MARAD has ... saving $$ for the government. I heard t ... This is all second-hand info so I have no real proof this happened. Understand that they ... along with the fact that they were insisting he live on campus and were going to charge in excess of 3K rent for the digs - while only paying $140k per year. This, also, is hearsay so take it for what it's worth. As I said previously, MARAD has no incentive to replace the supe.
I really have to wonder why are people so negative about everything - I note this post has a) nothing but negative undertones, b) clearly states repeatedly it is based totally on hearsay and secondhand at best information, c) clearly doesn't understand the cost of living in NY and that $3K to rent a house on Long Island, or even say the DC Metro area "close in" is more than fair, and that the salary for the position is set by it's GS level which is SES - 1 or 2 so the salary will be somewhere between 119, 554 and either 165, 300 or 179, 700 depending on wether MARAD has a "Certified Performance Appraisal System". For what it is worth, the salary of an 0-8 (two star Admiral) is generally ~$165K depending on his/her years of service.
That said whoever takes the job will likely be taking it not for the salary or perks but because it is an avocation for him or her just like it was for Vice Admiral Stewart and for Rear Admiral Greene. That's where things probably get hard for recruiting "the right-kind of person" IMO. Keep in mind it took a fairly long, I would say similarly long time before they got the last guy, who was definitely a "right guy" IMO - Greene after - they misfired with his immediate predecessor. However, given there are no easily supplied (at least by MARAD) answers as to why Phil Greene is no longer there; there is such a plethora of bad press about MARAD's lack of/totally ineffective leadership for the maritime industry; and all the hub-bub about their micromanagement of the USMMA, as one of the five major issues the industry has with the current administrator - you are probably right as to them having trouble attracting the type of people they really want for the job, and who might last more than a year.
Of course that's probably an oxymoron since it seems they want a leader and acknowledged great person; but they have to be willing to swallow their tongues. Yes, swallow their tongues and toe the line, even when, scratch that,
especially when someone from MARAD Washington comes up to KP and under the guise of doing their oversight role of the Academy, "meets" directly with midshipmen to "discuss" issues with them in the quarters of a lower level member of the .... oh wait, we're not supposed to talk about things like that - belay my last. Of course why would anyone who is the right kind of person to take the Superintendent's job think protecting the student's and the institution's reputation from such behavior might be part of the job? Clearly it must not be so.
The only real question in my mind is how big should the banner trailing behind the airplane that flies over graduation on Monday be?