Right, Doug Weaver hired Curry with the blessings of the search committee.Actually I think Curry became HC just before Homer became AD....I'm certain Homer hired Cremins though.
Good point.... Meant IAAWe as well as all the current p5 members, were Div.1A.
What he did as a coach, early in his career or later, has no bearing on the lousy job he did as AD. He let Tech facilities go to hell, and did nothing to help. Homer Rice came along at the right time and got that, and many other things, fixed. If not for Homer, there's no telling what kind of mess we would have today.
Homer Rice didn't practically save Tech athletics he absolutely saved it. When he took over the then president wanted to scrap the football team outright, the basketball team was atrocious, the facilities were gawd awful, the football field was a thin layer of AstroTurf on top of asphalt. Homer hired Curry and made football decent again. He hired Cremmins and made bball elite. The bball success helped him raise huge funding to get the facilities back into 20th century condition. Without Homer Rice Tech really would have MIT type athletics today.
Here is to hoping the next AD will one day be worthy of winning the award now named for Homer.
Q: There were reports of disarray in the department before Mike left. Do you feel the need to unify things a bit if that’s an issue that you see?
A: I’m not sure those weren’t a little overplayed or exaggerated. We live in a world of chaos. In college sports, and sports in general, there are so many moving parts and so many changing priorities that sometimes people can lose touch with all the demands the athletic director and/or key staff face.
One of the advantages that I have is I know most of staff from previous assignments. Those that have joined the team in recent months I’ve gotten to know quickly as well.
There’s a sense of understanding, not only in style and approach, but I think we all have a mission that we clearly understand. We all wish Mike well in his new challenges at Purdue. We have a job to do here. We’ve already begun to set on the path to get that accomplished.
We have 375 student-athletes that are here to be educated. They don’t care if it’s an interim athletic director or who that person is. They want to get a good education and a great athletic experience. That’s part of our charge most immediately.