Speaking of the annual "coaching carousel," The New Haven Register had an interesting article on how schools are finding coaches. It's about local school Quinnipiac University, but it tells the story of fellow Jesuit University Fairfield U. and has plenty of mentions on UConn assistant coaches. It's a little lengthy.
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http://www.nhregister.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18111165&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8_____________________________________________________________
Schools turn to outside sources to find coaches Brett Orzechowski, Register Staff
03/22/2007
A number of colleges are turning to outside firms to conduct nationwide searches to fill coaching vacancies in revenue-generating sports like football and basketball. Photo Illustration by Register staff
Last April at the Indianapolis Hilton, Gene Doris sat across the table from a man he would eventually entrust his largest revenue-producing sport with this winter. The odd thing, Doris remembered, is that he knew very little about a Boston College assistant coach named Ed Cooley except that he was on a list, and Doris was told to trust the list.
For eight years, Doris, the Fairfield University athletic director, watched Tim O’Toole try to resurrect the Stags. O’Toole arrived with much fanfare — an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and longtime ties to Doris — but in March of last year, O’Toole resigned after the school announced it would not renew his contract. He was a hand-picked hire, but now Doris was left without a head men’s basketball coach.
He deferred his trust to an outside source instead of relying on his instincts. Doris and Fairfield hired a firm to conduct a national search, a practice common among major Division I schools with vacancies in revenue-generating sports like football and basketball. It’s a process now adopted by mid- and low-major institutions like Quinnipiac, which opted for a national search after it fired Joe DeSantis last week.
Now, one year after he hired Cooley, Doris said the investment was worth the time and money. The first-year coach did enough to satisfy Doris while establishing a base for the seasons to follow.
"You should always go for a national search. Basketball is a flagship sport for our institution, and if you don’t have football, basketball is going to drive the wheel," Doris said. "Too often you get in your little circle and you may miss someone like Ed who is out there. You’re going to see it changing. It’s going to be this way from this point forward and a pretty common practice."
THE FIRM
Quinnipiac sought consultation from Chicago-based DHR International. Fairfield hired the services of ChampSearch, a California firm run by Dana and David Pump, two men responsible for fertile college basketball pipelines, first with players and now with coaches.
Two men who have also been alleged to have questionable business practices, except the NCAA has never found the Pump brothers guilty of any improprieties.
DHR International was established as a business executive search firm with sports as a separate unit. ChampSearch was established with college basketball in mind.
Their intentions are the same.
The Pumps, 40-year-old identical twins, first ran adidas-sponsored basketball camps and the Double Pump youth program in California, then established a number of AAU programs across the country. They also ran a recruiting showcase, the Best of Summer Tournament, which, before the NCAA eliminated preseason contests in 2004, drew 192 teams with a $700 entrance fee.
The brothers’ main money-making stream was generated by their ticket business. A coach sold the brothers his Final Four passes, who in turn, sold the tickets to a California firm that sells travel packages. By 2002, the NCAA intervened and the practice has allegedly stopped, Dana Pump said.
Still, there are no NCAA bylaws banning schools from using consulting firms to find their next coach.
In 2005, Doris attended one of the Pumps’ annual seminars for athletic directors and coaches and was sold on the brothers’ track record over other consultants. In the end, Doris went with what drives any business — networking.
"I know every candidate, his wife’s name, their style of play," Dana Pump said. "If I don’t know someone, I have the best resources in college basketball to find out more on the guy. Schools reach out to us because I reach out to them. They know what I do. Other firms know what we’ve done and they look at us and what we’ve done.
"Perception is a funny thing, but we’re working just like the other firms. We don’t charge like those guys. It makes me sick to see and hear some of these numbers. So really, who’s ripping who off?"
The Pump brothers do have connections. Last year, they conducted 11 searches. This season, they began five before the NCAA tournament started. The next four weeks are the most crucial for an aspiring college basketball coach and for search firms.
Jobs will open, and in the same month, almost all will be filled. Last season, 48 Division I head coaching vacancies were filled within the weeks before and after the NCAA tournament, 14 percent of all positions in the country.
Over the last two years, they helped Reggie Theus get a job with New Mexico State, placed the late Maggie Dixon at West Point, helped Andy Kennedy earn the Ole Miss position and were hired by Tennessee to court Bruce Pearl away from Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which then hired the Pump brothers to find a new coach.
The Pumps work on a sliding scale — the bigger the school, the larger the commission. Tennessee paid $25,000 for their services. Doris would not disclose the amount Fairfield paid, but said it would not be wrong for a school to pay for this search because after all, hiring a basketball coach is now like hiring a business executive at any level.
