Gill Out the Door
- Thread starter SFspidur
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Fan2, like your attitude. UR is amazing: great academics, campus second to none, and a large number of wealthy alumni as well as other supporters. Let's get it done!
No internal candidates please. Someone with instant credibility!
Come on, let's throw out some names. Here goes....
Tubby Smith
Ok, well I just threw a name out there to get a lively discussion going, but we will probably not be lucky enough to get someone with the class, resume and credentials of TS.
Barkley remembers his Auburn team being upset by the Spiders. Can't forget Barkley thundering by Bill Flye to put the ball in the hoop to cut the final score to 1. Richmond had a 3 point lead with time expiring and Flye wisely stepped out of the way as there was no 3 point shot then. Barkley would bring great press to Spider sports!
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1984-03-15-auburn.html
Have no fear - no way it would ever come to pass as Spiders would not match Sir Charles' present high level of compensation no pressure job.....................all in fun except the joy of remembering the Auburn - Richmond tournament game!
Might as well just give the title officially to Paul Queally
Tbone nailed it, you can find a candidate with a very impressive resume but does not mean squat. we just endured that kind of candidate. JM came from nc state and he did a fine job for us. like Bone, don't care if the person comes from a high school if he or she can manage people, a budget and can speak to alums with passion and vision. this is not shooting fish in a barrel, it can be a crap shoot. would be neat to discover a real young person as opposed to a real old person but again, don't care the age, if they can relate and manage and drive the mission.
The key here is to not just rely on a resume. We need to really do our homework and find people who do have good resumes but who also have practical skills that are critical to our university and athletic department, many of which have been identified in this thread. I don't think that's rocket science, or at least it shouldn't be for the people who are leading this search (especially if we hire a search firm, too).
I think Jim Miller would be a terrible idea. He's 65, probably not really interested in having the job anymore. Plus, that would create the public impression that we have no vision, and that leading the athletic department is a "business as usual" type of job at UR. I also agree that some not so great decisions came from the Miller tenure (the Mooney 10 year extension, the soccer and track debacle, Latrell Scott, etc.).
Walsh is a very capable guy who would do a good job as interim AD until we can do a proper national search and find a new AD who would be able to expand the vision and success of our sports programs. I think Miller would be a great search committee member. We really need to make an outstanding hire here for AD. We need someone who will go to bat for coaches with admissions; who will hold coaches accountable for their performance (overall performance, not just W-L record); and will be a strong and engaged hands-on leader and "public face" of our athletic program and the University as a whole.
Right now, I think Pat Lyons from Seton Hall would be a good candidate, as would Desiree Reed-Francois from up the road in Blacksburg. Both very respected, both have been mentioned as strong candidates for other AD postings.
Walsh is a very capable guy who would do a good job as interim AD until we can do a proper national search and find a new AD who would be able to expand the vision and success of our sports programs. I think Miller would be a great search committee member. We really need to make an outstanding hire here for AD. We need someone who will go to bat for coaches with admissions; who will hold coaches accountable for their performance (overall performance, not just W-L record); and will be a strong and engaged hands-on leader and "public face" of our athletic program and the University as a whole.
Right now, I think Pat Lyons from Seton Hall would be a good candidate, as would Desiree Reed-Francois from up the road in Blacksburg. Both very respected, both have been mentioned as strong candidates for other AD postings.
Eight, again, it seems easy when you outline what you did above, it is not. been involved at UR in interviewing candidates for all kinds of positions, not that my thoughts were ever utilized but the candidate i felt was the best was never hired. so many variables, i did not take into account gender or sexual preference or any other extraneous factors, just who i thought was the best fit and who could perform at the highest level. the other factors always won out and i hope that is not the case this time around. it seems like it would be simple, easy, in today's world, no way.
This time we have big donors involved who I'm sure are going to make the best decision in taking our athletics to new levels
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Isn't Pat the AD at Seton Hall? Would it been seen as a lateral move from Seton Hall to Richmond. Also, Desiree took a position to be AD at UNLV
It's not really a lateral if there is more money to leave SH and come here. Plus, SH has NO FOOTBALL. Was not aware that Desiree took the UNLV job. She would have been a great hire for us.
