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If TU needs an AD, consider Mr. Tulsa
Published: 10/13/2011 9:40 PM
Last Modified: 10/13/2011 9:49 PM

Signs indicate the University of Tulsa will soon need a new athletic director to replace Bubba Cunningham.

If so, please don’t write a big check to a search firm in exchange for list of potential AD candidates. Save the money and hire the guy who, in my mind, is Tulsa.

I grew up 50 miles east of Tulsa (lots of weekend trips here as a kid) and spent the last 22 years working in Tulsa. I can rattle off a lot of things that, in my mind, scream Tulsa.

Golden Driller. Bell’s Amusement Park (got kicked off the Himalaya once, but wasn’t my fault). Admiral traffic circle (used to be a TG&Y there).

Crystal’s Pizza. Utica Square. River Parks. The praying hands at ORU.

Gusty. Casa Bonita. Admiral Twin (and, thus, the Outsiders). Bill Connors newspaper columns that made you say “oh, so that’s what happened.”

Uncle Zeb. Woodland Hills Mall (and R.I.P. to Eastland Mall and Southroads Mall and Southland Mall). The old lady on Brady.

Mazeppa. The best convenience stores on earth. Brookside. The little train that goes around the zoo. The little school that could on 11th Street.

Plenty Scary Movie on Friday nights (seems like “Gargoyles” was shown every other month – I always fell asleep, dang it, before the end of “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.”) Local musicians picking and grinning on the John Chick Show – and Tulsa’s Roy Clark doing the same while standing next to Buck Owens.

Roy D. Mercer’s prank calls. Betty Boyd. Mid-South Wrestling (is that Junkyard Dog under the Stagger Lee mask?). Billy Parker. Cain’s Ballroom.

Some of the above are no longer with us. But David Rader is back in his hometown where he belongs.

Rader is a former Rogers Roper who worked at Skelly Stadium as a kid. He played football at TU and became the head coach at his alma mater. He coached 30 more games than any other football coach in school history.

Rader has had college coaching jobs since, but no matter where he goes, he always boomerangs back to his hometown. Know why he’s here? Because Rader is Tulsa, just like all of the things I mentioned above. He fits here and it doesn’t seem quite right when he’s anywhere else.

If I was on the search committee (and people will remind me that I’m not) to find a new AD for the University of Tulsa, the first call I make is to Rader. And I would ask Mr. Tulsa if he was interested in being Mr. TU.


Reader Comments 10 Total
Nazarene Fan (last year)
Great idea Jimmie, Dave would be perfect for the job. I feel like TU owes Dave the chance.
P.OswaldBoone (last year)
I would vote for Dave as well.
colhi64 (last year)
Makes too much sense.
ok2va (last year)
No doubt the passion is there, but being an AD in this era, especially with all of the realignments going on, it's really no place for someone without that type of administrative experience...a deputy AD for Rader would be ideal for the experience with possible future considerations, but TU needs someone right away to get the Hurricane in the right position for the changing landscape of the FBS!
HOGRIDER (last year)
He could be a good addition.
Ol City Boy (last year)
I agree with portions of the posts so far, but TU should still be apologizing for the way they treated Rader in the past. He was fighting a loosing battle with one hand tied behind them, but those who have their fingerprints on his dismissal are now gone.
Blue&Gold (last year)
I like Dave Rader but I am not sure he is the person to take over at this critical juncture. With conference realignment occurring the way it is, TU needs a bulldog of an admin, fundraiser, and someone with athletic clout. Bubba had it. While there are good choices for admin duties and fundraising duties, who brings the clout? Ross Parmley (current interim AD)is great w/ admin. Rader and Steve Largent would be great at drumming up support in the community and fundraising.

The one name currently associated with TU that could handle this role in all three facets is Vince Westbrook. He could step in much like Mike Holder took over at OSU. Remember, Westbrook is the one that began TU's association with Mike Case and since that occurred, look what has happened on the TU campus. The development initiated by the tennis facility project has dominoed into a complete campus overhaul which has subsequently launched TU into a top tier university ranking. The reaches of that simple handshake with Vince (which ironically was not initially approved by TU administration)extend far beyond the athletic realm. Isn't that what you want from your athletic dept? For it to enhance and complement your university as opposed to being separate entities/companies merely associated by name only?

I vote Vince.
Crabby (last year)
Yeah, right, the tennis facility project dominoed into the performing arts center and two new engineering buildings, Collins Hall and a completely revamped business college. Please tell me what Westbrook had to do with that.
                    
Blue&Gold (last year)
@Crabby...Vince Westbrook is the person who brought Mike Case into the mix for TU and it has turned into a long term association for the University. The west side construction of the tennis facility and the Hardesty athletic complex was just the start. Once that got going it began to steamroll for TU. Point is, Vince can get out there and find new donors for TU.
jdltulsa (last year)
I've thought about Dave as well. You would be hard pressed to find a finer person. He loves Tulsa and is a heck of a lot smarter than those boneheads in the TU administration who ran him off before. He saved the TU football program and could do so much more now that TU finally has a lot of its facilities and commitment issues resolved. He can marry the academic and athletic sides of the institution a lot better than many others as well.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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