SoCon Head Coach Search Thread - Wofford, VMI, The Citadel all @-lookin’

[FUBeAR]

Thought with 3 HC Searches going on (currently) in the SoCon, we needed a thread to discuss/track.

Let’s start with current tenures of all SoCon Head Coaches

The Citadel - Open
VMI - Open
Wofford - Open (Interim is Shawn Watson, finished 3-3)
ETSU - George Quarles - 2022
WCU - Kerwin Bell - 2021
Mercer - Drew Cronic - 2020
Chattanooga - Rusty Wright - 2019
Furman - Clay Hendrix - 2017
Samford - Chris Hatcher - 2015

FUBeAR has already started the Wachenheim to CIT rumor. Feel free to add your own. Facts are welcome also.

[Libertine]

I never expected to see Chris Hatcher as the dean of the SoCon coaches fraternity but here we are.

[Mocs123]

I think Hatcher's seat had gotten pretty warm, but I'm sure that's subsided after the '22 season. Furman and Mercer have to be pretty happy with Hendrix and Cronic, and I'm sure WCU is excited about what Bell is doing at WCU.

I'm not sure about VMI, but I think all the other SoCon schools' administrations want to win in football and it's not going to get any easier in the SoCon next year.

[FUBeAR]

I think Hatcher's seat had gotten pretty warm, but I'm sure that's subsided after the '22 season. Furman and Mercer have to be pretty happy with Hendrix and Cronic, and I'm sure WCU is excited about what Bell is doing at WCU.

I'm not sure about VMI, but I think all the other SoCon schools' administrations want to win in football and it's not going to get any easier in the SoCon next year.
No mention of Coach Wright in that overview. Hmmm?

[Reign of Terrier]

If you want some unsourced gossip: Wofford's athletic director will probably retire sometime in the next year.

Unfortunately he will probably hire Conklin's successor.

Other unsourced gossip: I heard Conklin wasn't pressured to leave...he just quit. No idea.

Anyway, Wofford's got a couple alumni as G5 coordinators at Georgia State, Troy, and Army.

I'd prefer us to keep Watson as OC and most of the staff (probably need an OL coach), and hire someone more defensive minded, who will nudge Watson to run the ball better.

I think Wofford can probably make the most strides from this year to next, if we just have good leadership.

[Reign of Terrier]

Also, I'm rooting for Hatcher to win some playoff games. Dude found a DC and ran the ball better and now Samford looks as good as they've thought they could be. Samford underachieving has been the line between the Socon being average and very good in the last decade. Not because Samford is some sleeping giant, but because they kept failing at the worst times, making good teams in conference who lose to them look bad, and they themselves missing the playoffs.

[SCPALADIN]

If you want some unsourced gossip: Wofford's athletic director will probably retire sometime in the next year.

Unfortunately he will probably hire Conklin's successor.

Other unsourced gossip: I heard Conklin wasn't pressured to leave...he just quit. No idea.

Anyway, Wofford's got a couple alumni as G5 coordinators at Georgia State, Troy, and Army.

I'd prefer us to keep Watson as OC and most of the staff (probably need an OL coach), and hire someone more defensive minded, who will nudge Watson to run the ball better.

I think Wofford can probably make the most strides from this year to next, if we just have good leadership.

Now I'm curious....would you mind expounding on this a little?
I've watched a decent amount of Wofford football throughout the season and it seems, from at least a leadership perspective, he's what the program needs right now.
IDK, I guess I see a HC more as the CEO/Leader and less the X's & O's guy...and that seemed to be what worked after he took over. As the HC he can still hire someone who "fits" his offensive philosophies.
Thoughts?

[Mocs123]

Also, I'm rooting for Hatcher to win some playoff games. Dude found a DC and ran the ball better and now Samford looks as good as they've thought they could be. Samford underachieving has been the line between the Socon being average and very good in the last decade. Not because Samford is some sleeping giant, but because they kept failing at the worst times, making good teams in conference who lose to them look bad, and they themselves missing the playoffs.

I want the old Hatcher back! xlolx

Though admittedly not until after the playoffs.

[FUBeAR]

I want the old Hatcher back! xlolx

Though admittedly not until after the playoffs.
Well…at least until the Semi Finals

[Libertine]

Other unsourced gossip: I heard Conklin wasn't pressured to leave...

xeyebrowx

Why not? After playoff bids his first two years, dude was 2-19 after that.

