Coaching Search Committee Curiosity

FullyERicht

Thunderdome
Joined
Feb 5, 2013
Messages
5,591
Back when both Randy and Al were hired, Miami paid for outside counsel to find a list of suitable candidates.

Thinking about this has seemed a bit curious to me.......is it commonplace at major programs to hired "headhunters" so to speak? To me, it seems like the move of a University who had special requirements outside of obvious football coaching credentials that any AD could evaluate.

As we all know, APR has been a huge point of emphasis for this admin. So I decided to look up the other finalist that our search committee recommended, Randy Edsall. Here is what I found on his bio:

"In addition, under Edsall's command the football program's Athletic Progress Rate (APR) has reached all-time highs. The football team's APR, which measures eligibility and retention, increased its multi-year score from 922 (2009-2010) to 950 (2012-2013) and its single-year score from 905 to 977. Both of which are program bests since the APR's inception in 2003."

"Off the field, Edsall’s teams were strong in the classroom as well. ..... UConn was recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for its high graduation rate. In 2003, UConn was the only public Division I-A school to graduate at least 90 percent of its football players and in 2005, it was one of only eight schools to both graduate 70 percent and win a bowl game."

Curiously, Al Golden has a blurb in his bio that is similar: "Off the field, Golden has mentored the Owls through the greatest academic turnaround in the NCAA APR Reform Era."

And then I looked up our old friend Randy:

"His UM football teams achieved NCAA Academic Progress Rates (APR) of 978, 977, 969 and 966, which have all ranked in the top 10 nationally. The 978 APR in the 2010 APR report was tied for the sixth-highest rate in the country. The 977 APR in the 2009 report was the seventh-highest rate in the country out of 119 Bowl-Subdivision football programs. Those rates also were the second highest in the Atlantic Coast Conference and highest among all schools in Florida."

Elite APR is a common theme amongst two independent searches, hired to find a coach that fit within a very specific set of parameters. This school has enough money to hire who it wants. And there are tons of talented coaches who would love to coach here. But the University hired an outside firm to research coaches based on specific academic parameters, and that eliminates a lot of great choices. The best you are left with is unproven guys with decent success at **** programs.

It doesn't take a search committee or firm to find a Head football man. But when your requirements go deeper? Well we understand why......
 
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