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OSCEOLA • JANUARY 30, 200 8
What kind of Athletics Director do you want?
This past week, we asked readers of Warchant.com and TheOsceola.com to tell us what they wanted to see in Florida State’s next Athletics Director. Here is a sample of those responses:
POSTED BY FSU91
1) Experience as a Director of Athletics and success at the school(s) where he has worked. I want to see FSU hire someone that has led a program that has made major strides in multiple areas ... corporate development, academic support management, facilities expansion, marketing programs, and has had successful teams that have won championships both on the conference and national levels. 2) Experience in leading major fund raising campaigns that have led to facility expansion and improvements. I want to see FSU hire a person that knows what it takes to get new projects funded and completed and has led such projects in the past. 3) Experience in hiring and firing coaches. Not every hire has to be a blazing success ... peoople learn from their mistakes. If you have never made a mistake then you are not going to learn much and you won't improve yourself. I just hope that the mistake(s) were made at the last school and that the knowledge gained from the mistake(s) will help in future hires. 4) Successful background in overseeing academic support efforts. I want someone that knows the ins and outs of academic support and knows how to put a top-notch academic support staff in place. This is of extreme importance for FSU going forward. 5) Someone who understands Southern collegiate athletics and the importance of FSU athletics to the Seminole Nation. I would prefer to have someone lead FSU's athletics programs that has ties to FSU. Someone that bruises Garnet and Gold is most desirable if we can find someone that meets the above criteria. Having a passion that is more than just professional but is, instead, personal is very desirealbe. I've worked in an athletics department at a school where I had no passion. It was just a job. Instead I would rather be at a place where I was more emotionally invested and I hope that whomever we hire is someone that has a deep and meaningful love for FSU and Seminole athletics. Now of course there is a candidtate out there that meets all of the above criteria ... his name is Wayne Hogan and he's just up the road in Atlanta where is is the Associate AD for Public Affairs. He was still wet behind the ears in his late-30s when he filled in as our interim AD after Bob Goin resigned and wasn't ready for the FSU job. He's paid his dues sicne then and learned a great deal while having enormous success as the AD at the University of Montana. He's older now and wiser and much more experienced. There is not a better man for the job and it just makes too much sense for him not to be the hire. Let's hope that we bring him home.
POSTED BY ILNOLE
AN FSU ALUM that has all the qualifications and experience you would want in an AD, and well respected by his/her peers in the AD community. I would have no problem with combining Boosters / Atheletic department like at UF. Andy Miller would be a well qualified AD that loves FSU.
POSTED BY FLATSKW88
Much improved reputation 2. No more 7-6 seasons and laydown games against [Wake Forest] 3. A better basketball team 4. A smooth transition and classy departure for Coach Bowden 5. A concerted effort to use the media to our advantage (see 1)
POSTED BY NOLEMIKE
1. A business background, with previous A.D. or assistant A.D. experience. 2. Must be strong-willed enough to stand up to the
University President or football coaches that want end run the athletic department; this means it must be someone who demands that the coaches be accountable to the AD, and not the university president. 3. A person that agrees with my opinion on nepotism within the athletic department (i.e., that it has no place, and there are no exceptions). 4. A person that will demand coaches discipline players in an acceptable manner that demonstrate a "see me" approach to the game (e.g., front flips into the end zone after a touchdown); this would include making sure that coaches understand and can repeat the rule governing penalties for excessive celebration. 5. The person must concede at the outset that the idea of a "coach in waiting" is a half-baked idea, at best.
POSTED BY NOLENEWSISGOODNEWS
1)Someone that is not just TK'S Mouthpiece would be a great start....but I am not holding my breath on that... 2)Someone that has no FSU ties....we have become way too good ole boy at FSU in the Administration and Coaches thus the overwhelming "staleness" that has enveloped the whole school 3)Someone that realizes while success in "minor sports" is nice the Football Program is the "straw that stirs the drink"...something our previous guy never fully grasped
POSTED BY DYNASTYNOLE
FSU has to get beyond the mentality of only hiring 'within the family'. That has gotten FSU Jeff Bowden as OC and TK as president. If FSU strives to compete with universities beyond Leon county, it has to mature as an institution and hire the BEST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE. If all things are equal, I want the FSU grad, but too many are blinded when one of the candidates is 'family' and I think cease to see the qualifications objectively. We need a candidates who is: 1. The most qualified. Someone with experience working in an athletic dept. A person who can fundraise, deal with budgets, and people. Someobdy with ambition for ALL of our sports. 2. Someone who will be more than just a puppet for our president. 3. Somebody that maintains FSU's strengths (right now the olympic sports) and can improve upon it's weakness (Football pregame, PR department, building fan bases, basketball, etc).
