the playing surfaces and in the classrooms. This is a credit to you, the entire athletic department staff, including the coaches in all of our sports. The intercollegiate athletic program at the University of North Dakota continues to be a great source of pride for us all. Thanks to you and the coaches for a consistently fine record and for a solid annual report."
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In the survey about the athletic department, a different picture has been painted about Buning's overall performance.
The survey was obtained by the Herald through an open records request recently. It showed that on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the best, Buning received an average score of 2.14 when athletic department employees were asked whether his overall performance was excellent.
Phil Harmeson, vice president of general administration, distributed the survey to athletic department staff. Harmeson became Buning's boss on July 1, replacing Kupchella.
UND has refused to reveal why Buning requested a leave of absence. School officials say they cannot comment because of legal reasons.
In an interview earlier this week, Kupchella didn't mention Buning by name when he talked about good things going on in the department.
"If you look at the bottom, bottom line, we have a great result here," Kupchella said about the athletic department. "Now who to attribute that to . . . we have a great group of coaches, we have a great group of student-athletes, we win, we do it with real students, we win national titles."
Since the Kupchella letter, Buning has had many hot-button issues.
He had to negotiate a new contract for men's hockey coach Dave Hakstol, who has taken UND to the Frozen Four three straight years. Records show Buning and Hakstol were at least $65,000 apart on annual base salary in some of their first discussions about a contract renewal.
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Hakstol eventually signed a five-year contract for an annual base salary of $210,000 earlier this month.
Buning has been athletic director since July 1, 2005. He came to UND from the U.S. Military Academy, where he was an associate athletic director.
An Orlando, Fla., native, Buning is a 1981 West Point graduate and earned his master's degree in engineering management from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1994.
Reach Fee at 780-1127, (800) 477-6572 ext. 127 or kfee@gfherald.com . Read his blog at www.areavoices.com/fee .
