Former UCI A.D. finalist at EWU

Two months after announcing his resignation as UC Irvine athletic director because of his father’s death in May and the athletic program’s thinning financial resources, Bob Chichester might find himself at a smaller school soon.

Chichester is one of four finalists for the athletic director job at Eastern Washington University, which has an enrollment above 10,000 students, about 15,000 less than UCI, and is located in Cheney, Wash.

Under Chichester, UCI’s first African-American athletic director, the Anteaters prospered in his fifth and final year. The men’s volleyball program claimed its first NCAA Division I championship in May. A month later, the baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time.

The success, which included conference championships in men’s and women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving, couldn’t prevent Chichester from stepping down.

“I think the department staff, like myself, have been concerned about the financial support of the department for quite a while now,” Chichester told the Daily Pilot on May 31, when UCI’s baseball program was competing in an NCAA regional playoff tournament in Round Rock, Texas. “And there’s a big concern for the future.”

Chichester is scheduled to interview at Eastern Washington on Monday. Out of the candidates, who include three associate athletic directors, Bill Chaves of Baylor University, Peter Hart of Providence College and Robert Minnix of Florida State University, Chichester will interview last.

Chichester declined to comment.

Unlike UCI, Eastern Washington has football and it competes in the Big Sky Conference and the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, formally known as the Division I-AA.

Eastern Washington plans to name a new athletic director when the 2007-08 school year begins in September.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.