[Reign of Terrier]

Now I'm curious....would you mind expounding on this a little?
I've watched a decent amount of Wofford football throughout the season and it seems, from at least a leadership perspective, he's what the program needs right now.
IDK, I guess I see a HC more as the CEO/Leader and less the X's & O's guy...and that seemed to be what worked after he took over. As the HC he can still hire someone who "fits" his offensive philosophies.
Thoughts?

Basically I think if we hire Watson and bring no fresh meat on, we'll end up like Samford pre-2022. Competitive and a great passing program, but not a strong run game and that trickles into our defense. Our defense got worn down this season, and it didn't help that they dominated our offense before we found our way for the first 9 months of the calendar year.

If Watson is the guy, it's going to be his offense, the way he sees fit. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think Wofford can be a good team under that format, but I'm not sure about great. Keep in mind, Watson only went 3-3 in 6 games. It's not like he ran the table, and our defense regressed over that period of time. I have no explanation for why that is, but I'd like some more defensive competence.


xeyebrowx

Why not? After playoff bids his first two years, dude was 2-19 after that.

Wofford doesn't like to fire people, our AD isn't up for the job, and if we actually cared about on field performance he would have been fired after last season. I have 0 confidence in our athletic administration just because the sheer volume of dysfunction and incompetence of Conklin was so abundant and known on campus and they did nothing. This lasted a solid 10 months longer than it had to. And we only got out of it because the head guy is/was a collosal douche canoe and cut and run in the middle of a season. Heck, if Conklin was the guy he claimed to be, he should have resigned last season.

People don't understand that at this level, conference championships are more important to athletic directors than national championships (and if they aren't, that's a sign you shouldn't be at this level). This is not the world of win or get fired and million dollar buyouts (Conklin didn't have one, as far as I know). But with Wofford, our athletic director is well known to be hard to work with and very set in the way he does things and I don't think he's the guy for the year 2022.

[ElCid]

Here is the official announcement on our coach.

https://citadelsports.com/news/2022/11/21/football-thompsons-contract-not-renewed.aspx

There is a discussion on our board about the search. There is a committee, obviously, but some are questioning the need for the use, and cost, of a professional service. I'm usually pessimist of such uses. I have rarely seen where the use is worth the cost. Not specifically in sports, but elsewhere. It certainly could be worth it, but absolutely not guaranteed. A lot of money wasted if it turns out to be a bad hire. It's a crap shoot. If our AD was worth anything, he wouldn't need one. I would have thought that he was already compiling lists for a few weeks as this was highly expected. Not good form to be doing interviews certainly, but having a thorough list of possibilities should have been complete for a while.

In any event we need to move fast to settle down players who might jump ship. Not to mention recruiting season.

Lots of talk about getting a grad as well. One that knows the military issues and recruiting challenges That would be good for many reasons, but having a grad doesn't guarantee success on the field either.

And the last issue, do we insist on staying with the option and get an appropriate coach or do we change considering the pussified rules recently instituted. Or do we simply morph our option accordingly as others have done.

Lots of issues, but change can be exciting.

[FUBeAR]

Here is the official announcement on our coach.

https://citadelsports.com/news/2022/11/21/football-thompsons-contract-not-renewed.aspx

There is a discussion on our board about the search. There is a committee, obviously, but some are questioning the need for the use, and cost, of a professional service. I'm usually pessimist of such uses. I have rarely seen where the use is worth the cost. Not specifically in sports, but elsewhere. It certainly could be worth it, but absolutely not guaranteed. A lot of money wasted if it turns out to be a bad hire. It's a crap shoot. If our AD was worth anything, he wouldn't need one. I would have thought that he was already compiling lists for a few weeks as this was highly expected. Not good form to be doing interviews certainly, but having a thorough list of possibilities should have been complete for a while.

In any event we need to move fast to settle down players who might jump ship. Not to mention recruiting season.

Lots of talk about getting a grad as well. One that knows the military issues and recruiting challenges That would be good for many reasons, but having a grad doesn't guarantee success on the field either.

And the last issue, do we insist on staying with the option and get an appropriate coach or do we change considering the pussified rules recently instituted. Or do we simply morph our option accordingly as others have done.

Lots of issues, but change can be exciting.Welp, since FUBeAR spent most of his career providing the type of professional service you have characterized as wasteful and unnecessary, FUBeAR must be allowed to retort.