The bottom line is that there are plenty of qualified people out there who meet or exceed our criteria and would do a better job than KG did.
The bottom line is that there are plenty of qualified people out there who meet or exceed our criteria and would do a better job than KG did.
We will see.He may be on a different trajectory than a school the size of UR.
Having a local guy with a UR degree as a former UR footballer and an MBA degree coupled with Cincy and Tech work history would be a great get.His relative youth may be a factor.
Having a local guy with a UR degree as a former UR footballer and an MBA degree coupled with Cincy and Tech work history would be a great get.His relative youth may be a factor.
Well it seems we didn't exactly nail it with Gill, but I prefer to see the glass half full in this case. Some of the factors you describe certainly are at play in any university hirings, I concede that point, but I'd like to think that we are capable of hiring the right person despite that. Nobody said it would be easy, but I am not going to automatically assume we will always get it wrong, either.
it really depends on what kind of candidate is interested in us. some said that KG was the best of the final candidates before so that means that we did not seem to get a great list of possibles. if we have much better candidates this time, we should be able to do well but if not, not sure which direction to go in at that point. Eight have just gotten the impression from a couple of posts on this thread that you felt it would be easy to get a great AD and maybe it will work out that way but just have the feeling, we won't have great people knocking on our door. hope i am wrong.
I don't think anything like this is "easy" per se, but there should be no shortage of highly qualified people interested. I thought the final list last time was less than enthralling and hope we do much better this time. I'm not sure why that was the case last time, but a lot has changed since then (new president, etc.) so I am hopeful. The key, as you have said, is to find someone who is the right person for what we are as an institution and athletic program, not just someone who checks a bunch of boxes on paper.
Let's be honest with ourselves, we were not going to hire a white male the last time we were hiring for the AD position, no matter what. That's going to remove a large number of qualified candidates from the process. Let's hope he hire the best candidate, regardless of what the person looks like, this time.
Web, what makes you think we won't have quality candidates? I can appreciate the natural disadvantages (if you will) of being a small school with a relatively rigorous academic profile, but I'd still think an AD at a small school trying to manage a more prominent program or an assistant AD is looking to build their resume as an AD before they seek an AD job at a big time school. We are a good opportunity in many of those cases id think.
Mo, I have the same thought. I don't care at all what race or gender our AD is as long as he or she is the most qualified person for the job. Frankly, if we don't go after the BEST candidate because of political correctness, the University is failing us. It makes me question why I send money to Spider Club. Please consider whoever will best promote and support Spider Athletics regardless of appearance. The fact that this kind of stuff has to be posted about is absolutely ridiculous.
I think UR has made it a priority to significantly advance its diversity and inclusion. Frankly, the university desperately needed this to broaden its appeal and by most accounts it has done so. I support hiring the best candidate too, regardless of gender/race/orientation. That said, it would have been hard to say that Gill didn't pass the resume test. So it's not like Ayers and UR were handing the job to someone unqualified. It looks like he just ended up being a bad fit. I think there's zero pressure to make a minority hire at this point.
The next hire should be someone with a connection to UR or even a graduate of UR. This person has to know the challenges and understand how to succeed at UR. Maybe even someone like Bilas would be a good idea, although I doubt we could pull him away from his gig at ESPN. We just need to make a splash this time, we have the money and the rosources, it's time to make it happen.
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While there's some merit to this, I think someone who isn't beholden to operating within the confines of URs business as usual is a better bet. Be a hammer, not the nail.
Is an unimpressive candidate list a problem of the candidates or who put the list together?
The University almost always hires a search company for these types of vacancies. If we end up with a list of crappy candidates, I would think that the blame would be squarely on the search firm.
IMHO, this hire needs to be a great hire. We are at a critical juncture with our athletic programs, and we need to knock the cover off the ball on this one.
IMHO, this hire needs to be a great hire. We are at a critical juncture with our athletic programs, and we need to knock the cover off the ball on this one.
It means be the reason the fire burns, don't be the Sparks that fly off of it. Sparks don't last, embers do. Embers are always burning. You could also say be a leader not a follower.
It comes off better in Latin: "Et quod non sunt prunae quibus scintilla."
Something there is that is lost in the translation.
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