Continuing a trend that has become quite familiar, interim athletic director Marc Boehm… Continuing a trend that has become quite familiar, interim athletic director Marc Boehm announced Monday that he will be leaving Pitt and returning home to Nebraska.

Boehm, who was born in Lincoln, Neb., will be taking the position of executive associate athletic director and reuniting with Steve Pederson, who was Pitt?s athletic director until December and currently holds the same position at Nebraska.

?For more than six years, I have been privileged to work with some of the finest and most dedicated people at the University of Pittsburgh,? Boehm saidin a statement released on Monday. ?These past five months have been the most rewarding time of my professional career. Our athletic department encountered many challenges and changes during this period, but in each instance our staff responded like champions.?

Having been appointed to the interim position after Pederson?s departure, Boehm oversaw the exit of women?s soccer head coach Roland Sturk, women?s basketball coach Traci Waites and men?s basketball coach Ben Howland.

Boehm also announced a new ticket program for Pitt football and found replacements for all three coaching vacancies.

?Marc Boehm has packed about five years worth of experience into his five months of service as our interim athletic director,? Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said. ?For the past several weeks, our principal focus in athletics has been on recruiting new men?s and women?s basketball coaches. Ideally, we might have preferred to fill the athletic director?s position first, but circumstances did not permit that.?

In early February, Nordenberg appointed an eight-person committee to help him find Pitt?s next athletic director. But, after the committee did not interview anyone other than Boehm, it seemed to be only a matter of time until the ?interim? was removed from his title.

At the time that the committee was formed, Boehm said he was very interested in the job.

?I am very passionate and extremely happy here at the University of Pittsburgh,? he said earlier this year.

But, despite endorsements from the committee and Pitt?s coaches and athletic officials, Nordenberg never offered Boehm the position on a permanent basis and, it appears, Boehm got tired of waiting.

?Three weeks ago, I spoke to Chancellor Nordenberg and withdrew my name from consideration in the University?s national search,? Boehm said. ?Although he graciously praised my work and strongly encouraged me to reconsider my decision, I declined, believing that the timing was not right for my family and me.?

When he left in December, Pederson asked Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman if he could bring Boehm with him if Boehm was not hired by Pitt.

Once it became apparent that Boehm would not be offered the athletic director?s position, Pederson created one for him at Nebraska.

?Marc Boehm is uniquely talented and prepared for this position,? Pederson said. ?I am thrilled that he has agreed to join us at Nebraska. Together at Pittsburgh, we were able to accomplish great things through a base of teamwork.?

?The opportunity to join the University of Nebraska and its athletic department is a dream come true,? Boehm said. ?It?s extremely exciting to reunite with Steve Pederson and join a staff who is committed to greatness.?

Boehm will become the third person, in the past five months, to leave Pitt?s athletic department for a similar position closer to home. The two who preceded him are Pederson and Howland, who left in April to become the head basketball coach at UCLA.

The next person in line at Pitt, in terms of seniority, is senior associate athletic director Carol Sprague. However, she has not been appointed interim athletic director. Boehm will continue to assist Nordenberg in an unofficial capacity and will begin his duties at Nebraska on June 1.