Warde's long, strong ties to Parker Exec. Search

[ZooCougar]

Yes I get your argument. They get paid and no matter what happens they have no responsibility. That an former athletic director absolves them of all blame means zero to me. They are such persuasive sales people they earn that fee - even though in other cases they aren't good enough sales people to sell their candidates to the school.

Hire busts? Not a problem just bring them back in and ante up again.

At the end of the day, it's a bunch of money that could be better spent elsewhere going to enrich internal power brokers who don't give a damn about UConn's football program.

If Parker and the other firms of their ilk fell off the face of the earth tomorrow there would not be a single negative implication.

It's not my argument. Parker did not come up with Brewster. It's there in black and white.

If I hire you to advise me, you do the work and I take someone else's advice, you still get paid.

 

[Northbound]

The one defense for the search firm that is beginning to grate is the "it's only $5o-100K" defense.

It's thinking like that has driven the cost of college to what it is -- way, way out of whack. 50K here, 100K there and pretty soon it adds up to real money -- and anyone paying off a college loan, paying for someone's college now, or saving for college knows that very well. And at UConn, student activity fees cover a pretty big part of the athletic budget, enough to put UConn among the national leaders in that category.

It's the donors, ticket buyers -- and fee-paying students -- who are subsidizing this search. I don't have a problem with UConn's activity fee, but I think Warde has an extra-special responsibility to spend responsibly given how much students are underwriting his budget. Vet his top candidates, responsible. This other "opening doors, reaching out, keeping stuff below the radar" stuff, not so much.

Unless Bob Burton or somebody similar wants to pony up Parker's fee, maybe Warde ought to skip it this time -- or take a 10-20 percent pay cut this year to cover Parker's fee. (Given his strong relationship with Parker, it seems like he should have no problem making it back down the road).

This whole "we gotta use a search firm" thing is a very small symptom of a much, much larger problem in campus bureaucracies, especially big-time athletic bureaucracies. Spending money with little thought to where it's coming from. Some smart people figured out there was good coin to be made, and something that barely existed 15 years now has been sold to be indispensable. Gotta give that selling job credit, they've certainly swayed a lot of people here.

You sound like people I know that complain and bemoan the evolution of the digital age and social media and want to go back to 1965. I'm not denying that you've got the right to bitch about it, but do you think that this university should be the one to stand on principle and not spend the $50-$100K because you want things the way they were in the Yankee Conference? There are plenty of schools and fan bases that share your perspective about college athletics getting out of whack, unfortunately most are playing D-III. So if you want to sit at the table with most of the other state universities, you've got to come to terms with the good and bad that come with it.

Things change and once that box opens up you're not stuffing the genie back into it.

It is mind boggling to me that a university would hire someone at a senior position and then tell them how to do their job, versus telling the individual - here's our goals and objectives, you sort out the strategy, tactics and resources needed to get us there. Like any other business, he's got a budget and has leeway to spend within that budget and can likely move things between line items to some degree.

Good god, I don't come close to getting approval to spend $100K where I work and not a soul would question it when I spend it.

 

[ZooCougar]

Better be careful about ripping people for not reading posts properly. I was all for firing P last December but the buyout was frequently brought up as a reason not to. Did some math then to show whatever savings UConn would gain by waiting a year to fire to would be more than offset by people not coming to the Rent. In that case I look like a prophet.

Zoo, I can go back and find a lot of posts of mine you've liked and vice versa. No need for the personal shots. Trust me, if you were my waiter or bartender you'd like me

You are so intransigent at this point that you are completely uninteresting.

 

[sdhusky]

Yes I get your argument. They get paid and no matter what happens they have no responsibility. That an former athletic director absolves them of all blame means zero to me. They are such persuasive sales people they earn that fee - even though in other cases they aren't good enough sales people to sell their candidates to the school.

Hire busts? Not a problem just bring them back in and ante up again.

At the end of the day, it's a bunch of money that could be better spent elsewhere going to enrich internal power brokers who don't give a damn about UConn's football program.

If Parker and the other firms of their ilk fell off the face of the earth tomorrow there would not be a single negative implication.

Just curious. How many times have you been involved in the hiring process at for a football coach at a major university?

If its just once or twice, you are really sounding like you want everyone think you have more insight than you really do.

Of course, it can't be zero because only a complete or idiot would say they stuff you are saying out of complete and total ignorance.

 

[J187Money]

If Parker and the other firms of their ilk fell off the face of the earth tomorrow there would not be a single negative implication.

