Let’s get some things cleared up, that seem to be taken as truth.
Pitt hired a search agency called Parker Executive Search Firm. Somehow, the fee paid to this firm has been claimed to be $300,000. This is false. $300K was what Mike Haywood earned at Miami. Having followed enough of these coaching searches, the fee is usually between $25,000 and $75,000. Still costly but not nearly as absurd as some have stated.
A search firm like Parker does not actually help in picking the candidates. They are well compensated middlemen. The guys who act as go between to gauge interest between coaches and schools. It allows all parties to maintain plausible deniability about whether the two sides talked. Here’s a good story that has Vandy’s Vice Chancellor David Williams talk about using a search firm.
