Jim Ramsey

FRANKFORT — University of Louisville president James Ramsey is stepping down and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin will appoint a new board of trustees at the school, which has been plagued by scandal in recent years.

Bevin announced Friday that he will disband the university’s 17-member board and replace it with a 10-member board that he appoints. Ramsey, who has led the university for 14 years, submitted a letter saying he will offer his resignation to the newly appointed board.

Bevin says he met with Ramsey and both agreed the university needs a “fresh start.”

Among the school’s recent problems is an NCAA investigation of the basketball program related to an ex-coach arranging female escorts for players and an FBI investigation of top university officials for alleged misuse of federal money.

News Friday of Ramsey’s resignation and Bevin’s reorganization of UofL’s board of regents caught Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell off guard.

“I’m learning about this as we speak,” he said.

Ransdell said there have been other instances in which governors have intervened with public university boards in the state, including at Western Kentucky University in the 1990s, but not at the same time a university president is resigning.

“Jim is a a great personal friend,” Ransdell said. “He is a WKU alumnus; he is in the Hall of Distinguished Alumni and he did great work at UofL, and UofL is a stronger instituted because of Jim Ramsey’s leadership.

“I not only wish him well but I look forward to an even stronger friendship in retirement with Jim.”

Ransdell said he wants to get a better sense of “what all is in play here.”

“And I probably need to brief our board once I learn anything,” he said. “Not that we have any problems here but once this happens at another institution, and we have just eight in Kentucky, you want to learn all you can. … It is, if not precedent setting, at least something most significant.”

Ramsey has multiple ties to WKU, having graduated from there with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He returned to WKU from 1992 to 1995 a vice president for finance administration and was an economics professor during that time. Ramsey, who had interviewed for WKU’s presidential post when Ransdell was hired, was inducted in 2010 to WKU’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.