North Carolina State University has hired an Atlanta-based consultant to help the university's search for a new athletics director.

The firm is Parker Executive Search. It will be paid $75,000, a NCSU spokesman said.

A 13-member committee begins work today looking for a successor for Lee Fowler, who the university eased out recently. The committee meets today.

The search is being chaired by Smedes York, the former chairman of the NCSU Board of Trustees.

The use of search consultants for high-profile administration positions at universities is not unusual. The UNC system is shelling out $100,000 to a headhunter helping in the search for the next university system president.