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Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-27-2012

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/july/athletic-director-named-072712.html

Background:

AD at Delaware, 2009-2012
AD at Georgetown, 2005-2009
Associate AD at NotreDame, 2000-2005
Worked at the NCAA, 1992-2000
Also worked in athletic depts. at Butler and Auburn

Bachelor's from Brown, 1990 (played basketball)
Master's degree from Ohio U., 1992

44 years old

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - washingtonismoney - 07-27-2012

Here's the Delaware News story before the hiring was announced--has some more details about his Delaware background: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120727/SPORTS07/307270043/Still-no-confirmation-Muir-s-job-status?odyssey=nav|head

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - yvonne - 07-27-2012

It's kind of interesting how both local reporters were off base.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-27-2012

I took a quick look at Bernard Muir's track record with football and basketball coaches at Delaware and Georgetown.

Delaware (2009-2012):

Muir inherited a winning football coach, KC Keller, who was at Delaware throughout Muir's tenure. Keller had a winning record each year under Muir, reaching the Div. IAA national championship game in 2010.

Muir inherited a losing basketball coach, Monte Ross, who had been there for three years. Muir stuck with him. Ross posted a winning record last year (18-14, 12-6 in conf., CBI appearance), which was Delaware's first winning season in 8 years. So the program may be on the rise.

Georgetown (2005-2009):

Muir inherited a football coach, Bob Benson, who had been at Georgetown for 12 seasons. Benson had had some success in his first several years. But when Georgetown moved up from the MAAC to the Patriot League, Benson posted 6 straight losing seasons (5 of them before Muir arrived, 1 of them under Muir). Muir fired Benson after Muir's first season at Georgetown (technically Benson "resigned"). Muir hired Kevin Kelly. Kelly had 5 straight losing seasons, most of which were pretty awful. But Kelly went 8-3 last year, so he may be turning it around.

Muir inherited John Thompson III as basketball coach at Georgetown. Thompson stayed throughout Muir's tenure and has had a good record, including one Final Four while Muir was there.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - BobK - 07-27-2012

At Delaware he did away with track and xc.  And now needs to hire a track and men's xc coach at Stanford.  :(

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - unclechuck - 07-27-2012

Terry, WIM, thanks for the links. At least the 'who' has been determined.

BobK posted while I was writing this; as usual he cut to the chase. Please excuse any redundancy below. Anyhow...

Outsiderfan's prior thread comments on his familiarity with basketball programs, and by his time @ South Bend, with big football seem reasonable and are important in the hire.

However, the mention in WIM's linked article about his recent cutting of the Delaware mens' cross country and track and field programs for budget reasons is somewhat daunting. Cutting men's sports has been the quick fix, go-to method for balancing AD budgets for a discouraging number of years. One needs look no further that the Pac10-12 minor / olympic programs for examples of this. Dr. Simoni's gushing prose about Muir's empathy and concern for the student athletes, on the surface seems dissonant with the AD's 2011 cutting of those programs.

While I don't believe there will be a rash of minor sports dropped, I will have questions about this AD's commitment to excellence in the non-revenue sports. This may be particularly acute for the track and field programs that are currently coachless, and had been on a very positive upswing over the last few years.

Hey, I hope my concerns prove to be unfounded and he hires in dynamic and talented replacements for the coaching positions that are open.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-27-2012

I don't know the history behind Muir's decision to drop track. But in general, it must be difficult for a school like Delaware to balance the athletic department budget. No big athletic endowment, no big TV contract, no major conference revenue sharing, no big ticket sales in football (average football attendance 19,000). It has to be hard to keep the athletic department solvent.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - unclechuck - 07-27-2012

(07-27-2012, 02:21 PM)terry link Wrote:I don't know the history behind Muir's decision to drop track. But in general, it must be difficult for a school like Delaware to balance the athletic department budget. No big athletic endowment, no big TV contract, no major conference revenue sharing, no big ticket sales in football (average football attendance 19,000). It has to be hard to keep the athletic department solvent.

Agree completely. The Delaware article said the track program cuts were "widely criticized". No expansion on who or why.

But, if you're a hot, up and coming track coach and you see that at his last job your hiring AD was building new facilities while cutting your sport, how are you gonna feel?

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - CrazedZooChimp - 07-27-2012

I'd be more interested in how non-revenue sports performed during his tenure than what sports he was forced to cut (although I'm too lazy to do an in-depth look).  The Delaware women's bball team won the CAA last year and was a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, for what it's worth.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - Roberton3 - 07-27-2012

(07-27-2012, 03:22 PM)CrazedZooChimp link Wrote:The Delaware women's bball team won the CAA last year and was a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, for what it's worth.

I wouldn't read much into that.  The team did well mostly because they had Elena Delle Donne dropped into their laps, so their success tells us nothing about how good a job the AD did.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - BlueHenFan - 07-27-2012

Bernard did a stellar job at Delaware, and I'm very happy for him and Cardinal fans.  He made tough decisions that an athletic department of our size and stature had to make. 

For those concerned about the future of Cardinal track and field, keep in mind BM did serve as athletic director at Georgetown as well, who have outstanding East Coast running programs.

