IN times of major controversy, a head often must roll. Over years of covering many controversies, I've seen it happen again and again.  

While I've come to expect it, at times I've wondered why it has to be that way.

People usually rise to the top of organizations because of attributes like intelligence, drive, a strong work ethic, experience and, most importantly, the ability to lead others.

So why, assuming the leader did not create the controversy, can't he or she just fix the problem and get back to business? Sometimes that does happen, but often the person at the top must go. 

Mike Garrison's short, stormy tenure at West Virginia University has been a vivid demonstration.

Garrison met with the Daily Mail editorial board both before and after the outbreak of the Heather Bresch controversy. On both occasions he made a good impression. 

He was friendly and straightforward. He fielded all of our questions and kept his cool.

His candor was disarming, especially on the second occasion, when he was trying hard to contain a scandal spreading like wildfire. 

Those meetings gave me a sense of how he had risen to the top of the state's flagship university by the age of 38.

It was a tremendous accomplishment despite the fact that many dismissed it as "political."

Garrison holds undergraduate and law degrees from WVU, where he served as student body president in 1991-92.   

Only 10 years later, at the age of 32, he was named chief of staff to former Gov. Bob Wise.  

Wise served only one term, another sad story, so Garrison left that job in 2003.

He returned to private law practice, but Wise appointed him to the Higher Education Policy Commission, an umbrella board for the state-operated colleges and universities. Garrison's fellow commission members elected him chairman.

He apparently also drew on his state government experience to work as a legislative lobbyist. Among his clients was Mylan Inc., the pharmaceutical company for whom Heather Bresch works.

So, yes, there were lots of connections.

But I am struck by Garrison's rise. This was a man who wasn't too many years out of law school when he was tapped by a governor to head his staff; who was chosen by a major corporation to lobby on its behalf; and who was chosen to chair a major state policy-making board.      

Shortly after former WVU President David Hardesty announced his retirement plans in the fall of 2006, the rumor spread that Garrison would be his successor.

A search committee was formed and interviews were conducted. Lo and behold, when selection time rolled around several months later, Garrison was the choice. 

So there was cynicism.

IN times of major controversy, a head often must roll. Over years of covering many controversies, I've seen it happen again and again.  

While I've come to expect it, at times I've wondered why it has to be that way.

People usually rise to the top of organizations because of attributes like intelligence, drive, a strong work ethic, experience and, most importantly, the ability to lead others.

So why, assuming the leader did not create the controversy, can't he or she just fix the problem and get back to business? Sometimes that does happen, but often the person at the top must go. 

Mike Garrison's short, stormy tenure at West Virginia University has been a vivid demonstration.

Garrison met with the Daily Mail editorial board both before and after the outbreak of the Heather Bresch controversy. On both occasions he made a good impression. 

He was friendly and straightforward. He fielded all of our questions and kept his cool.

His candor was disarming, especially on the second occasion, when he was trying hard to contain a scandal spreading like wildfire. 

Those meetings gave me a sense of how he had risen to the top of the state's flagship university by the age of 38.

It was a tremendous accomplishment despite the fact that many dismissed it as "political."

Garrison holds undergraduate and law degrees from WVU, where he served as student body president in 1991-92.   

Only 10 years later, at the age of 32, he was named chief of staff to former Gov. Bob Wise.  

Wise served only one term, another sad story, so Garrison left that job in 2003.

He returned to private law practice, but Wise appointed him to the Higher Education Policy Commission, an umbrella board for the state-operated colleges and universities. Garrison's fellow commission members elected him chairman.

He apparently also drew on his state government experience to work as a legislative lobbyist. Among his clients was Mylan Inc., the pharmaceutical company for whom Heather Bresch works.

So, yes, there were lots of connections.

But I am struck by Garrison's rise. This was a man who wasn't too many years out of law school when he was tapped by a governor to head his staff; who was chosen by a major corporation to lobby on its behalf; and who was chosen to chair a major state policy-making board.      

Shortly after former WVU President David Hardesty announced his retirement plans in the fall of 2006, the rumor spread that Garrison would be his successor.

A search committee was formed and interviews were conducted. Lo and behold, when selection time rolled around several months later, Garrison was the choice. 

So there was cynicism.

Perhaps it wasn't an exhaustive search. Maybe Gov. Joe Manchin and members of the WVU Board of Governors, many of them Manchin appointees, did believe Garrison was their man from the start.

It's more likely they considered him a strong candidate and used the search to assure themselves of that by comparing him to others.

Nevertheless, Garrison seems to have a way of impressing influential people. Grant him that.  

Also grant him that the independent panel that investigated the Bresch degree scandal did not fault him directly.

But the calls for his resignation from other quarters started immediately and never let up.

Still, it's not hard to understand why this over-achiever who had landed one of the state's most prestigious positions only a year earlier resisted giving it up. He really wanted this job.

The investigating committee's report was issued Wednesday, April 23. Garrison hung on until Friday, June 6.

It was an excruciating six weeks.

Garrison tried hard. Several members of his staff were reassigned. He met with faculty, newspaper editorial boards and, I'm guessing, many other parties. He ordered lengthy reports on the university's records-keeping problems.

Nothing slowed the flood of outrage.

While Garrison had his defenders, they were drowned out by his critics. The loss of the faculty's support was most damaging of all. Try as he might, he could not regain that.

It became painfully obvious that only his head would do. 

Finally he made the decision that seemed inevitable but must have been the most difficult of his life.

Now a highly qualified interim president has been chosen, and WVU seems to be on the mend.

It's still not clear whether Garrison will make a clean break with the university, but that would be the best course for all concerned.

I'm left seeing a hard truth in his struggle.

Leadership can be a perilous existence.

When things go wrong, someone lower down the totem might get a second chance.

The person at the top often doesn't.

Friend is editor and publisher of the Daily Mail. She may be reached at 348-5124 or nan...@dailymail.com.