USA Track & Field hired Doug Logan, the former commissioner and president of Major League Soccer, as its next chief operating officer Thursday night.

Logan replaces Craig Masback, who stepped aside as the head of USATF at the end of January to become director of business affairs for Nike's Global Sports Marketing Division.

Since Masback left, USATF has been led by a committee of four staff members, including president Bill Roe.

"We have said since we started the process of hiring a new CEO that it was more important to do it right than to do it quickly," Roe said. "In Doug Logan, we know we have found the right CEO to take us into the next phase of growth. We are so pleased to get a person of his caliber to lead our organization, and we are excited to welcome him to the USATF family."

Masback, a former distance runner, took over as chief executive officer of a troubled USATF in July 1997. Since then, the federation's annual budget has grown from $6.7 million to more than $1......