UAF has picked the head of one of its conference rivals to be its new athletic director. Gary Gray, the longtime athletic director at Montana State-Billings, was introduced as UAF's new athletic director at a press conference Friday in Fairbanks. UAF and Billings are both members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Gray was selected over two other finalists -- Carl Clapp, associate athletic director at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Bill Macriss, Sacramento State's deputy athletic director. He replaces Forrest Karr, who became the athletic director at Northern Michigan last May.

Gray, who was at Billings since 1994, has been a coach, teacher, professor, dean and athletics administrator.