Vince Tyra isn't great at slowing down.

The 51-year-old planned on doing just that last fall. He wanted to pull back from his various business responsibilities and focus on his duties as a University of Louisville Foundation board member. He told his wife, Lori, to quit her teaching job so they could have more time to travel.

His plan was disrupted.

Tyra, then the chairman of the investment finance committee for the ULF, was at the foundation offices Sept. 26 preparing to give a positive update to the board when he opened a news alert on his phone.

Only months removed from an NCAA infractions decision that ultimately stripped the Louisville men's basketball program of its 2013 championship banner, the program was ensnared in an alleged pay-to-play recruiting scandal uncovered by an FBI sting and revealed through court documents.

Read this:A tumultuous year was marked by discord for Louisville athletics

"I was surprised like everyone else," Tyra said. "I wasn't like out of my mind upset, more disappointed and sad. It felt like we'd been through enough and this was more to endure. I probably felt the same as most because I'm a fan and a donor."

Tyra said he had "no ambitions to be in athletics at all." Yet less than a week later, after a phone call with board of trustees chairman David Grissom and a meeting with interim president Greg Postel in a suite at a football game, Tyra was announced as Louisville's interim athletic director, replacing Tom Jurich. Louisville removed the interim tag from his title in March.

Tyra has referred to himself as an "optimist by trade," and his previous experience as a partner in a Connecticut-based private equity firm and as an executive at Fruit of the Loom involved turning around floundering companies.

In his mind, the situation at Louisville was no different. He saw a chance to step in and "calm the waters" with the unique perspective of a businessman who was already familiar with the community, the university and the fan base.

Disgruntled donors pulled pledges and recruits backed off commitments in the immediate wake of the FBI scandal, but one year later Tyra is convinced the outlook is improving.

"I think donors are getting their head around where we’re going," he said. "Not many of them really ask a lot of questions about the FBI or NCAA. That kind of passed. ... Recruits do, because other competing schools probably bring it up, and I address it head-on with parents. But more importantly, it's about how we're going to take care of their son or daughter while they're here and why this is a terrific place for them."

See also:Vince Tyra: Email from Mark Jurich was both 'silly and sad'

Tyra said he has monthly NCAA rules education meetings with Louisville's coaches to update them on what he knows about the FBI case — or mostly, what he doesn't know — and what information they can pass along to recruits or media.

Men's basketball coach Chris Mack echoed Tyra's message of transparency and said he thinks recruits have been receptive.

"I felt comfortable enough with Vince’s answers during our time and I’m trying to, when I talk to recruits, make them understand what I understood: That this is a great place, a place with a storied tradition, and Louisville basketball is going to be just fine," Mack said.

Tyra spent the first few months of his athletic director appointment familiarizing himself with NCAA rules. Since stepping into the role, he has been forced to consciously change his own behavior to avoid committing violations.

"I have to be incredibly cautious because I know a lot of recruits' families," he said. "I know football recruits we’re looking at, and I can't go watch their high school practices. I'm overly cautious."

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford previously had Tyra speak to other ACC athletic directors about how Louisville plans to run a clean program.

More:A year later, recruiting scandal still looms over Louisville basketball

"We weren't the only ACC school that got mentioned (in the FBI complaint), so everyone is attentive to what happened here," said Tyra, referring to Miami and NC State as other programs caught up in the scandal. "We were named as a victim by the FBI, and no one else wants to become a victim, so they are all interested in how to be proactive and mitigate the risk."

Repercussions from the FBI and NCAA are still unknown, and Tyra was reluctant to speculate on "what may or may not happen." In the meantime, he said, he hopes the NCAA shows mercy based on his attempts to hold himself and the rest of Louisville athletics accountable.

In a speech to Louisville students and faculty earlier this month at the university's Center for Free Enterprise, Tyra preached about the athletic department's new core values and its stated goal to "choose integrity first."

"Our culture of running a clean athletic department and a clean business, it starts with me," he said. "The moral compass is up, and it should have been a long time ago."

Tyra said he plans to stay at Louisville as long as he can but has no desire to continue his career in athletics elsewhere.

"I would be retreating back to my old investment life and probably serving on boards," he said, "seeing if next time I can do better at slowing down."

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Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/daniellel.