07-27-2012, 01:59 PM
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.
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.