April 15, 2009

Guide to Coaching Searches: Really, this isn't that tough

By Gary Parrish | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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The first mistake was setting the bar too high.

"I think we certainly have a capability of making a 'Wow' hire," FedEx CFO and Memphis booster Alan Graf said just hours into the school's search to replace John Calipari. "Some of the names [being considered], if people heard them, they'd say, 'Wow.'"

It's not that Josh Pastner was a bad hire for Memphis, he just wasn't exactly what fans were led to expect. (US Presswire)

To hell with Coach Cal!

Bring on Rick Pitino!

Or Mark Few!

Billy Donovan must be tired of Florida by now, right?

But that excitement ultimately turned to frustration, which turned to panic when multiple coaches -- among them the ones at Missouri (Mike Anderson), Southern California (Tim Floyd), Baylor (Scott Drew) and Massachusetts (Derek Kellogg) -- passed on the opportunity to follow Calipari at Memphis. Wow became What?, the search moved forward, and the school finally settled on 31-year-old assistant Josh Pastner, who should prove to be a good hire despite the fact he's not what Memphis initially wanted or promised its fans.

So that's where Memphis messed up.

As did Arizona and Georgia.

And with the coaching carousel now all but stopped, this seems like as good a time as any to address the various searches and highlight where athletic directors went wrong, in an attempt to help other athletic directors avoid similar missteps next year. Honestly, there's no need for all the missteps. Because though coaching searches can be difficult, they don't have to be as difficult as some schools made them, which is why I've developed the first edition of the Gary Parrish Guide to Coaching Searches.

(That's GPGTCS for short)

I'm negotiating a deal for a hard-cover release.

In the meantime, just print this and save it until you need it.

Rule No. 1: Be prepared

Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson stated he didn't think Calipari was really a possibility at Kentucky until four days before Calipari took the job, this despite every message board in Memphis and Kentucky discussing the situation for weeks, if not months. So when Calipari left, Johnson was scrambling, which is how Memphis ended up swinging and missing from coast to coast before reaching a deal with Pastner hours before the national title game.

Shouldn't an AD always know where to turn just in case he suddenly needs to turn? Is that not a must?

Every athletic director ought to have a list of coaches he'd like to hire but might not be able to get, plus a list of coaches who are attractive and attainable. Better yet, he should know what's not possible, what might be possible and what's absolutely doable at all times. Make three lists. And once those lists are established, he should swing big and see what happens the moment he knows he needs a new coach. If he misses, he should just move to the "absolutely doable" list and get the job filled.

It doesn't have to be hard. In fact, I genuinely believe that if you gave me 24 hours, a dollar figure and some other details about travel budgets, staff positions, etc., I could have a good idea of which coaches would take which jobs if offered. I'd need 48 hours, tops. And yet some athletic directors seem like they're operating blind, completely unaware of what's possible and what isn't until it's too late, or at least later than it needed to be.

Rule No. 2: Don't make false promises

Arizona was after Jamie Dixon, Georgia was after Jeff Capel and Memphis was determined to wow its fans. But then Arizona couldn't get Dixon, Georgia couldn't get Capel and Memphis couldn't get anybody, and the fans were obviously disappointed, at least initially.

The lesson?

Only promise or hint at what can be delivered.

Just so we're clear, I like Arizona's hiring of Sean Miller, Georgia's hiring of Mark Fox and Memphis' hiring of Pastner. If I were handing out grades, I'd grade each well. But the reason all three schools caught hell for their searches (or at least one of the reasons) is because they initially said what they believed needed to be said, that they were going to hire the best and most high-profile coaches in the world, just you watch. In reality, that was never going to happen; that's why they hired something else. And though there is nothing wrong with the hires they made, the hires they made didn't match the expectations they either created or failed to squash, which led to the natural letdown of the searches.

Think of it this way: Is there anything wrong with buying your fiancée a one-karat diamond?

Of course not.

But a one-karat ring doesn't look so hot when she was expecting a five-karat ring.

Athletic directors should remember this and only build expectations if they know they can deliver.

Rule No. 3: Don't act like you're protecting national secrets

Nearly all athletic directors promise their search will be conducted in secrecy, that they won't talk until it's over, and that is certainly their right. But here's the problem: Somebody is always talking. If it's not the AD, it's somebody who works for the AD. Or somebody who talks to the AD. Or the coaches involved in the searches. Or their assistants. Or their relatives. Or their friends. Honest to God, I can't think of a single relevant coaching search where most of the candidates and eventual hire weren't broken via anonymous sources, because, again, somebody is always talking.

And when people talk, guess who gets hurt?

The people not talking.

Why?

Because they're the only ones not helping shape the news, that's why. So what every athletic director conducting a search would be wise to do is identify the one writer locally and nationally who can help and hurt them most, then reach out to those writers immediately. Do that, and it's the athletic director who is controlling the story, not some coach angling for a raise or separate source with second-hand information. Plus, it builds a relationship with a person of influence, and those things tend to come in handy down the road.

Rule No. 4: Don't make candidates jump through hoops

Multiple sources said one of the reasons Miller initially turned down Arizona is because he "wasn't feeling it" during his meeting with athletic director Jim Livengood, president Robert Shelton and a prominent booster. You want to know why Miller wasn't feeling it? Because he was exhausted after having to get up early, fly to Albuquerque, N.M., then drive an hour to Santa Fe, N.M., for a "secret" meeting that was so secretive I reported its existence before it ever even happened. After the meeting, Miller was driven back to Albuquerque, then flown back to Cincinnati, and was all that really necessary?

By the time Miller got home, he wasn't excited.

He was worn out!

And it nearly cost Arizona a coach.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

If you want to bring a candidate to campus so he can see the facilities, fine, fly him in. But there's no sense in flying a candidate across the country to a state in which he won't coach, and then making him ride in a car for an hour before a meeting. If schedules must be rearranged, rearrange them. But it's dumb to make a desirable candidate travel the country by plane and car for no good reason, because when you're asking a man to relocate his family it's advantageous to have him in the best state of mind possible, not drained from a day of avoidable travel.

Does that seem so hard?

So that's it, athletic directors.

A simple guide to simple coaching searches.

1. Be ready

2. Don't promise things you can't deliver

3. Don't get all quiet and secretive

4. Don't make things hard on the candidates

Follow those rules, and you'll be fine.

Don't follow them, and you won't.

And remember, I'm always here if you need me.