The same could be said about virtually all of us on the BY. But here we are.

 

[Northbound]

Sorry I didn't realize that Warde Manuel is infallible and his motivation where there is an obvious conflict of interest can't be questioned.

I understand exactly what they claim to do. I don't think they provide value and the fact that you and Warde Manuel do doesn't change my opinion.

As far as retaining Paul Pasqualoni for the 2013 season I did know better than him. So I've got that datapoint going for me.

I hope you don't make big decisions off of a single data point when there are others available to you from a variety of different sources to inform your decision.

I just don't think that you have a clue how the process works because I don't think you've ever been close to it with college athletics, but you are going to assume you know how it works or how you think it should work based on some bizarre notion that you've created in your head.

As long as that makes you comfortable, great.

 

[sportsart]

It pains me to keep reading this thread. There must be hundreds of dumb institutions out there that keep paying money to these hack search firms.

The bloviating in this thread from a certain pompous know it all is part of why this board is so tough to read anymore.

By the way. The only reason Whaler11 thinks it's dumb to pay $100K to these firms is he sees 25% of his household income being wasted.

That's right. Whaler11's household income, as stated by him, is $400K. That my friends is why his pompous ass is always pompous.

Whaler11...quit being a .

Good to see Nelson join Whaler11's team. Couldn't be a better couple. and douchier.

 

[Husky25]

It pains me to keep reading this thread. There must be hundreds of dumb institutions out there that keep paying money to these hack search firms.

The bloviating in this thread from a certain pompous know it all is part of why this board is so tough to read anymore.

By the way. The only reason Whaler11 thinks it's dumb to pay $100K to these firms is he sees 25% of his household income being wasted.

That's right. Whaler11's household income, as stated by him, is $400K. That my friends is why his pompous ass is always pompous.

Whaler11...quite being a .

Good to see Nelson join Whaler11's team. Couldn't be a better couple. and douchier.

May want to edit your post before Whaler sees it. there's no e in quit...Or did you mean Being quite a ?

Either way, revisit it

 

[sportsart]

May want to edit your post before Whaler sees it. there's no e in quit...Or did you mean Being quite a ?

Either way, revisit it

You have no idea how much that bugs me. I usually find my mistakes and edit. Such a loser I am.

 

[Husky25]

You have no idea how much that bugs me. I usually find my mistakes and edit. Such a loser I am.

Yeah, depending on my mood, it is a pet peeve for me as well, but I rarely call it out. We're on a message board. It is what it is.

Look at the Big East Basketball on Fox Sports Thread. I think you may be entertained.

 

[Northbound]

It pains me to keep reading this thread. There must be hundreds of dumb institutions out there that keep paying money to these hack search firms.

The bloviating in this thread from a certain pompous know it all is part of why this board is so tough to read anymore.

By the way. The only reason Whaler11 thinks it's dumb to pay $100K to these firms is he sees 25% of his household income being wasted.

That's right. Whaler11's household income, as stated by him, is $400K. That my friends is why his pompous ass is always pompous.

Whaler11...quit being a .

Good to see Nelson join Whaler11's team. Couldn't be a better couple. and douchier.

Are you telling me that someone really dropped their "real" HHI on a basketball forum? This veers into the STB height and weight territory, next thing it will be max bench press. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To quote Popeye the sailor - I've had all I can stands and I can't stands no more.

Good night.

 

[noeynox]

Are you telling me that someone really dropped their "real" HHI on a basketball forum? This veers into the STB height and weight territory, next thing it will be max bench press. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To quote Popeye the sailor - I've had all I can stands and I can't stands no more.

Good night.

You @#$%$ Idiot! This is a football forum, not basketball. And I'm benching 450. Pieces, not lbs.

 

[ruskin]

You are so intransigent at this point that you are completely uninteresting.

yet you keep engaging

 

[BlueDogs]

Lets all agree on this. If we get a great coach and he pans out, those who support the consultant hire can say it was money well spent. If not, it will be more money down the drain. If we spend 2MM on a new coach, I think we all agree it better be a very exceptional candidate, and the deal better be structured better than the last. Personally, I don't understand what magical insight or value these guys bring. Every hire is a crapshoot when all is said and done.

 

[sdhusky]

yet you keep engaging

Here is what I want to know:

How much first hand experience do you have with hiring football coaches at top Universities?

Because you and and whaler are making some accusations about WM doing sleazy stuff. If you were just offering opinions of the value of search firms, no harm, no foul.