He took an athletic department that had stagnated for years, made good hires in our olympic sports, helped to institute a much needed fundraising program, advance our marketing and media tremendously, and left the entire department in a better place than he found it.  A gentleman and a professional throughout.

Stanford has hired a fine man.  I'll be sorry to see him go, but I understand his decision and wish him and the Cardinal the best in their future endeavors.  Truly.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-27-2012

BlueHenFan, thanks for the information. You are the first Delaware fan I've encountered since this news came down. It's very encouraging to see such a positive review of Bernard Muir. Thanks.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-27-2012

Here's a video of Bernard Muir talking about taking the Stanford job --

http://www.gostanford.com/genrel/072712aab.html

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - unclechuck - 07-27-2012

(07-27-2012, 05:36 PM)terry link Wrote:BlueHenFan, thanks for the information. You are the first Delaware fan I've encountered since this news came down. It's very encouraging to see such a positive review of Bernard Muir. Thanks.

Ditto. Thanks for your input. That's very reassuring. I'll look forward to seeing his new hires.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - BobK - 07-27-2012

Mrs Muir was an outstanding VB player at North Carolina an FYI.  I'm not worried about cutting sports but it was an occurrence at Delaware. 

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - yvonne - 07-28-2012

Wasn't there an old movie about her?

Maybe we should nickname Bernard "The Ghost" - Redrum - 07-28-2012

And hope this decision doesn't haunt us. 

I have a simple test,  a thought-experiment,  for an AD.  Does he pass the Bowlsby Test?   

Bob Bowlsby was on the sidelines at Wlat's disastrous last Big Game.  Actually standing somewhat separate down from the bench area.  He saw what he saw (and had seen all season)  and bloody well pulled the trigger.  Muir's record seems to show he does not pull the trigger quickly on losing coaches,  although without knowing more about the circumstances maybe there was wisdom in that.  Will Muir (great Scot's name, BTW)  be able to act if Shaw (or any other coach) regresses to a record unacceptable by our new standards ( Bowlsby having destroyed the myth that Stanford just can't have sustained success in football and basketball over time).

And, yes, I know Bowlsby's record in basketball tells a different story than football.  I just don't follow basketball well enough to judge.  And, yes, Uncle Chuck,  I think that standard applies to all the other Olympic and "minor' sports, too.  He has some hires to make,  which excuses him from the first half of the Bowlsby Test.  I hope he brings a high standard for those hires,  higher, perhaps, than what he could afford to have elsewhere.

Re: Maybe we should nickname Bernard "The Ghost" - terry - 07-28-2012

(07-28-2012, 10:04 AM)Redrum link Wrote:I have a simple test,  a thought-experiment,  for an AD.  Does he pass the Bowlsby Test?   

Bob Bowlsby was on the sidelines at Wlat's disastrous last Big Game.  Actually standing somewhat separate down from the bench area.  He saw what he saw (and had seen all season)  and bloody well pulled the trigger.  Muir's record seems to show he does not pull the trigger quickly on losing coaches,  although without knowing more about the circumstances maybe there was wisdom in that.  Will Muir (great Scot's name, BTW)  be able to act if Shaw (or any other coach) regresses to a record unacceptable by our new standards ( Bowlsby having destroyed the myth that Stanford just can't have sustained success in football and basketball over time).

And, yes, I know Bowlsby's record in basketball tells a different story than football.  I just don't follow basketball well enough to judge.

I don't think Muir's record shows that he generally is slow to take action on losing coaches.

At Georgetown, Muir did exactly what Bowlsby did here: Muir fired the football coach after Muir's first football season, even though the coach still had three years remaining on his contract. Like Bowlsby, Muir had been on the job for less than six months when he fired the football coach. Bowlsby fired Harris after an 0-11 season, while Muir fired Georgetown's coach (Bob Benson) after a 4-7 season. Benson had been at Georgetown for 13 seasons, had had some success in the past (72-64 record), and had had his contract extended several times. Nevertheless, Muir took quick action to fire him. So yes, I would say he passed the "Bowlsby Test."

Muir had one other losing coach in a major sport -- his basketball coach at Delaware, Monte Ross. Ross had three losing seasons before Muir arrived at Delaware. During Muir's three years at Delaware, Ross improved his record from 7-24 (3-15 conference) to 14-17 (8-10 conf.) to 18-14 (12-6 conf.). In that situation, Muir did stick with a losing coach. But it seems to have worked out for him. There's some similarity to Bowlsby, who stuck with Dawkins for a couple losing seasons before having some success this last season.

Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention Kevin Kelly, the football coach Muir hired at Georgetown after Muir fired Benson. Kelly had three losing seasons under Muir, and Muir stuck with him. After Muir's departure, Kelly had two more losing seasons before going 8-3 last year. So that was another situation in which Muir stayed with a losing coach, though the coach did eventually win. I guess Muir's record, then, is mixed -- quick trigger in one situation, but patience in other situations, which eventually was rewarded.

Give Wlat his due, Terry - Redrum - 07-28-2012

His last team was 1-11.  Thank, you UW.

And,  OK,  Muir passed the first half of the Bowlsby Test.

Re: Bernard Muir is the new AD - terry - 07-28-2012

You're right, it was 1-11. It just seemed like 0-11!  ???