I’m going to take another run at spelling something out. There is no way Pitt hires an Athletic Director before hiring a football coach. None. Nada. Zip. Hiring an AD is an executive level position that takes time. It isn’t a short list the Chancellor keeps in his drawer for when the time comes.
While the impulse is to think of it as a pro sports analogy as a GM, and you need to have the GM in place before hiring a coach, it doesn’t work in this situation.
Frustratingly it is something perpetrated way too easily by Pittsburgh sports radio that has no clue about college athletics: to wit, another brain dead Rossi column stating that Pitt needs to hire an AD before hiring a football coach.
Pitt should be the better job for an athletic director but only if the athletic director gets to choose the football coach. Every athletic director should get to make that particular call.
The new boss at WVU will. Another lousy November for Holgorsen surely will bring about a fresh football start for the Mountaineers. If that isn’t necessary, that just means WVU has continued its climb back to consistent top-25 territory.
Pitt seems a long way from that territory in football. It can sell a new athletic director on hiring the football coach, and that is where the climb should start for Pitt.
What should be embarrassing for Rossi — though I doubt he even notices — is right next to his own piece (at least in web layout) is a piece where you have someone who was an AD and now runs searches for college administrators. Including ADs. He flat out states that is not possible.
In 2011, Carr Sports Consulting assisted North Carolina in the hiring process for an athletic director and football coach.
Bubba Cunningham was hired as athletic director in October after a seven-week search and started work in November. Football coach Larry Fedora was hired the following month.
UNC’s search committee reviewed a pool of about 60 applicants and interviewed 13 candidates before choosing Cunningham.
“Ideally, you would hire the athletic director first and then hire the coach,” Carr said Thursday. “North Carolina had a similar situation where the last athletic director retired. We helped them hire the new athletic director first and then moved into the coaching search. We helped them sequentially.
“In this circumstance (at Pitt),” Carr said, “unless you have someone immediately identified and prepared to take the position, that’s not a practical situation. If they don’t have someone they can immediately name as athletic director, they’re going to have to go with some kind of interim situation and going to have to hire a football coach because of the dynamics of recruiting.”
Seven weeks is a very short time for finding a new AD, unless you are promoting from within. It is very common for it to take more like 12-16 weeks. Go ahead, look. I’ll wait. The fastest turnaround I could find was about 5 weeks. Colorado fired its AD at the end of May, 2013. They made their hire in the first week of July. Kansas took 4 months when they had to replace their AD. Cal forced their AD to step down this past June. The job is still being run by an interim AD.
Finding a new AD is not simply poaching a sitting one from another school. You want to steal Tom Jurich from Louisville? Get in line. Florida State couldn’t do it. None of the other major conference schools could either when they have had openings. He is king in Louisville and extremely well compensated. He is the gold standard, but he isn’t going anywhere. If that is your only choice than I guarantee you will be disappointed by whoever Pitt hires.
Pitt needs to find a coach first. Exactly how many recruits do you think there would be signing a Letter of Intent in February if there isn’t a coach hired and building relationships within the next two weeks? Michigan has had a lame duck coach for most of the season and then fired. While they wait to be played by Jim Harbaugh their recruiting class is down to six — including a kicker.
Pederson is out as AD. That was everyone’s biggest dream. It has happened. He doesn’t get to go near the coaching search. Take the win. Forget the AD stuff for now and focus on the coaching search
Dan Mullins, Bryan Harsin….throw them tons of money. We limit our thinking to up and comers or coordinators. If Pitt wants to be a top program go steal someone elses successful coach.
Mullins is from PA and coached at Bowling Green and ND.
Harsin is mostly a west coast guy but he has coached in Texas and Arkansas.
If he’s as SMART as everyone seems to think, he should have at least ONE or TWO Names on a Short List.
That said, if the plan is to hire a Coach first… that would seem to play into Rudolph’s favor.
to do brother!!
Hail To Pitt!!!
Even championship-starved Rice University has found funds to refurbish its 1950s stadium.
Smizik, Cook, etc. really disappointing.
I emailed him to tell him the unrest regarding Pederson was building. He emailed back something to the effect that he was sorry I was unhappy.