However, when you step it up a notch, like you have, I want to know if you are completely ignorant and just making accusations or if you really know what you are talking about.

I can say that it sounds like you are trying to get WM fired because you are working (and being paid?) by another AAC program but it would just be talking out of . What I want to know is whether or not anything you are saying is more credible than my accusation of you?

 

[ZooCougar]

Lets all agree on this. If we get a great coach and he pans out, those who support the consultant hire can say it was money well spent. If not, it will be more money down the drain. If we spend 2MM on a new coach, I think we all agree it better be a very exceptional candidate, and the deal better be structured better than the last. Personally, I don't understand what magical insight or value these guys bring. Every hire is a crapshoot when all is said and done.

Warde hired Quinn and I believe he also hired Turner Gill. Both coaches were successful for UB. I believe Parker or another firm was involved in one or both of the hires.

Warde's track record looks solid. If he didn't hire a firm to do some of the legwork, then someone else on the staff would. And who is to say that donor money isn't financing the firm.

The fact that some here see something controversial in this practice is frankly, baffling. This is by no means an exact science. It all boils down to Warde's judgement and what the school can piece together in terms of making an offer.


we're not competing for a new head coach in vacuum. Warde is too busy to be haggling back and forth with agents and gathering in references the half dozen or so realistic candidates.

 

[ruskin]

The why use search firms arguments, sort of summed up in Sports Business Journal as well

Everybody does it
Opens doors and makes connections the AD and school are unable to make, connects candidates to job who otherwise would not be interested or contacted, offers a layer of plausible deniability to AD (well we didn't call the guy, our search firm did), supposedly keeps unsuccessful candidates or those who turned down interview out of the news - old buddy Chuck Neinas brags about this when Meyer was hired at Florida in 2005
They sell discretion (like an escort service). . . . by the way, the lawyers at this link confirm there are no anti-tampering rules in college (Saban to Texas rumor). people seem to be worried that a search firm somehow insulates Warde from a tampering charge. There's probably a gentleman's agreement out there that you don't tamper. We have seen how wonderfully gentleman's agreements have worked out for UConn when it comes to CR. (Probably worth its own thread but if UConn gets a big-time hire they might have to pay a buyout to get that coach out of their contract. That's a cost I don't mind paying if it's Lembo or Narduzzi, BTW).
Warde is a busy man with a lot on his plate and doesn't have to time to get his hands dirty

A school that went to the Fiesta Bowl three years ago with $150-million-plus of fairly new infrastructure is looking for a new coach. If there isn't a plausible candidate or agent who doesn't know about this opening from the Atlantic to Pacific I would love to meet them. JMoney said something about resumes and cold-calls (as if UConn was selling siding or windows). Neither of those apply here. The wheels should have already been well in motion before P got canned.

Warde should not have been starting from scratch. A good AD should always have 10 names in his pocket even you have Nick Saban. If Warde hasn't been reaching out to agents and others in the college football food chain since last December-- "you never know it might help your client to keep an eye on our situation, you never know when things may change." As far as his time? This should take priority over everything else until he introduces the new guy the week of Dec 9.

I think people are so beaten down by CR and this horrendous season they can't step back and see the many, many positives of this job and that Parker is going to give Warde he extra pixie dust UConn needs

and by the way the list of non-search firm ADS is growing. Washington State AD before he hired Mike Leach. Barry Alvarez. Like both their confident styles.

 

[ruskin]

?

Because you and and whaler are making some accusations about WM doing sleazy stuff.

Ignoring the rest of that other drivel -- No one is saying Warde is doing 'sleazy' stuff. But he's engaging in a now-commonly accepted practice that has been tacked on to the sleazy underbelly of college sports. His use of Parker now is going to enhance his career down the road when he wants to leave UConn. It's a game and he's playing it well

In less than 2 1/2 days I've found three respected ADs who don't use search firms - Louisville, Washington State, and now Wisconsin. Sure the list won't end there. Wanna call them uninformed too?

 

[sdhusky]

Ignoring the rest of that other drivel -- No one is saying Warde is doing 'sleazy' stuff. But he's engaging in a now-commonly accepted practice that has been tacked on to the sleazy underbelly of college sports. His use of Parker now is going to enhance his career down the road when he wants to leave UConn. It's a game and he's playing it well

In less than 2 1/2 days I've found three respected ADs who don't use search firms - Louisville, Washington State, and now Wisconsin. Sure the list won't end there. Wanna call them uninformed too?

