Story on the Drake Athletic board announces the hiring of the Volleyball coach they were going to hire before they could move on to soccer. Realistically I think the paranoia about their Men's BB coach being pursued by everyone after winning the national D1 Coach of the year has them a little preoccupied. May have to cough up some big bucks to extend his contract.
Now this guy has me hooked...check out the latest. http://www.mrjerz.org/post-of-the-m...atraw-and-the-power-of-good-site-architecture
not that complicated - the give a darn factor isn't all that high at Drake or UMBC, or a lot of places . . .
Changes, Changes, Changes. Then there are wait and see when they will hire? 1. UALR -Rumor they want a female HC? 2. Loyola- Assistant going to be named or What? 3. NJIT- Any Takers? Come on Someone? 4. SIU Edwardsville- Any insight? 5. South Dakota- Get a jacket , But really has been a while? Whats taking SOOOO Long. What is the ADMIN thinking? Not about the Program or the players. Any word on Farmer, or Former Iowa State Coach S. Ebke?
According to The Oregonian, Oregon State has hired Linus Rhode. He was associate coach. He is a University of Portland graduate, I believe from Canada.
Ebke wants to be a college coach, has had two interviews, and in my opinion been passed over twice by less qualified coaches. Dillinger had head coaching experience, but no DI experience outside of playing.
NJIT just moved up to DI. Got give her credit for winning any games. Unlike their men's basketball team.
That Drake situation just doesn't sound right. It really makes me wonder if the AD was so consumed with the Men's BB situation That he took the easy and cheap way out. I think Dillinger is a good coach period. She ran a good program albeit a DIII one.
Loyola, Md. I heard just hired a former Duke player who is running a club in Maryland. Not sure her name. How could this job not go to PG, he was associate head coach. Why give him that title if when the job comes open you don't give it to that person?
Dillinger may be a good coach. Doesn't mean she should have gotten the job over an Associate HC that was in place. Goes along with the Drake scenario if you ask me...female. End of story. Doesn't matter much. Its been discussed on this site in other threads as well....many qualified males that get passed over for a female who is qualified on paper only and/or has some references with pull. Drake and Iowa State are just two examples of the many that illustrate what role soccer plays in the big picture. And that is, close to none. If they have success, its "hey our soccer program did this, etc. etc." Otherwise they just want to have the female athletes to balance the scale and graduate kids, and avoid off the field problems. Sad but true. It is not a priority at most schools. There are maybe 5-10 DI schools who you could make a case for, whose admin actually cares about their soccer program, in the sense of what is best for the players and for the long haul. And I would argue that some of those just act like they care to keep or get coaches interested. Most ADs hire a soccer coach knowing they will probably be doing it again in 4 or 5 years. The reality is that an AD has to bring in revenue and have success in basketball and football or they won't keep their job. Soccer along with gymnastics, softball, cross country, track, tennis and volleyball are inconsequential to an AD. They won't lose their job if any of those programs fail to succeed. But they will shine the light on it and themselves if they do well...especially if they hired the current coach.
UALR- is looking at University of Louisiana Monroe Assistant (Rumor)? I believed someone mentioned ULM HC was interested in the position, I guess it was for the Assistant, F. Delgado? Loyola - Goes with a club Coach? Who cares if she played at Duke? NJIT- Give her credit for winning, Maybe. But give her UMBC? SIUE- A former coach from a college in Ill. maybe looking to get back to Ill? South Dakota- It really has been a While? Great question about Farmer, maybe back to thE WPSL? Scott Ebke, sad that this great coach cant land on his feet. I dont think Iowa State will ever b eback to where they where, or where they were going (Under Scotts leadership). Loyola Associate Head Coach was led to believe he would get the job, but had the carpet pulled out from under his feet last minute.
The more I see of some of these coaching transitions and the more I deal with colleges in general (academic departments as well as athletics) it becomes apparent that administrations simply don't care a great deal about change. Inertia and the easy (and cheap) solution is the expedient solution. The only proviso to this rule is the individual who is causing the university problems. Vocally pissed that their perceived success is not being recognized financially or within the university system. The DUI or other moral foibles that make the newspaper. And with the UNC/AD situation excluded, the insensitive pig who has an inappropriate thing for the young ladies. This I suspect is the reason that females are being given preferential treatment as Women's Soccer HC hires right now. I read, ironically for the Drake situation, that the Drake men's basketball coach was hired away by Providence for the big bucks. I seems that for some schools success even in revenue generating sports is not enough.
"Dillinger may be a good coach. Doesn't mean she should have gotten the job over an Associate HC that was in place. Goes along with the Drake scenario if you ask me...female. End of story." I honestly don't know the former assistant coach for ISU. From everyone's comments on the board he seems like a good guy who deserves to move up the ladder. I do know a little history of the ISU program and I suspect that he got tarred with some of the problems that went on during the previous regime. I have never been quite sure why that situation went on for as long as it did with ISU not intervening. I suspect that the previous coach had just enough success to allow her a graceful exit as opposed to getting canned. Dillinger was a good hire because she has an spotless record and knows how to run an above board program. I don't think that given ISU's previous experience, hiring a female head coach was the overriding concern. I think hiring someone of first rate integrity who was a complete break with the past was.
