ADVERTISEMENT

New Pitt AD

goat123

Sophomore
Nov 2, 2011
2,787
0
0
Whats taking so long putting a new AD in place??

Things moved quickly getting rid of SP and putting a new football staff in place.

Now it seems we're back to " Pitt Pace" which is slow decision making.

In my opinion this hurt recruiting. As recruiting moved along the staff was put in place, Gallagher sent a positive message about the football program to players, fans, and recruits but the one missing piece was the AD open position.

Recruits and recruit parents like as much stability as possible and this was the one area that was in question.

Go Pitt!
 
DHR International Global Executive Search has been retained to help with the AD search. The selection committee has been finalized (names not yet released) and will contain about 15 people...student athletes, coaches, faculty, trustees, and department staff.

What is "Pitt pace"? The pace perceived by message board posters when the university doesn't provide hourly twitter updates to their liking?



This post was edited on 2/8 9:00 AM by CrazyPaco
 
Most of you who posted are clueless or as delusional as Brian Williams NBC ( Why report the news)!

Today good AD's aren't paperpushers. They may employ paperpushers but they're the athletic departments CEO.

Look at the U's who have had major turnarounds by hiring quality AD's. Nebraska, Ole Miss, UCLA, etc.

Is your CEO a paperpusher? If so start looking for a new job since you're working on the " Titanic." Make sure you rearrange those deck chairs?

The AD for modern U's athletic programs are the visionaries who establish goals and the strategies to meet or exceed those goals.

Of course they handle a lot of PR and fundraisers etc.

Look at some of the high performance U's. I promise you the AD is more than a paperpusher.

In addition top quality recruits consider the whole " athletic package" which includes the AD.

Top players may be reluctant to join a U's sports program without an AD in place. An open AD spot leaves the door open for chaos when an AD finally shows up!

Recruits and their families consider that risk especially with our ( Pitt's) track record!! Why take that risk when I can go to a U with a more stable environment??

Go Pitt!

This post was edited on 2/8 9:23 AM by goat123
 
Reply

I think you are totally wrong about this issue. Pitt's recruiting class is what it is based upon a staff leaving and a new staff having a very short period of time to attempt to develop relationships with the recruits. While a great AD can play a positive role in recruiting albeit minor...it is pretty rare when they do. The AD's that typically play a very positive role in recruiting are the ones that are alums of the program and were either big time athletes themselves or were very successful coaches. I do not believe Pitt is likely to hire such a person. The kids that flipped by all accounts did so because they finally got the offer they were hoping for, rather than some perceived lack of stability. Obviously we will never know whether you are right or not...but I feel strongly that you are dead wrong about this one. Hail to Pitt!
 
Originally posted by goat123:

Most of you who posted are clueless!

Today good AD's aren't paperpushers. They may employ paperpushers but they're the athletic departments CEO.

Look at the U's who have had major turnarounds by hiring quality AD's. Nebraska, Ole Miss, UCLA, etc.

Is your CEO a paperpusher? If so start looking for a new job since you're working on the " Titanic." Make sure you rearrange those deck chairs?

The AD for modern U's athletic programs are the visionaries who establish goals and the strategies to meet or exceed those goals.

Of course they handle a lot of PR and fundraisers etc.

Look at some of the high performance U's. I promise you the AD is more than a paperpusher.

In addition top quality recruits consider the whole " athletic package" which includes the AD.

Top players may be reluctant to join a U's sports program without an AD in place. An open AD spot leaves the door open for chaos when an AD finally shows up!

Recruits and their families consider that risk especially with our ( Pitt's) track record!! Why take that risk when I can go to a U with a more stable environment??

Go Pitt!
You are correct about an AD being the CEO, and that is why Pitt needs to be very diligent in this hire. An ineffective or bad AD could easily muck everything up, particularly the relationships of coaches with the school. The last AD was PR nightmare, but he had substantial football recruiting background. Recruits meet with the AD, so it is another person in the line of individuals selling the program. But having an interim AD isn't going to keep away a single recruit. The track record of instability is on football coaches only. I've never heard a single recruit, anywhere, say they were swayed to go or not go to a school because of an AD or lack of a permanent AD. No one is going to be reluctant to be recruited to Pitt because the AD position is temporarily open, and it will be closed well before the next signing day. It is much more important that the university take as much time as they need to get this hire right. This is the second most important hire for the university after the Chancellor, which seems like a good one going on only about 6 months of observation.



