Athletic Director: McCutcheon out, who's in

[Chris20]

Like who? Anyone can come up with people who have resumes we find more attractive. The trick is finding people that have the resume and have actual interest in the job.

[78]

My favorite, most accurate description of the current state of the athletic program to date: "We have flailing programs almost across the board.."

I too think the Buffalo guy has the best credentials, other than the mystery person, who we do not know. I don't get the post that states this search firm is known for bringing "shady candidates" into positions. My guess would be if that was the case, the firm would go out of business pretty quickly.

[DEM]

Okay, so I'll post my two cents, not that anybody really cares about what I think. First of all, in my opinion a lot of people here have a tendency to take everything at face value. Case in point, in the days before Whipple was hired, all of the other candidates were "withdrawing from consideration", and many of our emotionally charged posters started assuming the sky was falling. In retrospect, it was because UMass's first choice was clear and they (the other candidates) weren't it. The point being, don't so readily believe that what you've read is all there is to know.

Second of all, I would argue that the logic that some are using (the gist of which is in the quote below) to judge these supposed candidates is flawed:

"To bring UMass athletics to the next level we are looking to candidates with experience at Stony Brook, UNC-Greensboro and SUNY Buff? Are you kidding me?" This really is kind of sad, isn't it?

This kind of reasoning is faulty. In my opinion, somebody hired from Buffalo has more experience relevant to UMass than, for example, a higher level program like the University of Texas, where things would essentially just fall into one's lap and there's little worry about things like scheduling or conference affiliation. I'm not saying there aren't advantages to hiring someone from an upper level program, but it's not so clearcut that it would necessarily be best for UMass.

So with that said, here's my view of the three supposed candidates who have been mentioned so far.

Jim Fiore - if you could ignore that fly in the ointment, on paper he might have been a perfect candidate for UMass. He upgraded Stony Brook's athletic program and aggressively and successfully marketed them to a new conference (they upgraded from America East to CAA). Both football and basketball saw unprecedented success under his watch, and there was talk of them looking towards FBS in the future. However, needless to say, the reasons for his firing can't be overlooked, even if there were never official charges. Way too much smoke for there not to be fire I think, and UMass can't (and won't, I'd guess) take the risk, unless they enjoy this kind of increased attention from a certain low-level Boston newspaper and other factions on campus.

Ryan Bamford - again, not a bad-looking choice, on paper. He should be the type of candidate people on this board have been expecting. He has experience at a big time program, as he's currently at Georgia Tech, and on top of that, he's from New England and was involved in New England athletics programs, including Yale. And per his bio, he's served on a number of NCAA committees, so he may have some high level connections, if that matters. The issue is that one of our posters claims he has some baggage as concerning as Fiore's. Not the strongest evidence, but if that is to be believed, we may not want him. Hopefully our committee is doing its due diligence from that standpoint.

Allan Greene - not a bad candidate in my opinion. With regard to achievements and sitting on committees, he doesn't have the resume of the other two, but he might have the most relevant experience. There is no program that is in a situation completely similar to UMass, but Buffalo's is fairly close. Like UMass, Buffalo's program is looking towards the AAC, even if it isn't outwardly advertising that hope, so people in that athletic department are potentially experienced with that kind of quiet diplomacy which UMass is undertaking. And Greene also has experience working for bigger programs like Mississippi (as an assistant AD) and Notre Dame, for whatever that's worth. Additionally, his background is in finance, which can't hurt. Of the three supposed candidates, I think Greene would be the most ideal, given known or potential downsides of the other two. As a bonus, it would be nice to hire a minority applicant and add some diversity to our athletic department.

[lane one]

A quick note on Allen Greene: both Blaudshaum and Matty v.'s articles have him listed as an Associate AD. Buffalo has a number of Associate AD's, some senior AD's, and a Deputy Athletic Director under the Athletic Director. A closer read of his bio on the Buffalo site shows that Mr. Greene is actually the Deputy AD, which appears to be a solid number two position. I feel MUCH better about him as a candidate now that I know his real job title.

[Mass Grad]

How did the last ND guy work out. I agree with 78.

[rsox1221]

How did the last ND guy work out. I agree with 78.

Yup, Charley Molnar sucked so anyone to ever come out of Notre Dame or work there at any point in time must also by association suck.

Look, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hates Notre Dame more than me. But the fact remains that if Greene is the best candidate (and he looks to be IMO) then you hire him.

[DEM]

^
And even if we wanted to be that superficial about this, Molnar did not graduate Notre Dame, nor is Greene is the second in charge at Notre Dame. Regardless, using this kind of thing as a case against somebody is pure silliness.

[MJatUM]

Thank's for the writeup DEM. I don't know why Fiore is even in the running. I'm all for second chances, but not here and not in a the lead role. Associate AD or something, sure, maybe.

[rsox1221]

On the MM board a poster is saying that Natick native and current VCU AD (not assistant or associate or anything) Ed McLaughlin is the last candidate. Now that is not a fact since the only place I've seen his name is in that post but it's an interesting option.

http://www.vcuathletics.com/information ... aughlin_Ed

[SignMan]

^ referrance to him Tues.
and posted by Kosty yesterday
http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=11998

[mdogt12]

could have a replacement for John McLaughlin by next week according to that article

[Old Cage]

^ referrance to him Tues.
and posted by Kosty yesterday
http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=11998

Just to be clear - when that article first appeared, there was no mention of the VCU guy. The blog was edited later.

[78]

So the 4th candidate looks to be the VCU AD where they have a club football team. NJ08's head must be exploding.

[njumass08]

Edit - delete

[rsox1221]

^ referrance to him Tues.
and posted by Kosty yesterday
http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=11998

Just to be clear - when that article first appeared, there was no mention of the VCU guy. The blog was edited later.

Thanks, I thought I was going insane there for a second...