The biggest reason people thing these types of professional services are wasteful is that they are commonly called “SEARCH Firms” and why would anyone need to “search” for a College Football Coach. They are all right there on their websites with what is, essentially, their resume posted and readily available contact info. So, if you think you’re hiring a Search Firm to search, then, yeah, that seems pretty wasteful. But that’s not what you are hiring them to do. A better description would be a Hiring Process Management Firm because that’s what we/they do. Getting from “I think I might need a new Coach” to “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m excited to introduce…” involves hundreds of intricate steps, full understanding of every aspect of the requirements of the school/company and the requirements of every potential candidate and their families, as well as the process, and the unique ability to manage so many egos across the goal line together. Not going to go into all the details, but FUBeAR can assure you, those guys & gals earn every penny they are paid…and that’s why they keep getting hired.

You think you waste money on the Search Firm if the Hire is bad? FUBeAR has probably placed up to 500 Executives in his career and he has never once made the decision who was hired. Those decisions are the Clients’ decisions. More than a few times, FUBeAR has wanted to pull candidates out of the process because of thing learned or felt in the evolving process, but the Client wouldn’t allow it, insisted on moving him/her forward, and almost always regretted their insistence…and, occasionally, blamed FUBeAR…who always had good notes, however. Where you really waste money & time (and greatly increase your risk) is NOT using a Search Firm to MANAGE your process for an Executive Hire. It’s like performing your own Appendectomy. Good luck with that!

Oh…also..when you do this for 30 years, you know every single human who has ever lived has had a bad experience with a Search Firm or a Recruiter. FUBeAR has heard every ‘rebuttal anecdote’ before. No need to waste pixels.

CIT is smart to have hired a firm…particularly with the commentary FUBeAR has read about the AD there. Perhaps the firm will give him a 51% chance of not screwing it up. Of course, FUBeAR hopes they do screw it up and go 3-8 (only winning OOC games) every year until 100 millenniums from now…but he’s kinda got an anti-bellhop bias.

[SU DOG]

I want the old Hatcher back! xlolx

Though admittedly not until after the playoffs.

Just for that, I'm reaching out to the Texas Tech Letterman's Club to send Rodney Allison back to the Mocs. LOL!

[ElCid]

Welp, since FUBeAR spent most of his career providing the type of professional service you have characterized as wasteful and unnecessary, FUBeAR must be allowed to retort.

The biggest reason people thing these types of professional services are wasteful is that they are commonly called “SEARCH Firms” and why would anyone need to “search” for a College Football Coach. They are all right there on their websites with what is, essentially, their resume posted and readily available contact info. So, if you think you’re hiring a Search Firm to search, then, yeah, that seems pretty wasteful. But that’s not what you are hiring them to do. A better description would be a Hiring Process Management Firm because that’s what we/they do. Getting from “I think I might need a new Coach” to “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m excited to introduce…” involves hundreds of intricate steps, full understanding of every aspect of the requirements of the school/company and the requirements of every potential candidate and their families, as well as the process, and the unique ability to manage so many egos across the goal line together. Not going to go into all the details, but FUBeAR can assure you, those guys & gals earn every penny they are paid…and that’s why they keep getting hired.

You think you waste money on the Search Firm if the Hire is bad? FUBeAR has probably placed up to 500 Executives in his career and he has never once made the decision who was hired. Those decisions are the Clients’ decisions. More than a few times, FUBeAR has wanted to pull candidates out of the process because of thing learned or felt in the evolving process, but the Client wouldn’t allow it, insisted on moving him/her forward, and almost always regretted their insistence…and, occasionally, blamed FUBeAR…who always had good notes, however. Where you really waste money & time (and greatly increase your risk) is NOT using a Search Firm to MANAGE your process for an Executive Hire. It’s like performing your own Appendectomy. Good luck with that!

Oh…also..when you do this for 30 years, you know every single human who has ever lived has had a bad experience with a Search Firm or a Recruiter. FUBeAR has heard every ‘rebuttal anecdote’ before. No need to waste pixels.

CIT is smart to have hired a firm…particularly with the commentary FUBeAR has read about the AD there. Perhaps the firm will give him a 51% chance of not screwing it up. Of course, FUBeAR hopes they do screw it up and go 3-8 (only winning OOC games) every year until 100 millenniums from now…but he’s kinda got an anti-bellhop bias.

