George Ross is now a candidate for the president's job at the University of Nebraska, a larger school than Central Michigan University, with considerably more acclaim, notoriety and fiscal responsibility.

He is just a candidate, one of four.

With his expertise and resume, we expect him to become a finalist. We expect him to face a difficult decision: Roll with the challenges CMU faces, or leave for a bigger opportunity with a bigger pay check.

The job requires the university president to oversee three major campuses and a medical school. It has 50,000 students and a $2.4 billion operating budget. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus is one of the most well-known programs from a college athletics standpoint alone.

An opportunity like this is difficult to pass up. Ross told reporters Monday that he said "no thank you" to recruiters who hounded him for months to apply for the job. CMU's president remains adamant that he is not looking for another job, nor was he actively pursuing this one.

Almost immediately after the news broke, the conversation veered less to congratulations than it did to speculation that Ross was running from CMU and the many challenges it will undoubtedly face in the near future.

During his State of the University address, the president detailed an enrollment projection – a drop to just 17,500 students – and a serious decline in graduating Michigan high school seniors by 2020.

That's tough stuff, but Ross is not rushing for the exit.

Historically, Ross has shown a willingness to address challenges, even if these challenges were not of his own making. Then president Michael Rao bolted for Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009 soon after selling the Board of Trustees on the risky and largely unpopular idea of building and perpetually funding a brand new medical school, leaving his predecessor to deal with the fallout. If it was in Ross' DNA to walk away or simply stay away from risk, he would have done so in 2010 when CMU's presidential search committee came calling.

Ross' running mantra – shared so candidly that we can quote it effortlessly in conversation – is that without education and hard work, the president would not be where he is today. He grew up "a farm kid from Mississippi, grew up on the streets of Washington D.C." and survived the South in a time when prejudice ran rampant. He also battled cancer and won.

Let's be clear – Ross has received a fair share of criticism, and much of it is warranted. When he came to CMU for the second time – Ross served as the vice president of Finance and Administrative Services from 2002 to 2008 – he was viewed as being calculated and uninterested in his faculty and staff.

A conservative financial planner, Ross kept CMU's books in good shape by not overspending, but is criticized for not giving enough to the departments that need money the most.

Worse for Ross' image, he received a vote of no confidence from Academic Senate in 2011, a year after he took office, in regards to their unwillingness to halt the progress of CMU's College of Medicine (CMED). This was followed by a one-day Faculty Association strike after the group and the administrative bargaining team could not come to terms on a new contract.

Ross is nowhere near perfect. His reputation as a shrewd operator has not faded from the minds of many faculty. But to call him a quitter is unfounded.

When Ross delivered his address last month, he focused on trying to inspire the CMU community to meet the challenges ahead. Trying to rally support and motivation is not what you expect from a man who is trying to get as far away from the problem as he can. A man looking for an exit strategy wouldn't have even brought it up. Instead, someone expecting to leave would have given an address that would, at best, sweep these issues safely under the rug.

Detractors aside, his largest group of supporters are the single most important group on campus: Student leaders.

Students in top leadership roles, such as Chuck Mahone of the Student Government Association, dine with Ross at his home on a regular basis. They seek his counsel as proteges and respect him for putting their success first.

Ross may not care what the faculty thinks of him. He may not care if they get to check off every box on their department's priority list. If there's one thing Ross does care about, it's to offer his students a bright future.

We will still thrive as a university with or without him. Will carry on and surmount our challenges.

With his departure, however, we lose an important ally to students, their well-being and their overall success. We wish him luck, but not too much.