Wetherell to step down as FSU president

Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell will tell the school's trustees this week that he wants to retire.

Two school officials close to Wetherell told The Associated Press on Monday he will inform the trustees at the conclusion of its board meeting Wednesday. They asked not to be named because they aren't authorized to make the announcement.

Wetherell said Monday he's focused on his budget preparation for Wednesday's meeting and didn't want to discuss his personal plans.

But he noted it's routine for university presidents to give a year's notice or so to allow a replacement to be found.

"And next year is 2010," he said. "I'll figure that out when I figure that out."

The trustees, who want Wetherell to remain until a successor is chosen, plan a national search for a leader with a background that focuses on academics, the sources said.

A former star football player at Florida State, Wetherell became president at his alma mater in January 2003.

Now 63, Wetherell has been treated for prostate cancer in recent years, but said he got a clean bill of health last week from doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville with an adjustment to his medication.

"What did Mark Twain say? My demise is premature," Wetherell said. "I might die from envy of beating the Gators. "(The) frustration of not being able to beat (Gator quarterback Tim) Tebow."

Florida State produced three Rhodes and 17 Fulbright Scholars during Wetherell's tenure, but budget cuts in recent years have forced him to make painful cuts at the school.

"T.K. has been a great leader and FSU is going to miss him," University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Monday. "He has also been a great friend to me and I will certainly miss his counsel and support. Nobody understands higher education in the state of Florida as well as he does."

But the last 18 months have been difficult for Florida's public universities.

"We're down $81 million from 2007," Wetherell said Monday as he worked on some of the final details for Wednesday's trustees meeting where he will get the school's budget approved for next year. "That's real painful."

He said the cutbacks have stalled Florida State's momentum as an academic institution.

"You feel like Richard Petty having a race car with regular gas in it putting along at 80 miles an hour when you know you can do 200," he said. "It's just been frustrating."

A spokeswoman for Gov. Charlie Crist, a Florida State graduate, said the governor would reserve comment until Wetherell's announcement Wednesday.

Wetherell and his predecessor, prominent Tallahassee attorney and former Florida State law school dean Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte, were both former legislators whose political and fundraising skills were key factors in their selections.

Wetherell used those skills to back off the NCAA's efforts in 2005 to try and make Florida State surrender its "Seminoles" nickname.

Wetherell was also among several defendants in an open records lawsuit filed Monday against the university and NCAA for violating Florida's Sunshine laws for not making public an NCAA response to the university's appeal on an athletic disciplinary issue resulting from an academic cheating scandal.

A Daytona Beach native, Wetherell spent a dozen years in the Florida Legislature, capping his lawmaking career as Speaker of the House in 1991-92. During his time in the House, Wetherell got a bill passed that led to construction of the University Center around the football field. The building now carries his name.

He was president at Tallahassee Community College between 1995-2001.

Wetherell, earned three degrees from Florida State, including a doctorate in education administration. He played on the FSU football team from 1965-67.

He remains in the school's record books with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in 1965 on a lateral with Bill Moremen. The two combined the following year on a 94-yard touchdown on a similar play.