Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

Central Michigan athletic director Dave Heeke has accepted the vice president for athletics job at Arizona, the Wildcats announced Saturday.

The Free Press was first to report the news.

Heeke, who has held the AD job at CMU since January 2006, will replace Greg Byrne in Tucson, after Byrne left for Alabama.

Heeke, 53, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but tweeted: "Excited to come to Tucson and join the Wildcats! It's a true honor & privilege Can't wait to #BearDown"

An East Lansing native and Albion College graduate, Heeke has been in discussions for other major-college AD jobs over the recent years, but he has remained at CMU.

Heeke previously spent 18 years at Oregon, where he rose to become the senior associate athletic director/chief of staff.

He returned to CMU to replace Hall of Fame football coach Herb Deromedi as AD after Deromedi retired.

Under Heeke’s watch, the Rose Center was renovated and modernized as part of a $22.5 million project addressing the CMU Events Center and Kelly/Shorts Stadium has installed permanent lights and a video board.

The CMU football program experienced great success in his first few years with three Mid-American Conference titles under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones, and eight bowl games since he has arrived.

He also hired current basketball coach Keno Davis, who won MAC West division titles in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.