As for Quinnipiac, athletic director Jack McDonald said the Pump brothers were on their list, but in the end, the university decided on DHR International with a division comprised of former Big Ten administrators. Pat Richter, now an executive vice president at DHR International, was the Wisconsin athletic director when McDonald held the same position at the University of Denver. The two men led both programs which play in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
McDonald added that price was not an issue when deciding on a firm. Like Fairfield, Quinnipiac, as a private institution, did not divulge the cost.
THE POOL
O’Toole resigned March 3, 2006, after the Stags lost in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament.
Within five weeks, Doris stood on a podium to announce Cooley as Fairfield’s new head men’s basketball coach.
"It’s like running a sprint, and in many ways, it’s like recruiting," Doris said. "You may realize you are going to search for the best candidates, but everyone is waiting to see what opens up. Some jobs are going to happen sooner or later, but a job is going to open. And if we don’t jump on that, and if a coach does not jump on that, it’s gone."
Doris asked the Pump brothers to submit a list of 10 possible candidates. Doris wanted an evaluation of each coach and as a search firm, ChampSearch supplied statistics, buyout information, interest level and background checks.
Even though it is considered a national search, most universities find coaches with regional ties that go beyond just previous experience. If candidates have made recruiting in-roads in the region, the job may be appealing. A number of variables trimmed the list down to the five final candidates for the Fairfield job.
Still, Doris was pleased after the search concluded with Cooley. Of the five finalists, four coached Division I schools this season while the other, an assistant, stayed at his current university.
As for Cooley, he was first contacted by the Pump brothers in Minneapolis before Boston College faced Villanova on March 24 in the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA tournament. As Doris noted, hiring a search firm establishes a third-party contact, hoping the transition goes smoother while taking away some of the university’s work.
Cooley considered, contacted his attorney and told Boston College coach Al Skinner. Cooley and Skinner discussed matters, and Doris met Cooley for lunch at the Final Four a week later at the Indianapolis Hilton. He was the only candidate Doris did not know, and over the next hour, Doris said he felt Cooley was suited for the position.
"I liked the fact that people didn’t know me. It cut out any preconceived notions, and you see me for who I am and what I’ve done so far," Cooley said. "It’s a business decision, but really, at the end of the day, it’s still basketball."
The list was pared down to two and Cooley met with Doris again on campus along with a five-person university panel. On April 11, a week after the Final Four and two weeks after Cooley received a phone call in Minneapolis, he was announced as the head coach.
How the Pumps found Cooley was not out of the ordinary.
Five years ago, Cooley headed west as a Boston College assistant to Inglewood, Calif., to take a look at a forward named Craig Smith, who played in one of the Pump brothers’ AAU programs. Smith decided to go to Boston College and Cooley kept in touch with the Pumps.
Smith went on to become the second-leading scorer in Boston College history.
Cooley went on to receive his first head coaching job at Fairfield.
RESULTS
Quinnipiac has become an appealing head coaching job to assistants for two reasons: The school has made a financial commitment to its athletic program, and the Bobcats began play this season in the $52 million TD Banknorth Sports Center, integral recruiting tools, especially in a low-major like the Northeast Conference.
From a university perspective, a high-profile assistant with strong recruiting ties is an appealing candidate. Early speculation has focused on Vermont’s Mike Lonergan and University of Connecticut associate head coach Tom Moore, but the situation must be ideal for any prospect to accept the position.
And the coach must be ideal for the university.
"So much is at stake revenue-wise. For basketball and football to make the right hire is so important to the institutions," Dana Pump said. "Look at Reggie Theus at New Mexico State. The revenue stream for the school has grown because all their donors are coming around with other people with money. It’s business."
Kennedy led Ole Miss to the top of the Southeastern Conference West standings this year. Pearl took a 14-17 Tennessee team in 2004-05 and now has consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament berths. Both schools reported improved ticket sales and revenue gains.
As for Cooley, he was faced with a difficult test. He was able to secure late commitments from four recruits, including Greg Nero, who earned MAAC all-rookie honors. Fairfield also played a non-conference schedule ranked 53rd in the Ratings Percentage Index, including games with Georgetown, Boston College, Providence and UConn. Cooley could do nothing about the schedule designed by O’Toole’s decisions.
The result was a 13-19 finish, but the Stags won 10 of their last 14 games, a marked improvement. This past week, Cooley was in Winston-Salem, N.C., recruiting and networking, the same practices that build programs, and now finds college basketball coaches.
McDonald said Quinnipiac’s list remains long, but he does plan to attend the Final Four in Atlanta, where assistant coaches flock to network and where athletic directors conduct interviews with candidates found on lists compiled by search firms.
Within weeks, the Bobcats will have a new head basketball coach. With a new facility and face for the first time in 11 seasons, it will be viewed as one of the most important hires in years, not only for the athletic program, but the university.
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Brett Orzechowski may be reached at borzechowski@nhregister.com .
©New Haven Register 2007