A search through the biographies of the university’s presidents reveals a few facts (among others):
- One Nobelist (Beadle)
- One 29 year old (Hutchins)
- One woman (Gray)
- One who was running a university elsewhere (Gray)
- Two former law school deans (Hutchins, Levi)
- Two who resigned in order to run a foundation (Mason, Randel)
- Three promoted internally from the position of provost (Judson, Levi, Wilson)
- Four provosts from an Ivy (Gray, Sonnenschein, Randel, Zimmer)
- Five with no prior affiliation (Mason, Hutchins, Beadle, Sonnenschein, Randel)
- Eight with prior affiliation (Harper - Founder, Judson, Burton, Kimpton, Levi, Wilson, Gray, Zimmer)
Not sure there are any hard and fast rules that jump out here. The trustees seem to respond to the situation of the time in their choice of president. Perhaps they favor those who have a prior relationship with the university. As to experience or whether they were long enough here or there before jumping to UChicago, it’s clear from perusing these biographies that some were on a fast track and others not. It just depends on the circumstances of the time and the qualities of the available candidates.