Sahlman, who assumed the directorship of HBSPublishing in July 1991, was featured in a NewYork Times article last October.

The article portrayed a struggling companywhich had made a number of expensive mistakes. Oneof the mistakes, according to the article, wasspending $10,000 creating four-hour managementinstruction videos which corporations laterrefused to buy.

"Customers told us they couldn't use it,"Sahlman told The New York Times.

"They'd have to shut down their entire companyfor two weeks to absorb it all."

The unwanted videos weren't the publishingdivision's only mistake. According to the Timesarticle, school officials expected Sahlman toboost the publishing company's annual revenuesfrom $38 million to $100 million in five years.

Yet when the deadline arrived, revenues were adisappointing$49 million.

Had Sahlman achieved that 100 million dollargoal, the New York Times suggested he would be a"shoein" as the next dean of HBS.

But some faculty members said that it was hardto tell whether Sahlman was responsible for allthe publishing division's woes.

"There's been a real mess over there. What Idon't know is did [Sahlman] inherit the mess andhave to clean it up, or did he contribute to it?"Aguilar said.

McArthur appointed Ruth R. McMullin, former CEOof John Wiley & Sons Inc., as president of thepublishing division the same year Sahlman wasnamed chair of the board of directors.

Associate Dean and President of HBS PublishingLinda S. Doyle replaced McMullin last March. Noone seems to know whether to blame McMullin ofSahlman for the publishing "mess."

But many faculty members give Sahlman creditfor performing well at a difficult task.

"You have to give him high marks when youadjust for degree of difficulty--kind of likediving or figure skating," said a professor whospoke on condition of anonymity.

"He's done a very, very fine job in handling avery difficult and demanding job for which hedoesn't have a good model to follow," theprofessor said.

`Terrific' Teacher