POSTED BY NEIONDEON
First and foremost, someone who will stop letting FSU be a punching bag by the state and national media. FSU has plenty to be proud of, and rarely anything to apologize for, yet we are routinely blasted in the media. That needs to change. Make public relations a high priority. Second, the new AD needs to revamp the basketball program--not necessarily the head coach, but the way season tickets are allocated. FSU boosters simply buy season tickets to increase their booster point totals for when the buy football tickets, but they never show up for basketball games. FSU's facility is one of the worst in the ACC, and while that won't change, they can still make it more intimidating by changing seating. Third, it should be a priority of the new AD to correct the national embarassment that are the ACC football officials. If the ACC wants to be taken seriously as a conference, this needs to be fixed. As of now, it is a laughingstock.
POSTED BY THE REAL SONNY
1. Got to be honest. 2. Got to be tough, both with the coaches/athletes under him, as well as, with the administration and boosters that he/she will have to deal with. Can't be a "Yes man" to the President, etc. and yet, can't be unwilling to admit that some hires are mistakes, for whatever reasons. 3. Has to be able to set a vision or plan for all the sports. 4. Has to have been successful in several endeavors.
This person needs to be able to improvise and adjust when things get tough, find a way to win. 5. Needs to be a leader. 6. Needs to be a business man, not a former or failed coach. (Really, that's antiquated, but....) 7. Some past in athletics would be nice and I'm thinking a non-revenue sport such he/she would have a better understanding of all the sports. 8. An NCAA background isn't necessary, so far as experience working as an employee of the NCAA but I would want someone that could show in the interview process a working knowledge of the NCAA rules.
POSTED BY NOLE4757
As a Golden chief, I want an AD who will not settle for medicority in the big three sports, i.e., football, basketball and baseball, any longer. Enough is enough. An AD who will stand-up to all three head coaches and let them know that the current state of all three programs is unacceptable and that he is going to build winning and highly compettive programs with or without them, and who will let them know that free-passes, sixyear rebuilding plans and so on are a thing of the past. An AD who has the [guts] to lay the law down snd carry-out the law -- either turn the programs around or FSU will move on without them. An AD who will stop accepting the homer "FSU talent spin", accept that FSU does not have the talent and develop a strategy to rebuild our sports programs so that FSU will be second to none in the State of Florida, as well as nationally. If that means all three head coaches have to go, so be it and he has the power and conviction to fire them. An AD who will not accept complacency.
POSTED BY MILEMARKER
I'd love to see someone that has strong leadership and a track record of success. Someone that is very goal oriented and never satisfied yet will take the time out of his day for his family at both the home and those involved with the school. Someone that is very humble. Honestly, we have a very religious atheletic program at FSU and I'd love to see and AD that would mesh with that. It is very important for the canidate to understand all the different facets of the NCAA from scheduling teams to benefit our team to creating interesting matches at offsite locations like Hart did with Bama this past year. To me it makes no difference if the director has FSU ties although I feel it would be beneficial if he had ties to the region and perhaps conference. This would help with negotiations, working with the NCAA, and recruiting coaches. A motivated, public speaker, who is also a proven lobbiest to help raise funds and better facilites and the programs as a whole. I like the idea of a higher education degree beyond a basic BS or BA. Im afraid that the most important attribute that the new AD must have is the ability to cooperate with TK while also explaining and implimenting his own beliefs into the atheletic program. A balancing act.
POSTED BY BONEPLYR
As a Double Gold/Platinum Chief (or whatever we're now calling it), I'd like someone extremely capable on what I'd call The Big 6; - Impecable Academic Standards/Processes - Excellent at Hiring/Retaining Top Tier Results Oriented Coaches & Administrators - Strong Scheduling, Revenue Generation, and Fiscal Capabilities - Solid evidence of building Outstanding (yet efficient) Facilities - Top Notch Relational Skills (all directions -- academia, athletics, administration, athletes, boosters, ACC & NCAA peers/leadership) - Integrity, Integrity, Integrity
POSTED BY WELLINGTONNOLE00
Young, aggressive, intelligent, Bobby Bowden personality-like, go-getter. Asking too much? theosceola.com