This post was edited on 2/8 10:15 AM by CrazyPaco
 
Am I the only one wondering if the same court jester is posting under several Rivals accounts? I usually read this from my mobile and can tell who authored each post before I see the name. The ones I strugglle with are goat, Pitt Chains, 9nationalchampionships, and the others. They're all interchangeable.
 
rpost3 posted on 2/8/2015...


Am I the only one wondering if the same court jester is posting under several Rivals accounts? I usually read this from my mobile and can tell who authored each post before I see the name. The ones I strugglle with are goat, Pitt Chains, 9nationalchampionships, and the others. They're all interchangeable.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Sherlock you can take " The Goat" off your list.

I'm the real deal and " I call them like I see them."

You may not like my posts, that's your choice, but its my opinion!

The flip side of the coin is a lot of "you" other posters appear to be " Jim Jones coolaide drinkers" who can't accept an opinions other than what your little group has accepted over the years.

A defensive lot! LOL!

Go Pitt!
This post was edited on 2/8 10:21 AM by goat123
 
After experiencing the many years of inadequate AD's, I don't care how long that it takes to hire the next one - as long as they finally "get it right" for a change.
 
Originally posted by goat123:

Whats taking so long putting a new AD in place??

Things moved quickly getting rid of SP and putting a new football staff in place.

Now it seems we're back to " Pitt Pace" which is slow decision making.

In my opinion this hurt recruiting. As recruiting moved along the staff was put in place, Gallagher sent a positive message about the football program to players, fans, and recruits but the one missing piece was the AD open position.

Recruits and recruit parents like as much stability as possible and this was the one area that was in question.

Go Pitt!
goat ...... since Narduzzi was hired, there has not been one recruit (or their family) that either decommited, committed, or was considering Pitt for football that mentioned not having a new AD as the reason for their decision toward Pitt. Sure the AD may have some influence on recruits but we do have an AD at present, albeit an interim one, Randy Juhl and he and Gallagher are pretty impressive individuals who if anything should be a positive influence on recruiting and explaining adequately the process for finding a new AD to recruits and their families.

I think most recruits decide where to commit based on the coaches, the football program (including the conference you are in), the University itself, and the city ..... the AD can certainly have an influence but have you ever heard a recruit or their family say they committed mostly because of the AD .... I have never heard one in more then 50 years although maybe that's because I mainly follow Pitt .... LOL ! .... if you have data that not having a new AD has hurt our recruiting, let's see and analyze it.

We will get a new AD early in this football recruiting cycle and if it takes time to get the right one, so be it.... just my opinions.
 
Panther Parrothead posted on 2/8/2015...



After experiencing the many years of inadequate AD's, I don't care how long that it takes to hire the next one - as long as they finally "get it right" for a change.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Agreed!

Hiring the right person is key!

So however long it takes to find that person will impact the timeline.

Maybe they don't want to distract Narduzzi in the middle of recruiting season or Jamie Dixon in the middle of a challenging basketball season since both will be on the AD search team.

Go Pitt!



This post was edited on 2/8 10:31 AM oby goat123

This post was edited on 2/8 10:32 AM by goat123
 
I am with you guys who want to take this slow and do it right. This is a critical hire for the health of Panther athletics going forward. We have a very competent Interim AD in Dr. Juhl, who has already earned his way into our Pantheon of Heroes with his comment about Pitt being able to win ten football games.
 
Coaching stability has been an issue for Pitt.
AD stability has not.

ADs don't leave for new jobs quickly. I can't believe there is a single recruit that is thinking about the new AD, or would ever be concerned about his/her stability. The next AD will almost certainly be there through their careers. Not that recruits care anyway. The do care about the stability of the HC.
 
Reply

Generally agree with you, although AD's that are desireable, do have a good bit of mobility. AD's tend to gravitate to their alma mater [provided it is a P5 school] or a P5 program that will pay them top 30ish money. All you have to do is look to Steve's pretty quick departure when the Nebraska job opened or when Long ran for Arkansas as examples of what I am talking about. But an AD leaving is usually a non-event...unless the AD was despised and not doing a great job--in which case it is like being released from slavery. :) It will be very interesting to see the candidates the committee identifies for the Chancellor and who he ultimately hires. Hail to Pitt!
 
