Why was Todd Turner's search firm deemed qualified to run Cal's basketball coach search?
Here are some facts on Turner, the guy whose firm lead Cal's coaching search:
Turner was AD at 4 different universities. Turner "resigned" at his last two jobs due to philosophical differences with the university presidents.
The overall record of football coaches that Turner hired in his capacity of athletic director at the school he hired them for is 96 183.
The conference record of these football coaches is 48-147
The overall record of basketball coaches that Turner hired in his capacity of athletic director at the school he hired them for is 602-450.
The conference record of these basketball coaches is 238-296.
He hired 4 football coaches and 3 basketball coaches. ALL OF THEM FINISHED THEIR TENURES WITH A LOSING RECORD IN CONFERENCE.
Why Pitt fans hate Todd Turner: Pitt hired CSA for their coaching search. The outcome was Kevin Stallings getting the job. Stallings had a prior relationship with Turner, Turner having hired him at Vanderbilt and worked with him for several years. The fans were extremely unhappy with the hire as a result of his mediocre record and overall losing record in conference over many years at his prior job (sound familiar?). Pitt went to the NCAA tournament the year before. Despite returning 6 of the top 7 players from the previous year (including 2 eventual NBA players), Pitt finished the 201617 season with their first losing record in 17 years. (16-17 overall, 4-14 in conference). His second year he went 8-24 overall and 0-18 in conference Stallings finished his tenure at Pitt with the worst winning percentage of any coach in Pitt history.
Why UW fans hate Turner:
He hired Ty Willingham. Another retread who had been fired from his last job. Willingham went 11-37 overall and 6-29 in conference. Turner refused to fire him after his third season even though he was 11-25 overall and 6-20 in conference. Turner was then asked to resign. While the UW President Willingham did not factor in, Turner said "For me it did. It was just was enlightening about where our society, culture and support group has gone in their expectations of what constitutes a quality program on a campus of higher education." He also said "the message that our students hear, that our coaches hear, that our leadership hears from the general run-of-the-mill fan is that the only thing we really care about is how many games they win. And I have to look at that after 32 years of doing this and say 'wow, is that really what we are all about? Have I been that naive all this period of time? I have been spending all my time on the student-athlete experience and trying to create better lives for people and the proper place in higher education when all I should have been worrying about is how many games we've won.' Why didn't I go to the NFL if that's all it's about" Again, this is in context of deciding not to fire a coach who was 11-25 and 6-20. Because of his decision not to fire Willingham, UW suffered their worst ever season at 0-12, 0-9. (Hmmm. A pattern) Next AD fired Willingham. Turner was also noted for being poor at getting alumni donations and mismanaging the Husky Stadium project.
Why NC State fans hate him:
And boy do they hate him. They call him the ******Helmet (knowing this site that will get censored. It starts with a D and ends in a "ouche"). It seems in addition to being credited with running their revenue sports into the ground he was considered arrogant and bad with the alums (and thus fundraising)
In basketball, NC State had an 8 year streak of NCAA tournaments including a sweet sixteen, 2 elite eights, and a National Championship. One year later they hired Todd Turner as their athletic director. He hired a coach who went 78-98 and 28-66. In football, the coach hired by the prior AD went 52-29-3 and 31-18-1. His last two years he finished 2nd in conference. Turner hired his replacement who went 41-40 and 26-30. In baseball, NC State had a great coach who was an NC State Alum. They had a horrible stadium facility that would not allow them to host a regional. For instance, the bleachers were condemned. As a result, NC State earned a 1 seed in a regional and had to travel to Oklahoma. With Turner unable and unwilling to improve the facility, their coach realized he couldn't win there. He went to South Carolina. He won 2 national championships and one runner up and was national coach of the year 3 times
Cal used Turner's firm to do a full scale review of athletic department finances and also to determine how to fulfill Prong I of Title IX. Why?
Cal used Turner's firm to hire Mark Fox. Really. Seriously. Why?
One thing I have noticed is that Turner makes a lot of statements that in my opinion make him out to be Mr. High Moral Ground Integrity in a world run amok. (see Udub quotes above). Frankly, I don't know where his nickname from NC State fans came from, but you see enough quotes and you get a pretty good guess. He also does like to zing schools with his holier than thou attitude as he walks (or is thrown) out the door. Honestly, I'd be afraid his comments would play well with the Cal administration and they might offer him the AD job, but I think it is easier for him to judge everyone else and sit in a job where he makes his money with no accountability for his decisions. Think about this. What a great gig. You completely fail to hire any quality coaches as an athletic director. You get ripped to shreds by fans because of it. You get fired by two schools (sorry, resign due to philosophical differences). What do you do? Open up a consulting firm for athletic directors too lazy to do their own damned job. When you blow it, s/he takes all the blame and maybe ultimately gets fired. But your consulting fee is already in the bank. (and I know one school paid $60K for this service).
But my question is whether Cal even looked at his record before hiring his firm. I do not see that anything this guy has done has qualified him to go anywhere near a coaching search.
