Paul Giel, Heisman Trophy runner-up for the...

Paul Giel, Heisman Trophy runner-up for the University of Minnesota in 1953 and the school’s athletic director since 1971, was fired in the wake of a series of problems and allegations within the athletic department.

Frank B. Wilderson Jr., vice president for student development and Giel’s supervisor, also was stripped of his role in the athletic department, interim President Richard Sauer said.

Trouble within the department began in 1986, when three Minnesota basketball players were charged with raping a woman after a game at Madison, Wis., and later acquitted. Earlier this year, the basketball team was put on probation, and most recently, the department came under investigation for alleged illegal payments to football and basketball players as well as other National Collegiate Athletic Assn. violations.

Giel, a two-time All-American halfback and member of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, is the fourth high-ranking official to leave the university in recent months.