Athletic Director news - Bo Bounds said on the radio this morning...

[Bulldog45]

Of course having an MSU connection isn't a disqualifier. But if this was Jim Bob Cooter with a degree from Missouri, we wouldn't be talking about him. His resume is unremarkable and he has some baggage. That's my point that keeps getting missed here.

it's a lazy, lazy hire.

Any chance we could get Jim Bob Cooter with a degree from UT as OC?

 

[AstroDog]

I don’t know anything about him. Are you suggesting he’s a bad hire or do you just not like his picture?

Looks like Utah U.S. Senator Mike Lee.

 

[squintdawg]

Sigh.

Hiring Wicker would be the lazy type of hire like we used to do in the Templeton era.

You conduct a national hire and end up with a guy who's biggest draw is that he went to school here? No thanks. It's old-school Mississippi State thinking to just go hire a guy like this. If he wasn't a MSU alum, we wouldn't even be talking to him. It's the cheap way out, and we could've hired the guy two months ago instead of dragging things out just to end up with him now.

And don't even get me started with the stuff that's gone on at SDSU under his watch.

Looks like you took a break from your gaming for a few more "hot takes".... Just for a bit of reality - it isn't like MSU has a bunch of P5 AD's knocking on our door to take this job. It is attractive (being in the SEC), but let's be honest, we are not going to get the Texas, Oregon or Michigan AD to take our job. Our last two AD's left for "better" jobs and both were in their "dream jobs" - so MSU isn't necessarily a career landing spot. You want to know what a lazy hire is? Hiring a burned-out baseball coach with absolutely no relevant AD experience except sitting in the Embassy Suites room in Atlanta when we interviewed Mullen. That was post Templeton too. Hiring a firm to gauge interest and frame the candidates is the absolute right thing and regardless of who we get, it isn't lazy, whether they have an MSU undergraduate degree or have worked at MSU before as your final candidate. Another bit of reality for you - every one of the AD candidates listed as a "finalist" has more relevant experience than not just LT, but every AD we have ever had - including the Ninja himself (and I think Byrne was outstanding at MSU and by far our best AD). I don't know who it will be, but would guess Benko, which will be a step up from the baseball coach. And your statement that Wicker's biggest draw is his undergraduate degree at MSU is also laughable. That seems to be the one thing you are hyper focused on (as well as the SDSU crap that went nowhere). Now back to your basement!

 

[Drebin]

Looks like you took a break from your gaming for a few more "hot takes".... Just for a bit of reality - it isn't like MSU has a bunch of P5 AD's knocking on our door to take this job. It is attractive (being in the SEC), but let's be honest, we are not going to get the Texas, Oregon or Michigan AD to take our job. Our last two AD's left for "better" jobs and both were in their "dream jobs" - so MSU isn't necessarily a career landing spot. You want to know what a lazy hire is? Hiring a burned-out baseball coach with absolutely no relevant AD experience except sitting in the Embassy Suites room in Atlanta when we interviewed Mullen. That was post Templeton too. Hiring a firm to gauge interest and frame the candidates is the absolute right thing and regardless of who we get, it isn't lazy, whether they have an MSU undergraduate degree or have worked at MSU before as your final candidate. Another bit of reality for you - every one of the AD candidates listed as a "finalist" has more relevant experience than not just LT, but every AD we have ever had - including the Ninja himself (and I think Byrne was outstanding at MSU and by far our best AD). I don't know who it will be, but would guess Benko, which will be a step up from the baseball coach. And your statement that Wicker's biggest draw is his undergraduate degree at MSU is also laughable. That seems to be the one thing you are hyper focused on (as well as the SDSU crap that went nowhere). Now back to your basement!

The statement is only laughable to you because you're a dumbass. If Wicker didn't have a degree from MSU we wouldn't be talking to him. I know it, everyone else knows it, and if you have an IQ over 50, you know it too.

Do you get pissy at folks when they tell you the earth isn't flat, too? Change your tampon and go touch some grass.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Of course having an MSU connection isn't a disqualifier. But if this was Jim Bob Cooter with a degree from Missouri, we wouldn't be talking about him. His resume is unremarkable and he has some baggage. That's my point that keeps getting missed here.

it's a lazy, lazy hire.

Agree about the baggage. Strongly disagree about the resume. Its better than at least the last 3 AD’s that we have hired. Byrne, Strick, Cohen…..none had any AD experience whatsoever when they took over.

