As Nebraska went through its relatively short but thorough search for its new athletic director, it eventually narrowed down a list of a “handful” of candidates for the job.

After one meeting with Washington State A.D. Bill Moos, University of Nebraska chancellor Ronnie D. Green knew immediately he had found his top choice.

“We narrowed that list to a handful of finalists who we interviewed personally for the position, and we selected our top candidate from that list,” Green said.

Along with his accomplishments as athletic director at Washington State and before that Oregon, Green said what sold him on Moos as much as anything was how the 67-year-old from eastern Washington seemed to embody the culture of Nebraska as both a university and a state.

“Fit is so important,” Green said. “You look for the skills and the acumen and the ability to deliver in that position, but fit is important. I want to emphasize, knowing Nebraska, fit is extremely important here, even more so than perhaps in a lot of other places.

“When we met with Bill Moos and we talked to him, it was so important that the fit to Nebraska was right.”

In listing off all of the characteristics Moos looks for in his athletic coaches, he pointed to traits like teaching ability, character, and people who do their jobs the right way.

But when it comes down to it, it’s clear that winning is as critical of a component as anything else.

Moos noted that he hired 11 new head coaches during his first five years at Washington State, and two of the biggest factors he looked for in those hires were proven winners at the Power Five level and coaches who viewed WSU as a destination job, not a stepping stone.

Now at Nebraska, Moos said there were no hurdles of a lack of resources or athletic tradition, which is why he thinks there should be no excuses for why the Huskers can’t compete at a championship level in every sport.

“We need to compete in all of our sports,” Moos said. “I’m a fierce competitor, and we’ve done, I can humbly say, some remarkable things at places that didn’t have the things in place that Nebraska does.

“So I told the coaches earlier and the staff that my expectation at first brush is that we should be in position in every sport to compete for championships, and certainly that will be our goal and that will be a big part of our blueprint.”

Speaking specifically to football, Moos said he vividly remembered watching Nebraska in its glory days go head-to-head with Oklahoma with so much at stake for both teams every year.

While he admitted the landscape of college football and NU’s place within it had definitely changed over the years, there was no reason the Huskers couldn’t get back to the level of national prominence they once had.

“It’s far different being the hunted than it is the hunter,” Moos said. “Nebraska for years, when we’re talking about the sport of football, has been the hunted, and we’re not right now. We need to get back in that position where everybody’s putting Nebraska and circling it on the schedule…

“I believe that that’s the Huskers’ rightful place, and we’ll see what we can do to get back to that.”

It was only a matter of time before the status of Nebraska head football coach Mike Riley arose during Moos’ introduction, and he at least provided some clarity on what could be expected in the short-term.

“As we speak right now, he’s my football coach, and I’m going to support him,” Moos said of Riley. “We certainly hope for some victories here towards the latter part of the season, and I’m eager to sit down and talk with him.”

Moos, who has known Riley since the two were rivals at Oregon and Oregon State, respectively, said he hadn’t spoken with Riley since he left OSU for Nebraska.

That was until the two finally met shortly after Moos’ press conference at Memorial Stadium.

“Dee and I had a chance to meet briefly with Bill and Kendra this afternoon and it was great to reconnect,” Riley said in a statement. “I’ve known Bill for a number of years from our time in the Pac-10 and Pac-12. I have great respect for the job he did at both Oregon and Washington State, and the success he built at those schools.

“I look forward to working with him in the near future and to talk about our vision for the Nebraska football program.”

One thing Moos made very clear is that regardless of how things go for Riley and the Huskers the rest of the year, he has a firm policy of not firing coaches during the season.

"I'm not a guy who ever changes a coach mid-season," Moos said. "I don't think anything is accomplished - and I never have - in dismissing a coach mid-season."

Immediately after announcing the firing of former A.D. Shawn Eichorst on Sept. 21, Nebraska partnered with what Green called one of the top coaching search firms in the world in TurnKey Coaching Solutions.

On that following Sunday, NU also organized a pool of 20 individuals with strong ties to the university and its athletic department to discuss the profile they should be looking for in their next athletic director.

Among that group included current Nebraska coaches and student-athletes, former coaches and athletes, UNL administrators, and supporters of Nebraska athletics.

Legendary former football coach Tom Osborne, Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch, volleyball coach John Cook, former Husker wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, and softball coach Rhonda Revelle were just some of the notable names on that panel.

Green said he and university president Hank Bounds wanted to tap into as many sources and opinions as they could while making this decision, and with such a variety of people truly entrenched within Nebraska athletics providing input, they felt they found the perfect man for the job.

One of the biggest criticisms of Eichorst, especially early on in his tenure, was his unwillingness to step into the public spotlight at all costs.

Whether it was refusing to comment on coaching statuses during tumultuous seasons, hardly making any public appearances to interact with boosters and fans, or declining almost every media interview request, Eichorst quickly earned the reputation as NU’s man behind the curtain.

We learned right away that Moos has a completely different stance on the role an athletic director in the public eye.

“With the fans and the media as well, I like to make myself accessible,” Moos said. “I think the fans, the media, and the fans through the media, need to fully understand what our blueprint is, what our mission is, how we’re gauging our progress. That needs to get out, and I’m always eager to do that.”

During his introductory meeting with Nebraska’s current coaches, Moos stressed that he wanted to develop an open line of communication and that he was willing to help them in any way he could.

“I want them to understand that I’m here for them … and that they have access to me,” Moos said. “In a big program like this and the ones that I’ve led, you need to have answers right away.”