Eh, just my background bias mostly. I can interview someone and size them up fairly quickly on whether they can get the job done or not or if they are just BSers or show. I get the process thing. Ok. But gee whiz, really? I have little patience for prima donnas. Again, my background bias. But I guess I can see it as a filter or process thing maybe. I certainly hope they truly "understand" our unique requirements as presented by our folks. I guess it's better than the back scratching and/or whatever else went on with Wofford previously that put them in the wasteland for a couple years. That still might happen as the decision will obviously rest with the admin. Not sure in what capacity our committee will operate.

[WestCoastAggie]

I never expected to see Chris Hatcher as the dean of the SoCon coaches fraternity but here we are.

He came a long eat from his Murray State days. That Hatch Attack offense is finally living up to its potential.

[Mocs123]

Just for that, I'm reaching out to the Texas Tech Letterman's Club to send Rodney Allison back to the Mocs. LOL!

Please don't. I sat though the 1-11 season in 2008!

[Mocs123]

He came a long eat from his Murray State days. That Hatch Attack offense is finally living up to its potential.

This is the most un-Hatcher like team I've seen him have at Samford. He's actually playing defense and running the ball.

[SU DOG]

Lack of defense and a decent running game have been the two big gripes that we Samford Fans have had (Captain Obvious). On the other hand, Coach Hatcher's players seem to really like playing for him. His offense has always been exciting and TBH it seems to me that there are many teams going to some version of this in today's world. His recruiting has also been pretty good IMO. I know for a fact that he was on the chopping block this season, but now he is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award. GO FIGURE!

[Catamount87]

Welp, since FUBeAR spent most of his career providing the type of professional service you have characterized as wasteful and unnecessary, FUBeAR must be allowed to retort.

The biggest reason people thing these types of professional services are wasteful is that they are commonly called “SEARCH Firms” and why would anyone need to “search” for a College Football Coach. They are all right there on their websites with what is, essentially, their resume posted and readily available contact info. So, if you think you’re hiring a Search Firm to search, then, yeah, that seems pretty wasteful. But that’s not what you are hiring them to do. A better description would be a Hiring Process Management Firm because that’s what we/they do. Getting from “I think I might need a new Coach” to “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m excited to introduce…” involves hundreds of intricate steps, full understanding of every aspect of the requirements of the school/company and the requirements of every potential candidate and their families, as well as the process, and the unique ability to manage so many egos across the goal line together. Not going to go into all the details, but FUBeAR can assure you, those guys & gals earn every penny they are paid…and that’s why they keep getting hired.

You think you waste money on the Search Firm if the Hire is bad? FUBeAR has probably placed up to 500 Executives in his career and he has never once made the decision who was hired. Those decisions are the Clients’ decisions. More than a few times, FUBeAR has wanted to pull candidates out of the process because of thing learned or felt in the evolving process, but the Client wouldn’t allow it, insisted on moving him/her forward, and almost always regretted their insistence…and, occasionally, blamed FUBeAR…who always had good notes, however. Where you really waste money & time (and greatly increase your risk) is NOT using a Search Firm to MANAGE your process for an Executive Hire. It’s like performing your own Appendectomy. Good luck with that!

Oh…also..when you do this for 30 years, you know every single human who has ever lived has had a bad experience with a Search Firm or a Recruiter. FUBeAR has heard every ‘rebuttal anecdote’ before. No need to waste pixels.

CIT is smart to have hired a firm…particularly with the commentary FUBeAR has read about the AD there. Perhaps the firm will give him a 51% chance of not screwing it up. Of course, FUBeAR hopes they do screw it up and go 3-8 (only winning OOC games) every year until 100 millenniums from now…but he’s kinda got an anti-bellhop bias.

FUBeAR are you in a sports/coaching specific firm or a generalist firm? I would think although there are a great deal of similarities in the two but sports/coaching specific would require a great deal more and different knowledge and understanding than the general HR talent recruiting arena, similar to IT recruiting which requires a different knowledge and understanding than general business recruiting.

[MR. CHICKEN]

..DERE'S...UH CHICKEN....WHO BEATS ALL COMERS....IN TIC-TAC-TOE.....MAYBE DERE'S UH GORILLA.....WHOM CAN COACH......(DIS MESSAGE MEANT FO' SOGONERS/PATRIOTS)..........BRAWK!

