University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Athletic Director George Koonce, a former Marquette Athletics official, was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon due to an undisclosed personnel matter.

Koonce was senior associate athletic director at Marquette from June 2007 to March 2009. He started working at UW-Milwaukee in April 2009.

A statement from UWM said Dave Gilbert, senior assistant to the chancellor, will act as the school’s athletic director during Koonce’s leave.

In the statement, UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago said the UWM athletic program will continue to provide strong support for student athletes in Koonce’s absence.

“UWM has had a long history of sponsoring an outstanding athletic program that has served our scholar athletes well,” Santiago said. “I am confident that the program will continue to provide great opportunities for our student athletes to be successful in the classroom as well as in their respective sports.”

Koonce was a starting linebacker for the Green Bay Packers from 1992-’99.

His plans at UWM included the potential for a new basketball arena on campus.