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HIRING PROCESS

The first step outline in the hiring process was financial implications. This is an important

process because most schools rely on their football program to carry the weight of the whole

athletic department. A strong football program can add visibility and attention to the school and

the head coach is usually the face of the football program, so it is vital to get it right. A good

coach can bring serious value to a school whereas a bad coach who gets fired may cost the

school a lot of money.

The next step was a SWOT analysis. This step outlines the programs strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This is important because it helps narrow down the best

fits for your program. You can determine what each candidate brings to the table, how they

might help and hurt the program.

After a SWOT analysis there should be a decision of hiring an advisory board and search

firm. This helps the athletic director not carry the entire weight of hiring a coach. Typically, an

advisory board consist of well-respected members of the university and the community, like the

school president, boosters, and community leaders. After an advisory board has been created,

they will determine if they need to hire a search firm to find the right coaching candidate. Search

firms can be costly, but they can help find candidates that fit what you need making it easier on

the athletic director and board. They are helpful but not necessary and some programs elect not

to use them because of the expensive costs.

INPUT

The advisory board is a very important process of hiring a head coach. An athletic

director should consider all the different people affected by the decision. The university
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administrators hold the most weight because they are the athletic directors’ bosses, and it is their

job to make sure that the school will be represented well and that they can financially justify the

candidate. Next, the boosters and donors because they are a large part of the school’s athletic and

academic funding and the AD needs to make sure that the candidate they hire will satisfy and

excite the donors. Then the AD would need to understand the fans and what they want from the

program because they will be the ones buying tickets and merchandise. Finally, the players and

current football staff need to be heard. The athletic director has to understand what type of roster

the team is built to be and think about potential transfers and staff resigns if they don’t agree with

the new coaching choice.

DECISION

The advisory board gave me six candidates to choose from and I conducted my own

rankings amongst each potential coach. At number six I had Adam Miles, this coach is a proven

winner at the college level, but he comes with too much baggage. I would be too worried about

his character and the character of the players he recruits, also, I believe he would use us as a

steppingstone again to get back to where he was before his scandal. At five I have Mike Monroe;

he would be a safe choice, but the fans have already demonstrated frustration with him and if this

school is to become a football powerhouse, we need someone more exciting. At four I have Jim

Martin; he would be an interesting pick but like Coach Monroe he is not exciting enough to be

the face of program that is on the rise to national prominence. He has many good traits that

would improve our school and team. but I don’t want to take the risk on him when we’re at such

a pivotal point with our team. At three I have Bud McCoy; this is an interesting choice. He

would give a nice buzz of excitement among the school and media, but he is unknown, expensive

and not loyal. He would likely overhaul the whole program and that is not necessarily something
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we need to do at the moment. At number two is Clay Roberts. This coach would be great for this

school, but I don’t have him number one because I expect him to only take this job to propel him

to a better one in the near future. If he does have success and decides to stay this would be a

major win for the school as on and off the field everyone would benefit. Finally at number 1 I

have Shane Reynolds, he seems like the perfect hire. He would continue many of the same

methods as Coach Greer and already has the fans and player’s trust.

Ultimately, I would choose to hire Coach Shane Reynolds. He was one of the main

coaches that changed the culture of this football program over the last three years. Reynolds is

also a proven good recruiter for this school and is strict on his players which would result in very

few off the field issues. My biggest draw to hiring him is the consistency, if our school is going

to be moving to a bigger more prominent conference then we need to keep our culture what it has

been since he arrived. He will run the same system as Coach Greer, so the players won’t have to

adapt too much. We should be able to keep building off a good season without sacrificing very

much change. Coach Reynolds is also not expecting a large contract but if he performs the way I

expect him to we could lock him up long term. All around it is a safe and sound pick to continue

the football program into the next chapter of our school’s history.

I believe this case study was based off the 2014 Louisville football program, when

Charlie Strong left for Texas and they rehired Bobby Petrino.
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REFERENCE

Purdue Writing Lab. (n.d.). General format // Purdue Writing lab. Retrieved March 22, 2021,
from
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_gui
de/general_format.html

Experts' roundtable: Coaching searches. (2018, March 07). Retrieved March 22, 2021, from
https://www.athleticdirectoru.com/articles/experts-roundtable-coaching-searches/

Process for hiring coaches. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2021, from
https://www.whslions.net/athletics/process-for-hiring-coaches/