[caribbeanhen]

Eh, just my background bias mostly. I can interview someone and size them up fairly quickly on whether they can get the job done or not or if they are just BSers or show. I get the process thing. Ok. But gee whiz, really? I have little patience for prima donnas. Again, my background bias. But I guess I can see it as a filter or process thing maybe. I certainly hope they truly "understand" our unique requirements as presented by our folks. I guess it's better than the back scratching and/or whatever else went on with Wofford previously that put them in the wasteland for a couple years. That still might happen as the decision will obviously rest with the admin. Not sure in what capacity our committee will operate.

Saw a lot blank stares from college boys flashing fancy resumes when they showed up, I would toss the résumé in the garbage can, sit them down in the chair and tell em show me how it’s done... Yep, It would only take about a minute to know if they had it or not ....

[Mocs123]

Welp, since FUBeAR spent most of his career providing the type of professional service you have characterized as wasteful and unnecessary, FUBeAR must be allowed to retort.

The biggest reason people thing these types of professional services are wasteful is that they are commonly called “SEARCH Firms” and why would anyone need to “search” for a College Football Coach. They are all right there on their websites with what is, essentially, their resume posted and readily available contact info. So, if you think you’re hiring a Search Firm to search, then, yeah, that seems pretty wasteful. But that’s not what you are hiring them to do. A better description would be a Hiring Process Management Firm because that’s what we/they do. Getting from “I think I might need a new Coach” to “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m excited to introduce…” involves hundreds of intricate steps, full understanding of every aspect of the requirements of the school/company and the requirements of every potential candidate and their families, as well as the process, and the unique ability to manage so many egos across the goal line together. Not going to go into all the details, but FUBeAR can assure you, those guys & gals earn every penny they are paid…and that’s why they keep getting hired.

You think you waste money on the Search Firm if the Hire is bad? FUBeAR has probably placed up to 500 Executives in his career and he has never once made the decision who was hired. Those decisions are the Clients’ decisions. More than a few times, FUBeAR has wanted to pull candidates out of the process because of thing learned or felt in the evolving process, but the Client wouldn’t allow it, insisted on moving him/her forward, and almost always regretted their insistence…and, occasionally, blamed FUBeAR…who always had good notes, however. Where you really waste money & time (and greatly increase your risk) is NOT using a Search Firm to MANAGE your process for an Executive Hire. It’s like performing your own Appendectomy. Good luck with that!

Oh…also..when you do this for 30 years, you know every single human who has ever lived has had a bad experience with a Search Firm or a Recruiter. FUBeAR has heard every ‘rebuttal anecdote’ before. No need to waste pixels.

CIT is smart to have hired a firm…particularly with the commentary FUBeAR has read about the AD there. Perhaps the firm will give him a 51% chance of not screwing it up. Of course, FUBeAR hopes they do screw it up and go 3-8 (only winning OOC games) every year until 100 millenniums from now…but he’s kinda got an anti-bellhop bias.

It all makes since now. FUBeAR must have been on Search Firm that brought the Mocs Tom Arth's resume and had us hire him over Jamey Chadwell - Well played FUBeAr, well played!

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR are you in a sports/coaching specific firm or a generalist firm? I would think although there are a great deal of similarities in the two but sports/coaching specific would require a great deal more and different knowledge and understanding than the general HR talent recruiting arena, similar to IT recruiting which requires a different knowledge and understanding than general business recruiting.Executive Retained - C & VP Level mostly; not “sports/coaching specific.” Also, definitely not “IT recruiting,” although top-tier technology companies such as Microsoft, NCR, Honeywell, et al have been FUBeAR clients over the years. The Corporate Executive Search work FUBeAR has done is much more akin to Head Coach / AD type Search than not. Some different knowledge required, but not “more,” perhaps even less because FUBeAR’s “DIG” (Discipline, Industry, Geography framework) has been a bit broad, diverse, and often Global.

Hope that helps answer your curiosity. Regardless, when one plays in this space, generally, for 30+ years, a good sense of the challenges and pitfalls of a Sr Leadership Search / Hire can be relatively-well understood across most all sectors. Any AD or Search Committee not availing themselves of an experienced Professional Firm to shape and guide the process should probably also represent themselves in court the next time they are sued for wrongful termination or sexual harassment. Just think of the money they’ll save!!

[FUBeAR]

It all makes since now. FUBeAR must have been on Search Firm that brought the Mocs Tom Arth's resume and had us hire him over Jamey Chadwell - Well played FUBeAr, well played!
Nah…think was The Manning Firm that led that Search…no?