Originally posted by rpost3:
Am I the only one wondering if the same court jester is posting under several Rivals accounts? I usually read this from my mobile and can tell who authored each post before I see the name. The ones I strugglle with are goat, Pitt Chains, 9nationalchampionships, and the others. They're all interchangeable.
Boy, you got that perception down. You can add to that list as well. The blue and gold colored glasses crowd. They're kind of our joebots. My country right or wrong.
 
raleighpanther posted on 2/8/2015...




Coaching stability has been an issue for Pitt.
AD stability has not.

ADs don't leave for new jobs quickly. I can't believe there is a single recruit that is thinking about the new AD, or would ever be concerned about his/her stability. The next AD will almost certainly be there through their careers. Not that recruits care anyway. The do care about the stability of the HC.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under normal circumstances you might be right.

My post was tailored to us ( Pitt) where there's been a lot of coaching turnover due to an underperforming AD who caused a lot of the staff turnover.

As a Pitt recruit I'd be worried that if the new AD and new fb hc don't see eye to eye there maybe more turmoil. Our track record has supported that.

Granted the search committee is including Father Guido Narduzzi and Jamie Dixon but the fb hc is the new guy so who knows where things will go.

So lets say I'm a 4 or 5 star in demand recruit wanted by many top 20 programs and I had to make a choice between two schools and coaching staffs that I liked a lot.

Schoool #1- Long term Chancellor, Long term AD, long term head football coach ( all long terms )

School # 2 - New Chancellor, No AD, new football coach and staff ( Two news and one no )

I might lean to school # 1 due to perceived stability. This isn't to say everyone could announce they're leaving tomorrow!

Also the open AD position provides a competing coach an opportunity to present a recruit and a recruits family with a reason for the recruit to join his program rather than Pitt's

GO Piit!


This post was edited on 2/8 11:59 AM by goat123


This post was edited on 2/8 2:13 PM by goat123

This post was edited on 2/8 2:22 PM by goat123
 
As long as PN and Pat Gallagher are on the same page the AD is a non issue. It could take another year for it to be finalized and no one would care. We have an acting AD and any major decisions will be handled by Gallagher.

Position of AD is like hiring a Dean of a school. The operation will continue to go on and important decision will be made by the administrative team.
 
Reply

Interesting theory...but there is ZERO evidence that suggests there is anything to your hypothesis. The good news is that there will be an AD in place for the next football recruiting class. We pretty know the whys and why nots of the present class...so hopefully there will not be a reason in the future to test your suggestion. Hail to Pitt!
 
They should be scouring major foundations and major charities for their best junior executives who specialize in fund raising of the grandest scale. Whether specializing in institutional or from well heeled individuals, but ideally both. And in addition, someone who is talented at marketing.

As far as management and administration, much less important. Hire good lieutenants who can run the nuts and bolts and crunch the numbers under the scenes.

I frankly wouldn't be concerned whether the AD knows the slightest thing about sports, either. In fact, that might be a detriment. With a lot of AD's, a little athletic knowledge or past experience makes them dangerous. The best ones raise the money to bring in the best coaches and then get the h*ll out of their way.

Pitt's ideal AD should be dedicated 110% to raising money and improved marketing.
 
geeman2001 posted on 2/8/2015...


They should be scouring major foundations and major charities for their best junior executives who specialize in fund raising of the grandest scale. Whether specializing in institutional or from well heeled individuals, but ideally both. And in addition, someone who is talented at marketing.

As far as management and administration, much less important. Hire good lieutenants who can run the nuts and bolts and crunch the numbers under the scenes.

I frankly wouldn't be concerned whether the AD knows the slightest thing about sports, either. In fact, that might be a detriment. With a lot of AD's, a little athletic knowledge or past experience makes them dangerous. The best ones raise the money to bring in the best coaches and then get the h*ll out of their way.

Pitt's ideal AD should be dedicated 110% to raising money and improved marketing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________


My simple point of this thread was that it would have been nice to have an AD in place soon after the new football staff arrived to assure recruits that Pitt athletics has a fully functional ( as opposed to dysfunctional) athletic team in place.Our track record for football has been dysfunctional.