Here is the bottomline - Warde - Hire a WINNING COACH.

How you do it is up to you. Use tea leaves. Call your friends at Michigan. Use a Ouije board. Use a witch doctor. Use a search firm. Throw a dart.

I am going to evaluate WM on this hire based on on-field results. Does the next coach win.

If he wins, I won't care if a search firm was used. I'll be pleased.

If he doesn't win, I won't care if a search firm was used. I'll be displeased.

PS: Thanks for letting us know that you are basically ignorant and talking out of your . It helps.

 

[ruskin]

Now we're up to 4 - Arizona hire of Rich Rod per SBJ. Same story the Michigan AD said he hired one because of compressed time of search to find Hoke.

This scenario sound familiar?

The devil’s advocate perspective is that well-connected ADs are hired because of their ability to hire and fire. They have a staff of 10 to 20 assistant ADs. Why do they need to spend up to $100,000 on a search firm?

Arizona’s Greg Byrne hired football coach Rich Rodriguez last month without the aid of a search consultant, although he did use Dempsey as a sounding board, which did not require a fee.

But that was an unusual case. Arizona dismissed former coach Mike Stoops in the middle of the season, which gave Byrne ample time to organize his search. And his prime target, Rodriguez, was not coaching another team when he was hired, which created fewer obstacles in the search.

Byrne concedes, though, that he would have turned to the help of a search firm if he hadn’t locked down Rodriguez by now.

Warde has had just as much time, if not more, to execute this than the Arizona AD.

 

[ruskin]

Here is the bottomline - Warde - Hire a WINNING COACH.

How you do it is up to you. Use tea leaves. Call your friends at Michigan. Use a Ouije board. Use a witch doctor. Use a search firm. Throw a dart.

I am going to evaluate WM on this hire based on on-field results. Does the next coach win.

If he wins, I won't care if a search firm was used. I'll be pleased.

If he doesn't win, I won't care if a search firm was used. I'll be displeased.

PS: Thanks for letting us know that you are basically ignorant and talking out of your . It helps.

Ha! An almost-to-the-death PP defender calling somone else ignorant.

 

[ZooCougar]

We're not in the same boat as those other schools. They all are in a position to select their number one choice and make an offer.

Sounds to me that there is some competition for our targets. We need all the info we can get to stay competitive in the bidding war.

 

[sdhusky]

Ha! An almost-to-the-death PP defender calling somone else ignorant.

Nice use of an ad hominem attack. Next, try calling me a Nazi.

At all costs, deflect from the fact you made accusations without any insight or facts.

If you aren't ignorant, tell us about the times you've been involved in the hiring of a big time coach.

I'm all ears.

 

[J187Money]

It is interesting though. Some here have said that Lembo would jump at the chance to come to UCONN. Others have said he wouldn't give it a look because he'd want a B1G job. I have no idea of what the truth is, and I'm pretty sure Warde doesn't either, unless he has talked to Lembo's agent. So I'm not underselling UCONN. I'm saying I have no idea what people might or might not do. But I see people in real life turn down big money jobs all of the time - especially if they don't think they can be successful.

There is another possibility. Maybe Warde HAS called the agents of the 10 guys on his list, and maybe 7 of them aren't interested. In which case he'd be an idiot not to figure out a way to expand the list. The reality is that we don't know the facts. Some of us are assuming that he waited 4 games to hire Parker because he was trying to be respectful of TJW. Maybe he has been calling people for 6 weeks and isn't getting anywhere.

 

[sdhusky]

It is interesting though. Some here have said that Lembo would jump at the chance to come to UCONN. Others have said he wouldn't give it a look because he'd want a B1G job. I have no idea of what the truth is, and I'm pretty sure Warde doesn't either, unless he has talked to Lembo's agent. So I'm not underselling UCONN. I'm saying I have no idea what people might or might not do. But I see people in real life turn down big money jobs all of the time - especially if they don't think they can be successful.

There is another possibility. Maybe Warde HAS called the agents of the 10 guys on his list, and maybe 7 of them aren't interested. In which case he'd be an idiot not to figure out a way to expand the list. The reality is that we don't know the facts. Some of us are assuming that he waited 4 games to hire Parker because he was trying to be respectful of TJW. Maybe he has been calling people for 6 weeks and isn't getting anywhere.

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't accuse WM of incompetence or corruption without knowing the facts.

Hmmmm.... that is an interesting take.