Benko seems like Wicker without the baggage, so hopefully its him.

 

[The Peeper]

I wouldn't say Byrne didn't have "any AD experience whatsoever" when he took over. His dad was an AD so he grew up around it. From '95-2005 he was assoc ad in athletic depts at Oregon, Oregon St, and Kentucky. He became assoc ad here in 2006 and then AD in 2008. He did fund raising, travel and budget planning, marketing etc etc so "no experience whatsoever" isn't the case.

 

[Perd Hapley]

I wouldn't say Byrne didn't have "any AD experience whatsoever" when he took over. His dad was an AD so he grew up around it. From '95-2005 he was assoc ad in athletic depts at Oregon, Oregon St, and Kentucky. He became assoc ad here in 2006 and then AD in 2008. He did fund raising, travel and budget planning, marketing etc etc so "no experience whatsoever" isn't the case.

He was never an AD. Didn’t mean he wasn’t qualified for the job. Obviously he was. But being the man and being around the man are two very different things.

In any case, there’s no question that the resumes of Benko and Wicker are better than anything our last 3 or 4 hires have had. It may still be somebody else, which could be fine. Just saying if you have beef with either of those hires, it wouldn’t be with the resume.

 

[squintdawg]

The statement is only laughable to you because you're a dumbass. If Wicker didn't have a degree from MSU we wouldn't be talking to him. I know it, everyone else knows it, and if you have an IQ over 50, you know it too.

Do you get pissy at folks when they tell you the earth isn't flat, too? Change your tampon and go touch some grass.

You are the dumbass who compared one of these candidates to Templeton (completely idiotic and laughable), tried to say it is lazy to happen to hire someone simply because of an MSU connection. And, by the way, I would say Benko is the one with the tighter MSU connection of any of them, given he actually worked here and wants to come back. I would be curious the last time Wicker even stepped foot on MSU's campus. Maybe you should realize this - people aren't knocking down the door to come to MSU and having an MSU connection with some outside experience as an actual AD might actually be a good thing. The last four AD's we hired (three with strong prior MSU connections in that they were alumni) were individuals where MSU was their first Head AD job. Three of them graduated from MSU and only one didn't leave for another AD job - LT, who was rigtfully canned by the General. Maybe hiring someone who has actually been an AD somewhere else and wants to come back to MSU might not be a bad thing dipshit - both Benko and Wicker fit that mold. Neither is being considered just because they have some MSU connect (although you could argue Benko actually fits that mold even more than Wicker), but because they have shown an ability as an AD and have an interest in the job. Now - back to your basement tool!

 

[squintdawg]

I wouldn't say Byrne didn't have "any AD experience whatsoever" when he took over. His dad was an AD so he grew up around it. From '95-2005 he was assoc ad in athletic depts at Oregon, Oregon St, and Kentucky. He became assoc ad here in 2006 and then AD in 2008. He did fund raising, travel and budget planning, marketing etc etc so "no experience whatsoever" isn't the case.

Not sure anyone said he didn't have any AD experience - just that it was limited - with the main thing being that he had never been in the lead chair. He turned out great. It is sort of like hiring a coordinator in football versus a head coach to lead your program. More upside, but more risk.

 

[The Peeper]

Not sure anyone said he didn't have any AD experience - just that it was limited - with the main thing being that he had never been in the lead chair. He turned out great. It is sort of like hiring a coordinator in football versus a head coach to lead your program. More upside, but more risk.

PerdHapley is who I was replying to:

"Byrne, Strick, Cohen…..none had any AD experience whatsoever when they took over"

Saying they had no AD experience isn't true. AD's are budget managers, fund raisers, marketers, butt kissers, etc which associate ad's do too, hell they are the ones that put those budgets together, raise the funds, etc. The AD just signs off on them and takes the blame when the train jumps the tracks and the praise when the coach he hired wins

 

[patdog]

Paying a national search firm and ending up with a guy that you already know about isn't a big problem if the search firm is good. It's expensive, but for a key position like that, it's worth running down all available avenues. If it turns out you paid that money to validate that a guy you thought was good really is good, that's money well spent. When you get to a certain level, the people doing the hiring generally just don't have enough experience with a position to know whether internal candidates (or candidates that used to be with the organization) are really competitive with the best candidates out there.

If we hired a national search firm and wind up with an internal candidate, it means the search firm was just for show and we made the lazy hire.