Lots of good points made with the key being get the right person in place no matter how long it takes.

This thread stubbled like a drunk leaving a bar at 2 am into defining the role of an AD.

Some of the initial posters termed the AD as a " paper pusher." Well I can't let them get away with that can I since they most likely haven't managed anything!

Fund raising and promoting Pitt athletics to all is certainly one of the key roles of the Pitt AD.

In addition to fund raising and marketing the AD is also be the CEO of Pitt athletics with the coaches of the various programs reporting to the AD.

The AD would also be responsible for the performance of Pitt sports, setting goals, implementing strategies to be sure the goals of Pitt sports are met, hiring and firing, scheduling big time games, securing lucrative bowl games etc.

So I'd lower your fundraising percent to something less than 110% as the AD as other real important duties like managing the Pitt athletic program. He may have assistants helping him but he or she's the man when the " rubber mets the road" and things are or aren't going well!

Go Pitt!



This post was edited on 2/8 9:09 PM by goat123
 
When I read your post I thought to myself, "Pitt's not having an AD in place by NSD has hurt recruiting? What?!" Then I wondered if you were joking or just plain crazy.

Then I read your tagline and that answered my question.

Therefore, I agree with everything you say.
 
Goat, in programs that are quite successful in the major revenue sports, a hands-on, activist AD who sets specific goals for the coaches as you describe would last in his job until shortly after the first phone call from the head coach to the university president or whoever the decision maker is on the Board of Trustees.

Can you imagine an AD calling Saban or Urban Meyer into his office and assigning goals?

Well, maybe you can because your mental orientation is autocratic to the point of fascism. But, in the real world, the head coach of a top program will tell the AD what to do, not the other way around. You do remember the OSU president's quote when asked if he would fire Tressel, right? Something like , "No, I just hope Coach Tressel doesn't fire me."
 
Harve74 posted on 2/9/2015...






Goat, in programs that are quite successful in the major revenue sports, a hands-on, activist AD who sets specific goals for the coaches as you describe would last in his job until shortly after the first phone call from the head coach to the university president or whoever the decision maker is on the Board of Trustees.

Can you imagine an AD calling Saban or Urban Meyer into his office and assigning goals?

Well, maybe you can because your mental orientation is autocratic to the point of fascism. But, in the real world, the head coach of a top program will tell the AD what to do, not the other way around. You do remember the OSU president's quote when asked if he would fire Tressel, right? Something like , "No, I just hope Coach Tressel doesn't fire me."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well Harve you may be right when you talk about Saban, Tressell, or Meyer but I can promise the former coaches at Florida, Nebraska, Michigan, etc. had lots of conversations with their AD. Things went well for Tressell with no AD or U oversight???

You might want to read the article in the link below which stresses the importance of putting the AD's back in charge of U athletic programs. Harve time is moving on so catch up!
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/college-athletic-scandals...http://www.bing.com/search?q=huffin...&ghc=2&cvid=b196505e30d244d7808aa206febe8f76#

I bet ex the elite coaches the AD is very involved in the goings on for most programs!

I'll also venture a guess that Coach Kelly at the prestigious ND gets lots of chances to have encounters with the ND AD since things have gone off the rails a bit for the ND program.

My neighbor is a Nit Wit U "super booster" and from what he tells me coach Franklin has had the opportunity to sit in the AD's office for a few post game day chats.

I also bet Paterno probably " ran" Nit Wit U which is exactly how the U athletic programs get in trouble.

When the U fb HC is larger than the U bad things are likely to happen.

Schools that ended up in big trouble probably had a " hands off" AD.

I think things are changing given the increased focus of the NCAA on U athletic programs.

For the average U ( which is most of them) you can bet the AD is managing his or her business area (the athletic program) and not giving the coaches "carte blanche."


Go Pitt!




This post was edited on 2/9 11:19 AM by goat123




This post was edited on 2/9 11:20 AM by goat123



This post was edited on 2/9 12:24 PM by goat123


This post was edited on 2/9 1:18 PM by goat123

This post was edited on 2/9 2:36 PM by goat123
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT