I'm guessing Hurley will be looking for a better job sooner rather than later....

AD=.Bockraths brother. The AD might be the one leaving.

The booster harassed Bobby's wife. I'm surprised whirling dervish Bobby didn't ground and pound the d@ouche.

It has been 5 1/2 months since the emails, and it isn't like the ASU president was out of the loop, Hard to say if the recent release under the Freedom of Information Act will change anything. The AD and the HC don't need to get along, if the AD doesn't interfere in the ability of the HC to run his program and doesn't screw the AD in terms of resources. The end result was that the booster got banned, so Hurley got what he needed, whether the AD liked it or not.

While nobody wants a toxic situation like they have at ASU, I think it highlights the fact that the AD and the HC don't need to get along like best buddies. A non-toxic working relationship is definitely preferable, but the AD and the HC getting along really well should NOT be a huge factor in the hiring of the HC. A tiebreaker, maybe, but otherwise irrelevant. So long as they can have a courteous, professional relationship, getting along great doesn't really matter (Hurley and Anderson don't even seem to have that, but it doesn't yet seem to be a big deal for the program).

Knowlton said that a big reason he hired Fox was because of how well he and Fox meshed. Maybe in the end, Fox will have been the best hire, but who would Knowlton have hired if he had been trying to hire the HC with the best chance of success, as opposed to including as an important factor how well he meshed with the HC? I really hope that going forward, Knowlton won't use "how great do we mesh" as anything but a tiebreaker in picking a HC. Sure, he can reject a candidate who doesn't meet a minimum level of ability to get along in a professional manner with the AD, but once a candidate passes that bar, other than as a tiebreaker, it really should be irrelevant.

And if Knowlton wants to care anyway, he really shouldn't tell anybody, he should ignore that when telling the press and fans why he hired the HC. Tell me why the HC is best for the program, not how well he will get along with the AD, because a program might even survive a toxic relationship between the AD and the HC, it won't survive an HC who sucks at being HC.

Cal8285 said:

---

It has been 5 1/2 months since the emails, and it isn't like the ASU president was out of the loop, Hard to say if the recent release under the Freedom of Information Act will change anything. The AD and the HC don't need to get along, if the AD doesn't interfere in the ability of the HC to run his program and doesn't screw the AD in terms of resources. The end result was that the booster got banned, so Hurley got what he needed, whether the AD liked it or not.

While nobody wants a toxic situation like they have at ASU, I think it highlights the fact that the AD and the HC don't need to get along like best buddies. A non-toxic working relationship is definitely preferable, but the AD and the HC getting along really well should NOT be a huge factor in the hiring of the HC. A tiebreaker, maybe, but otherwise irrelevant. So long as they can have a courteous, professional relationship, getting along great doesn't really matter (Hurley and Anderson don't even seem to have that, but it doesn't yet seem to be a big deal for the program).

Knowlton said that a big reason he hired Fox was because of how well he and Fox meshed. Maybe in the end, Fox will have been the best hire, but who would Knowlton have hired if he had been trying to hire the HC with the best chance of success, as opposed to including as an important factor how well he meshed with the HC? I really hope that going forward, Knowlton won't use "how great do we mesh" as anything but a tiebreaker in picking a HC. Sure, he can reject a candidate who doesn't meet a minimum level of ability to get along in a professional manner with the AD, but once a candidate passes that bar, other than as a tiebreaker, it really should be irrelevant.

And if Knowlton wants to care anyway, he really shouldn't tell anybody, he should ignore that when telling the press and fans why he hired the HC. Tell me why the HC is best for the program, not how well he will get along with the AD, because a program might even survive a toxic relationship between the AD and the HC, it won't survive an HC who sucks at being HC.

---

Worse, given Knowlton's background and experience, the people he "meshes with" might not be the same people young student athletes who are otherwise attracted to Cal "mesh with." You see this problem in organizations all the time.