CEB
Helluva Engineer
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- 2,533
Pragmatic, appropriate.If I have been just hired as the new AD, the worst thing I could do for my career is to fumble my first job of hiring a new coach. I would choose the coach with a great background and record as my first choice within the boundaries of the administration's salary specifications for a new coach. I would probably have asked that question before I took the job.
I would have already found out the status of the program, its problems and needs. The team had already had three losing seasons of only 3 wins each season and headed toward the same. I also found out the old coach had indeed recruited better athletes for the program.
If the AD assumed the problem was the players did not like the old coach, then I would study the problem from that standpoint. If I saw an assistant coach who had been there for all of those years and might have been part of the problem, I would make that notation. If that coach thought his time was running out for a head coaching position, he might think his only shot was to be promoted from within. Could he possibly have anything to do to aid in the disastrous seasons?
I would make a quick check of all the assistants; if none of them met my criteria, my first thought would be to wipe all of them off a candidate's list and start my search outside the present organization. This would be the best solution to keep any political affiliations out of the picture.
Here’s some nuance. You realize that the improved recruiting is dampened by the fact that key recruits have already left the program. What does that recruiting look like, present day? Similarly, the departures of promising assistants and coordinators (which initially looked like positive, growth opportunities for them), might now point toward leadership issues within the program. It would seem that the main issue has been addressed (removed) and what you have today looks like a more cohesive, competent program.... BUT (and this is where we agree) it’s hard as a new AD to hang your hat on something tangible/ positive in all of this, and your best interest screams for a clean slate.
Key potentially has done all that anyone can do, and it’s probably still not enough. Emotionally, I don’t like it and I want to root for the guy. Rationally, I understand it 100%.