According to the Twitter feed of ESPN college football reporter Brett McMurphy, Bowling Green State University Athletic Director Greg Christopher will be taking the same post at Xavier University.
Neither school has confirmed this news.
Christopher has been BGSU's AD since July of 2006. During those seven years, Christopher has hired new coaches for four of Bowling Green's most visible programs, each of whom has found some level of success. Football hire Dave Clawson has led BGSU to two bowl games in four seasons. Hockey coach Chris Bergeron has taken the Falcons to playoff series wins in each of the last two seasons and led the team to the CCHA semi-finals in 2012. Men's basketball coach Louis Orr took BGSU to a MAC regular season championship in 2009, and his newest hire, women's basketball coach Jennifer Roos, has BGSU in the Sweet 16 of the 2013 WNIT.
This news could have a profound impact on the future of BGSU Athletics. As with any "in-charge" position, a new person generally equals a new direction. Who Bowling Green will target, much less ultimately hire, to replace Christopher is anyone's guess at this stage, but whoever takes his place will have a great base for future success but also some profound challenges to deal with.
As for the "new direction" part, it seems that we now have an answer for why Orr was retained for the final year of his contract. Of course, money could still be part of the equation, but this move was undoubtedly in the works for some time, and it seems unlikely that BGSU would want to hire a new coach before hiring a new athletic director. It would also seem that this makes it even more likely that 2013-14 will be a lame-duck season for Orr unless his team can deliver a very successful campaign.
We will have more as this situation develops.
UPDATE: Both schools have now confirmed this news, as of 7:00 p.m. ET.