If I were a betting man — and I’m not; heck, I don’t even play the lottery — I would wager that Texas A&M University System has just installed the next president of its campus in Canyon.

Here’s how it goes.

The A&M University System Board of Regents has named James Hallmark as the interim president of West Texas A&M University, effective upon the upcoming retirement of Pat O’Brien.

Interesting, yes? Sure it is.

Why? Because Hallmark just recently — I think it was a year or two ago — moved from the Panhandle to take an administrative post at the A&M “mother ship” campus in College Station.

Hallmark had served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at WT before he left for College Station to assume a vice chancellor post at A&M.

Now he’s coming back to become the “interim” head man at WT.

My strong hunch is that the regents might go through some kind of perfunctory search for a permanent president. It just looks for all the world, though, that they’ve found their man.

Is it a good thing? That depends. I don’t know Hallmark well, but I do know of his reputation, which my understanding is that it’s quite stellar.

My preference would be for regents to conduct a real national search to find a WT president and if Hallmark is one of the applicants and he competes with others, then he — and the school — are strengthened if he demonstrates an ability to lead the campus.

Then the system regents can ratify their decision to send them back to WT to take the reins of a growing university.