Here is where we all take a deep breath and rationalize
Published: 3/30/2011 12:26 AM
Last Modified: 3/30/2011 12:26 AM
Two weeks ago, Joe Castiglione said he hadn't decided whether he would use a firm to assist his basketball coach search. He said the same thing five years earlier, before employing Parker Executive Search in Atlanta with a process that would net Jeff Capel.
This time, A Guy Who Knows Things claims Castiglione is consulting Collegiate Sports Associates in West End, N.C.
I can't get OU to confirm that, keeping with the cloaked tradition of Joe C's searches. But it would make sense, and the reason is days like Tuesday.
Tuesday, panic started to creep in. Josh Pastner signed an extension at Memphis. The Salt Lake City Tribune mentioned an extension for BYU's Dave Rose. And up in Milwaukee, Buzz Williams acted as though he expected to seal his new deal with Marquette by Thursday.
This was the equivalent of "three strikes, Joe's out" to several among OU's fan base. They're in a cold sweat that Arkansas found a coach for $2.2 million. Georgia Tech found one after buying out the old one for $7 million. Tennessee found one even though the Vols invent new NCAA rules to break on the hour.
For grapes sakes, Bradley even got a coach!
The Sooners? Fifteen days and counting.
I don't blame fans for freaking, honestly. The longer this goes, the tougher it is to take. The tougher it is to realize everything's going to work out OK.
Which brings us back to the search firm, or at least the notion behind using one.
This is kind of like the athletic director's safety net. He's not paying Parker Executive or CSA to zero in on one candidate, then come up with a bunch of goodies he might like in the contract offer.
The search firm vets candidateS. It studies the potential for fitS. It investigates backgroundS.
I'm not suggesting Castiglione didn't have a lead dog. Like most of you, I have lots of reasons to believe that is/was/maybe still is Williams.
But to think he didn't have a viable Plan B?
You don't do what Castiglione did -- firing a coach he hired and signed to a $13 million extension, firing a coach still on the hook for $2 million, and facing the prospect of a search despite an ongoing NCAA investigation -- without Plans C through Z.
Joe C is definitely out front on this search, but he's not going it totally alone. He can't. There's far too much at stake here. He has help, the type that comes in handy on days like Tuesday, when the only news on the front seems to be bad.
Before he went underground, I asked Castiglione how the search firm helped him five years ago.
"It helps a lot when we're moving at the kind of pace we want to move and needing the information we want to have," he replied. "If we do choose to go that direction again, that will basically be the scope of their involvement. We understand the candidate pool and those we would like to talk to, but they can really assist in finding out information, whether it's related to their contract, related to their experiences, events they've faced, the situation they're in. It's a lot of background information that they can provide."
WARNING: For black helicopter enthusiasts only…
Let's say Castiglione has, in fact, consulted CSA. Its founder and president is Todd Turner. He was athletic director at Connecticut from 1987-90. Probably remembers a thing or two about Geno Auriemma.
He was AD at Washington from 2004-07. He was there with Lorenzo Romar.
Also…
Turner was AD at North Carolina State from 1990-96. Needing a coach to replace Les Robinson in '95, he pursued Tubby Smith (then at Georgia) before hiring Herb Sendek from Miami of Ohio.
We've heard Smith and Sendek come up around here lately, haven't we?
And another thing…
Turner was AD at Vanderbilt from 1996-03. He hired Kevin Stallings from Illinois State in '99. Stallings remains at Vandy and has the full, crazed support of a certain Tulsa World beat writer for the OU job.
Just reading tarot cards is all. Remember, the search firm isn't in business to pick candidates for ADs, just to analyze them.
Well, here… Let Turner explain.
"Consulting firms allow schools to have some freedom of maneuverability and discretion in the interview process," he told the Charlotte News & Observer just last week.
Maneuverability. That word should come in handy for those who think Castiglione has been boxed in.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