Such B.S.
Anyway, Gallagher can speak softly. We already know he carries a big stick.
The guy is under the radar a little simply because he’s been coaching at a lower conference level for most of his 20+ year HC career until he moved up to FBS by coaching Ga. Southern in the Sunbelt conference this season. Went 9-3 also with close loses to both NCS and GT.
He is a consumit winner however. Hope Pitt has him on their contact list.
If he’s really taking charge, he’s going to be up front about that with all applicants.. ‘You get to run your team the way you see fit, and you get to run the athletic department the way you see fit.. But ultimately, it’s all going to fit into my vision, everyone answers to me.’
I think Narduzzi has the most promise, my only worry is that he’ll pull a chryst in 3 or 4 years.
I was reading some wisky blogs that said Rudolph would be headed to WI, but if we could get Narduzzi and have roudolph stay I think we’d be doing ourselves well.
If we assume Pitt can do what most colleges can’t and vet an AD and get him in place in 2 months, by the time he vets and decides on a HC your looking at 3 months.
Doing this math, it would be signing day and Pitt still wouldn’t have a HC, a total disaster. Gallagher doesn’t have a choice, its HC first, AD after.
I think we’re going to be pleasantly surprised though… publicly shit canning SP while XHCPC was taking the stage was bold… major league trolling…
You don’t follow that up by promoting from within your crappy product, or bringing in a turd like Ron Tuner…
HTP
The HC will be essentially hired by Gallagher, you don’t get better job security than that, which is why you don’t need to worry about getting an AD first.
Who is more important or more valuable? A coach is paid 3 or more times than his “boss” the AD. Does anyone think the AD supervises the day yo day activities of a coach?
AD’s are administrative positions that deal with budgets, facilities, marketing, scheduling, conference relationships etc.
The relationship between a good AD and coach is colleague to colleague and not boss to employee.
All the other coaches will be in place when the AD gets here so why does the Football coach need to be “his man”
The need for a head coach yesterday is important to keep the recruiting class together and finish it off with some blue chip defensive players. There is a limited pool of talent available. Do the interviews and make a decision.
If you remember, that’s when the Program went South.
Like Narduzzi, Foge was a good Defensive Coach who Players REALLY liked playing for.
But as a Head Coach, he was TOTALLY DISORGANIZED… a fish out of water.
Believe Narduzzi is much the same way and would be a DISASTER.
He’s been Coaching COLLEGE Football since 1990… 24 YEARS!!!!!
And NOT ONCE… a HEAD COACH!
An EMPHATIC “NO” to Narduzzi!
The cheerleading coach. That’s enough to distract anyone.
@Chas..couldn’t agree more on that Rossi article; I read it earlier this morning and was thinking all the things that you nicely pointed out.
If they pay money to snag Mullen that would be sweet.
Of course, Mullen is already a Head Coach… and after 24 Years, Narduzzi is still waiting!
Go figure.
Among the Pitt alums such a person exists that would be Mark May . He is proud of his degree from Pitt, expresses himself well in the public eye,is in the middle of the everyday happenings of college football, and has contacts in the broadcast industry that could mean more TV exposure and more broadcast money for Pitt athletics. Mark May should be asked about input about the next Pitt football coach whether he becomes AD or not. The man knows more about the people in the college game than anybody else.
Hire Mark May as AD !
The logic, however, escapes me. There is no free space in Oakland to accommodate a new stadium and the needed parking. Costs are prohibitive–even for a small 45,000 seat stadium. Besides, attendance is no worse at Heinz than it was at Pitt Stadium (numbers don’t lie). That has been demonstrated over and over. So that is not a real issue. Tailgating? Well, that was even more limited for Pitt Stadium than it is becoming at Heinz.
The Heinz is too big argument? Want a 45,000 seat place that looks fuller when 30,000 only show up for a MAC opponent? Why would you trade that for the possibility of turning away 20,000 instead of filling 65,000 seats when you have a good (top 25 team) playing vs a Florida State, a Notre Dame, or Penn State? Why be “small time”? Don’t we want to be a top 10 or top 15 team again? Do we really want to continue the mediocrity of the last 15 years?
