Big C said:
philbert said:
GMP said:
Golden One said:
bearup said:
socaltownie said:
Just for fun
The Kicker seems to be struggling right now at UCSB. 7-7
Travis is doing "OK" - 4-2 in the big sky, 11.-6 overall
Who else should we put on the list?
How certain are we that JK will again use a "search firm"......or not?
You can bet the farm that he will again use a search firm.
And he should. He doesn't know what the heck he's doing.
It's fine to use one, but he shouldn't rely solely on the search firm. He should form a council of experts that know the challenges of working at Cal to help him vet the candidates and possibly look at others outside of the firm. I have a hard time believing that Fox was the best available candidate overall. (He was probably a top candidate the search firm had from a very limited search.)
This exactly. It's one thing to use a search firm. Last time around, the search firm used us.
Yep, there is nothing wrong with using a search firm, if the search firm is used properly.
Even before engaging the search firm, an AD should have a list of potential candidates, and understand appropriate criteria for candidates. A council of experts can further refine those things, and help vet candidates. The search firm can be great for facilitating communication, for gauging interest on all sides, for deniability on all sides. While the search firm may well dig up potential candidates the AD might not know about otherwise, if the AD is doing his/her job, it is more important that the AD direct the search firm to candidates the AD is interested in than for the search firm to dig up candidates the AD doesn't know about. Both can be important, but if the AD isn't directing the search firm to potential candidates, the AD isn't properly performing the job.
I don't really buy that the problem in the Fox hire was in the use of the search firm. When Knowlton said that the big thing in Fox's favor was that he and Knowlton got along so well, I knew Knowlton had used the wrong criteria. Maybe getting along ok with the AD is a baseline requirement, along with other things like not being an a-hole. But it is WAY more important that the coach and college basketball players and high school recruits have good chemistry than it is that the coach and AD have good chemistry. If Knowlton had gone on and on about how well Fox would relate to the players in the way that a could should relate to players at a place like Cal, I would have felt a lot better about the hire. I really don't care if the coach's relationship to the AD is merely warm and cordial or if they will have a really good time drinking beer together, because that relationship is not what leads to winning basketball.
If you have the wrong hiring criteria, it just doesn't matter whether you use a search firm, you'll end up with the wrong hire.