New AD Thread II

[Chris Datres 423]

I have heard that the AD job hasn't even been posted yet.  That will likely happen after the holidays and the first round of interviews will likely be virtual since the 'airport meeting' is pretty discouraged given current pandemic situations.  So we may be looking at late January by the time the first round of interviews begin.

[Tiger93 299]

I hope that the group already has some ideas of people they would be interested in bringing to campus. I generally expect a president and some of the people on those committees to be plugged into the point of having some ideas for what they want, and who might be good at this. Of course, once you decide not to do the search firm route and you are not at a big time school where the president can get who they want and ram it down everyone else's throat, you get into the bureaucracy and agendas from committees. It will be interesting to see what kind of candidates emerge from this process.

I definitely agree with the sentiment of this being a commuter school and fans caring about a lot of other things, but ultimately it comes down to can you build a winning tradition with something fans can be proud of and excited to attend. I don't live in the state, but I knew a handful of Maryland fans who were closer to Towson geographically than College Park who started coming regularly to Towson football during the Terrance West era because we were good and we were a fun watch. If this basketball team stays on its current trajectory, makes it to the tournament or comes close (I know I am beginning to sound delusional) and can put together a good roster next year (who knows) more people will come. It will take 3-5 years of that type of team to get people excited and plan on coming somewhat regularly, but winning draws eyeball. However, you have to win big and win consistently. This is why despite the fact that at times I think people on here can be overly critical of Skerry and Ambrose (not that there have not been many times they haven't deserved it), I also agree with the sentiment that if you are not trying to win big what are you doing?

This is may sound ridiculous, but if this basketball season is shaping up to be a special one I think that might help slightly with drawing better candidates.  

 

[Brian 3]

If I was a candidate, my first question to the President. “Will you increase funding from the bottom of the conference to the average of the top three?” If the answer is yes…continue with the interview, if no, see ya…things will never change until the President funds the top tier teams properly. 

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

If I was a candidate, my first question to the President. “Will you increase funding from the bottom of the conference to the average of the top three?” If the answer is yes…continue with the interview, if no, see ya…things will never change until the President funds the top tier teams properly. 

Yes. The second should be “will I be able to can the unsuccessful football coach?”  If yes continue. If no, Leave 

[Tgr4life 167]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:11 PM, TuTigers2012 said:

Yes. The second should be “will I be able to can the unsuccessful football coach?”  If yes continue. If no, Leave 

The real question is do enough people care about the success of Towson Athletics that every student would be required to pay more in their student fee to fund such a journey. Those that care about the success care a great deal......but are there enough of them. I still believe there should be a public statement from the President as to what is the "real" goal of Towson Athletics. Address the funding...Address the Competitive Goals. Address the Community Service. Until we get a real picture as to what she (and the university system) wants out of Towson Athletics....it is the blind leading the blind. 

[Blounge 520]

Yeah the campus would moan and complain about a $2 increase to the athletics fees. The city of towson is getting billion dollar upgrades. Investments in New luxury apartments, Whole Foods, LA fitness, and restaurants uptown. Need some juice in the athletic dept to draw attention to them and away from all the other options towson students have uptown at the mall, bars, and stumpys hatchet house etc. They need to go big or go home 

[Tgr4life 167]

On 12/26/2021 at 9:30 AM, Blounge said:

Yeah the campus would moan and complain about a $2 increase to the athletics fees. The city of towson is getting billion dollar upgrades. Investments in New luxury apartments, Whole Foods, LA fitness, and restaurants uptown. Need some juice in the athletic dept to draw attention to them and away from all the other options towson students have uptown at the mall, bars, and stumpys hatchet house etc. They need to go big or go home 

Again, I don't disagree with you regarding the likely uproar of a fee increase as there are jut not many folks who really care. It would take a 100 dollar per student increase to raise two million, which likely is the minimum needed to really make a difference. If games are there, they might go...if not..so be it. Waddell was able to change that culture...and a Waddell without the reckless spending would be good. But the one who really has to make a statement and identify the GOALS of athletics is the president. I keep going back to my basic point. You need to know what is expected and what you are willing to fund. Without a public statement from the president on that matter, all of this conversation does not have much meaning. 

[Brian 3]

Waddell was given the opportunity to spend $4.5 million dollars over three years to support his theory of funding sports. Who was the President (last one that understood sports and promoting athletics)? During Waddell’s tenure what happen to the football team and local coverage? Waddell was a loose cannon (loved hiring weight challenge employees) but proved if you spend funds like JMU the entire campus gains.  Add up the funding of baseball and Men’s soccer. $850,000 per year? Not a RA fan but give the guy some slack. He has no chance of winning with this administration. Just my opinion. 

[mat1992 2,233]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

Waddell was given the opportunity to spend $4.5 million dollars over three years to support his theory of funding sports. Who was the President (last one that understood sports and promoting athletics)? During Waddell’s tenure what happen to the football team and local coverage? Waddell was a loose cannon (loved hiring weight challenge employees) but proved if you spend funds like JMU the entire campus gains.  Add up the funding of baseball and Men’s soccer. $850,000 per year? Not a RA fan but give the guy some slack. He has no chance of winning with this administration. Just my opinion. 

Robert Caret hired Wadell, but left in 2012 for UMass. Maravene Loeschke was the President when the two sports were eliminated. I respect your opinion Brian, but I think most football coaches at mid-major schools in FBS and FCS will not have the backing of an incredibly supportive President and/or AD. Mike W. wanted to push football and to do that, he felt (as many others did), he had to eliminate baseball and men's soccer to continue building it. The spending was reckless to some, but there was a method behind his madness. There's some credence to the fact that when he left, the football program started to go down, though RA is mostly to blame.

 

[Brian 3]

So you believed football should have been cut instead of the two minor sports?