You're kidding yourself if you think that was the reason. The other candidates all had spotless records and reputations. Any of the others would have made more sense than her. They all had DI head coaching experience first of all and were all multiple NCAA tourney qualifiers, with sustained success. And then the Assoc. HC who had that title for a reason. She had references with cache in the Big 12 and in common with the AD.And the fact that she had an offer from another school on the table that made her look like a hot commodity. And the previous coach stepped away on her own accord. She was offered a multi-year contract before deciding to step away. That's what makes it preplexing...that they apparently had nothing but positives to give for feedback to the team and coaching staff, then decide to not go with the Associate HC who apparently had so much impact in garnering those high marks from the admin.
She also had a history at ISU that should have resulted in her firing earlier. I don't know what is more troubling, the fact that ISU didn't fire her earlier given the circumstances or if we are to believe your account that they were actively supporting her when she resigned. I have no doubt that she was a good coach and a better recruiter. That however is not all that being a good college coach is about. Her behavior caused the transfer of several of the higher caliber recruits that she was able to sign.
My understanding is that it was a 1-year offer that was extended with the hopes she wouldn't take it. She didn't and that allowed them to move in a new direction without too many waves. My guess is Dillinger will do just fine there.
Politics In Hiring Coaches Men's sports teams are coached overwhelmingly by white men. And every time one white guy is hired over another white guy there is politics involved in the decision. Even when it's just office politics, it's still politics. The decision isn't based solely on some objective evaluation of past performance. And no one thinks twice about it because that's just the way hiring works - even outside of sports. The person doing the hiring likes the cut of one guy's jib over that of another and he'll hire the former and the "superior" record of the latter be damned. But hire a black guy for a men's team or a woman for a woman's team and suddenly "Aha! There was politics involved!" Big deal. How many head coaches of D1 women's soccer teams are female? I have no idea, but I don't see that many. Is it even 10 percent? And these are teams of WOMEN! If a guy can't get a head coaching gig at the 90% of colleges hiring men as head coaches, maybe he should try coaching men. 100% of colleges hire men for those jobs. (Again, I'm just guessing at the percentage. If anyone knows I'd be interested in hearing.)
This gender issue has been discussed plenty here and Northwinds summarized the campus-level politics of it for many schools just a few posts ago. There are plenty of sociological, historical, and even biological reasons why there are more qualified males in applicant pools for women's soccer positions. Now, politics and policy are being used to counter those forces and the end result is not always in the best interests of the ultimate customer - the college women's soccer player. The bottom-line - how does some demographic imperative that results in the less than optimal choice of coaching candidate actually help the players? Great coaches are great coaches and they produce more great coaches down the road than bad coaches do. In other words, how is gender equity enhanced in the coaching ranks when female players are discouraged from becoming coaches in the future because they had young inexperienced coaches in college (whether they be female or male)? Again, when you ask the customer here, most female players will say they don't care what gender their coach is, as long as they are fair and good. And its the quality of that coach, not their gender, that nurtures and cultivates the player's passions for the game (and may encourage them to consider coaching in it). Yes, there are politics in hiring decisions, but when gender equity in hiring adds more to that mix, the odds of the best possible candidates being hired are diminished and there's just not much evidence that some great benefits of having females coaching females are being realized. When and if my daughter is good enough to become a recruited athlete, we'll be trying to stay away from those programs that have clearly been using demographics instead of merit to hire coaches. Maybe when more players and families start voting with their feet, some things may change.
In another post, I showed that there are many more men being given opportunities than women. This year, there have been many more Assistant coaches than in the past too. Every time a female is hired, it does not mean that a male was the better choice. I dont know who applies for every job. I dont know who interviews well. I dont know who pulls their name out of contention or declines offers. I agree, there seem to be some mysterious hires. But I think it is unfair to assume that each person is hired to fill a quota. There are some mysterious hires in favor of male coaches too.
Soccerkicks.......really you think that the Admin at ISU was going to give RH a 1 year extended offer? Really? Come on?? You cant believe that? Gender Issue in the hiring process at ISU, Maybe? But ISU had problems. Scott just got labled as being part of "that staff" that had issues. If the head coach leaves the Assistants should ALWAYS look else where. The chances are not in favor of them getting the position. Male or Female, you can have problems rise with either. Just look for someone that is a good coach (Paid Dues) and is a good person. Those two things will = hopefully create a good coach, rolemodel,and mentor to future coaches. I agree this is the year of "give them a chance" Hires? I could be wrong about this? But I read somewhere last year that an NCAA Statistic showed that female HC only stay 3 years?