STARKVILLE – Dr. Mark Keenum believes he’s hired some good help.

Mississippi State’s president has chosen Atlanta’s Parker Executive Search to lead the school’s effort to hire a new athletics director, the school said Friday.

The firm has aided several other schools, including Arkansas, LSU and Georgia, in finding athletics directors.

Parker was chosen from a pool of 10 candidates, but Keenum already had a good idea of the firm’s bona fides after working with them on the hiring of Hank Bounds as commissioner of the Institutions of Higher Learning.

“I have complete confidence that he will help us identify really good, solid candidates for me to review,” Keenum said.

MSU is trying to replace Greg Byrne, who announced Monday that he was leaving after two-plus years on the job to take the AD’s post at Arizona. Dan Parker, president of the firm, will be working directly with Keenum.

Parker will vet candidates and be involved in the interviewing process. Said Keenum, “He’ll be my partner in this search.

Keenum will keep names of candidates confidential. He also declined to disclose the cost of hiring the firm, but he said it will be paid for by private funds.

Emotional Byrne

- For the first time since accepting the Arizona job, Byrne spoke with local reporters Friday afternoon.

He admitted to the past week being a “hectic” one and had to fight off tears when talking about his decision.

“It’s been an emotional week. And to be honest almost an emotional month to get through this and wrestle with the decision,” he said.

One of the toughest parts of his decision was worrying how Bulldog fans would react to it.

“I don’t blame them for being disappointed,” Byrne said. “I really, really wrestled with the emotion of that because I figured people would be.”

David Murray contributed to this story.