71Bear said:
eabandit said:
how did we get Tedford to begin with? can we just find a guy like him again that can bring us to #2 using facilities no better than my garage
The first thing you need is an AD who doesn't farm the decision out to the "Retreads R Us Agency". You need an AD who has courage to put together a group of individuals who clearly understand the personality traits that are needed to succeed at Cal and trust them to identify coaches who meet that criteria and are interested in coaching at Cal. Once a short list has been developed by the group, the AD must be willing to exercise some risk in the selection process. Fortune favors the bold.
In other words, the best type of AD is a Steve Gladstone. The worst is a Jim Knowlton.
Guess who will be making the call this time?
I don't see that it takes courage "to put together a group of individuals who clearly understand the personality traits that are needed to succeed at Cal and trust them to identify coaches who meet that criteria and are interested in coaching at Cal." It takes a wee bit of intelligence, but courage?
The decision should NEVER be farmed out to an agency, but there are practical reasons to USE one. It can be useful to have a third party between (at least some) candidates and the university in communications, and for the agency to do certain portions of the vetting process. It can be easier for potential candidates to express interest to the agency rather than the university. If the agency suggests a potential candidate that the university has not thought of, OK, and that may be in part because in certain instances, the university didn't imagine that the candidate would have any interest, and the candidate contacted an agency when he would be reticent to contact the university directly. The decision ABSOLUTELY should not be farmed out, however, and only a foolish AD will do that. Courage not required, just a lack of idiocy.
I'm not quite sure how Gladstone showed he was willing to exercise some risk in the selection process. He (correctly, IMO) avoided the risk of hiring someone with clear NFL ambitions (Marvin Lewis). He (incorrectly, IMO) avoided the risk of hiring someone with the perfect personality traits needed to succeed at Cal and was interested in coaching at Cal forever, because Gladstone didn't want to take the risk of hiring someone without much experience (Ron Rivera). Gladstone made a "safe" call in hiring Tedford.
But I absolutely would rather have a Gladstone doing the hiring than a Knowlton, at least if the Fox hire is any sign of what we get. IMO, that was neither bold nor particularly safe.