 

[squintdawg]

Well - I rightfully pointed out none had been an actual AD and there is a difference. I think it also plays into the fact that our last three left for "bigger and better things". Maybe someone who has done it before somewhere else is more likely to not skip town. Who knows.

PerdHapley is who I was replying to:

"Byrne, Strick, Cohen…..none had any AD experience whatsoever when they took over"

Saying they had no AD experience isn't true. AD's are budget managers, fund raisers, marketers, butt kissers, etc which associate ad's do too, hell they are the ones that put those budgets together, raise the funds, etc. The AD just signs off on them and takes the blame when the train jumps the tracks and the praise when the coach he hired wins

 

[Perd Hapley]

PerdHapley is who I was replying to:

"Byrne, Strick, Cohen…..none had any AD experience whatsoever when they took over"

Saying they had no AD experience isn't true. AD's are budget managers, fund raisers, marketers, butt kissers, etc which associate ad's do too, hell they are the ones that put those budgets together, raise the funds, etc. The AD just signs off on them and takes the blame when the train jumps the tracks and the praise when the coach he hired wins

It is true because none of them had ever been an athletic director before MSU hired them to that job. Not complicated. Two current athletic directors at D1 FBS schools, each with multiple years experience, have better resumes than guys we have hired in the past (all of them, actually) who had no such experience.

What you’re saying is like saying Arnett kind of had head coaching experience because he created the defensive gameplan that the head coach signed off on. It’s asinine.

 

[johnson86-1]

If we hired a national search firm and wind up with an internal candidate, it means the search firm was just for show and we made the lazy hire.

If that's what you think, you need to use a different search firm in the future. A good search firm is going to bring a lot of market intelligence on compensation, help identify strength and weaknesses of each candidate, identify organizational weaknesses, identify organizational strengths (e.g., so if you have an excellent fundraiser in a #2 position, maybe you can hire an AD with strengths in other areas), etc. It's not just "here's a list of candidates."

If you are hiring for Staff Accountant 2, then yes, you should know if your internal candidate is good enough without a search firm. But when you are hiring at the executive level, there is value to validating whether an internal candidate is the best candidate available.

 

[patdog]

If that's what you think, you need to use a different search firm in the future. A good search firm is going to bring a lot of market intelligence on compensation, help identify strength and weaknesses of each candidate, identify organizational weaknesses, identify organizational strengths (e.g., so if you have an excellent fundraiser in a #2 position, maybe you can hire an AD with strengths in other areas), etc. It's not just "here's a list of candidates."

If you are hiring for Staff Accountant 2, then yes, you should know if your internal candidate is good enough without a search firm. But when you are hiring at the executive level, there is value to validating whether an internal candidate is the best candidate available.

I think you misunderstood my post. Of course, a good search firm does all those things. They're not going to recommend an internal candidate (at least not from our athletic dept). If we make a typical insider Mississippi State hire, the search firm was just for show, and we ignored their recommendation.

 

[johnson86-1]

I think you misunderstood my post. Of course, a good search firm does all those things. They're not going to recommend an internal candidate (at least not from our athletic dept). If we make a typical insider Mississippi State hire, the search firm was just for show, and we ignored their recommendation.

I did misunderstand and on that you may be right.

My best argument against it would be that if they wanted to make an internal hire, they could have made them interim AD. Then basically say "we did a national search, best candidate was here and already impressing with what he had done on the job, etc."

If we had a legitimate candidate and they wanted input from the search firm but didn't want to bias the process before they got going, it would seem reasonable to not tilt the scales to an internal candidate by making the interim. They still get to look at him just like thtey would if he were at another school. If he ends up not being the guy, by not having him as interim AD you maybe minimize any tension between him and the new guy. Presumably if he was good enough to be a candidate you definitely want him to stick around in his current position.

I guess the alternative argument is that by not making him interim, you give credibility to the idea that your are listening to the search firm and not just dead set on promoting from within.

Or there is the alternative that we didn't have an internal candidate, but the search is going so ****** we are way down our list and now we do have an internal candidate.

Or the really bad alternative is that Bracky is the internal candidate and some boosters are "doing him a solid" by pumping up his four year average in exchange for having a yes man, in which case, just burn it all down, disband the athletic department, put Bully up for adoption, put Dawgstudent on an all kale diet, whatever it doesn't matter, nothing matters.