Here are some facts on Turner, the guy whose firm lead Cal's coaching search:
Turner was AD at 4 different universities. Turner "resigned" at his last two jobs due to philosophical differences with the university presidents.
The overall record of football coaches that Turner hired in his capacity of athletic director at the school he hired them for is 96 183.
The conference record of these football coaches is 48-147
The overall record of basketball coaches that Turner hired in his capacity of athletic director at the school he hired them for is 602-450.
The conference record of these basketball coaches is 238-296.
He hired 4 football coaches and 3 basketball coaches. ALL OF THEM FINISHED THEIR TENURES WITH A LOSING RECORD IN CONFERENCE.
Why Pitt fans hate Todd Turner: Pitt hired CSA for their coaching search. The outcome was Kevin Stallings getting the job. Stallings had a prior relationship with Turner, Turner having hired him at Vanderbilt and worked with him for several years. The fans were extremely unhappy with the hire as a result of his mediocre record and overall losing record in conference over many years at his prior job (sound familiar?). Pitt went to the NCAA tournament the year before. Despite returning 6 of the top 7 players from the previous year (including 2 eventual NBA players), Pitt finished the 201617 season with their first losing record in 17 years. (16-17 overall, 4-14 in conference). His second year he went 8-24 overall and 0-18 in conference Stallings finished his tenure at Pitt with the worst winning percentage of any coach in Pitt history.
Why UW fans hate Turner:
He hired Ty Willingham. Another retread who had been fired from his last job. Willingham went 11-37 overall and 6-29 in conference. Turner refused to fire him after his third season even though he was 11-25 overall and 6-20 in conference. Turner was then asked to resign. While the UW President Willingham did not factor in, Turner said "For me it did. It was just was enlightening about where our society, culture and support group has gone in their expectations of what constitutes a quality program on a campus of higher education." He also said "the message that our students hear, that our coaches hear, that our leadership hears from the general run-of-the-mill fan is that the only thing we really care about is how many games they win. And I have to look at that after 32 years of doing this and say 'wow, is that really what we are all about? Have I been that naive all this period of time? I have been spending all my time on the student-athlete experience and trying to create better lives for people and the proper place in higher education when all I should have been worrying about is how many games we've won.' Why didn't I go to the NFL if that's all it's about" Again, this is in context of deciding not to fire a coach who was 11-25 and 6-20. Because of his decision not to fire Willingham, UW suffered their worst ever season at 0-12, 0-9. (Hmmm. A pattern) Next AD fired Willingham. Turner was also noted for being poor at getting alumni donations and mismanaging the Husky Stadium project.
Why NC State fans hate him:
And boy do they hate him. They call him the ******Helmet (knowing this site that will get censored. It starts with a D and ends in a "ouche"). It seems in addition to being credited with running their revenue sports into the ground he was considered arrogant and bad with the alums (and thus fundraising)
In basketball, NC State had an 8 year streak of NCAA tournaments including a sweet sixteen, 2 elite eights, and a National Championship. One year later they hired Todd Turner as their athletic director. He hired a coach who went 78-98 and 28-66. In football, the coach hired by the prior AD went 52-29-3 and 31-18-1. His last two years he finished 2nd in conference. Turner hired his replacement who went 41-40 and 26-30. In baseball, NC State had a great coach who was an NC State Alum. They had a horrible stadium facility that would not allow them to host a regional. For instance, the bleachers were condemned. As a result, NC State earned a 1 seed in a regional and had to travel to Oklahoma. With Turner unable and unwilling to improve the facility, their coach realized he couldn't win there. He went to South Carolina. He won 2 national championships and one runner up and was national coach of the year 3 times
Cal used Turner's firm to do a full scale review of athletic department finances and also to determine how to fulfill Prong I of Title IX. Why?
Cal used Turner's firm to hire Mark Fox. Really. Seriously. Why?
One thing I have noticed is that Turner makes a lot of statements that in my opinion make him out to be Mr. High Moral Ground Integrity in a world run amok. (see Udub quotes above). Frankly, I don't know where his nickname from NC State fans came from, but you see enough quotes and you get a pretty good guess. He also does like to zing schools with his holier than thou attitude as he walks (or is thrown) out the door. Honestly, I'd be afraid his comments would play well with the Cal administration and they might offer him the AD job, but I think it is easier for him to judge everyone else and sit in a job where he makes his money with no accountability for his decisions. Think about this. What a great gig. You completely fail to hire any quality coaches as an athletic director. You get ripped to shreds by fans because of it. You get fired by two schools (sorry, resign due to philosophical differences). What do you do? Open up a consulting firm for athletic directors too lazy to do their own damned job. When you blow it, s/he takes all the blame and maybe ultimately gets fired. But your consulting fee is already in the bank. (and I know one school paid $60K for this service).
But my question is whether Cal even looked at his record before hiring his firm. I do not see that anything this guy has done has qualified him to go anywhere near a coaching search.
