ADCL

[secchamp]

Has any AD in history ever had such a tough first year plus? Having to deal with a pandemic, social justice issues, firing and hiring a football coach, beginning a huge fundraising campaign, and firing and hiring a women's basketball coach has made for a busy year. I for one am excited to be a Commodore right now and love the direction things are headed. I know some thought ADCL was the easy hire, but not the best how. I think she is going to prove the doubters wrong. The wbb hire was one of the quickest I've ever seen. I like that we didn't hire a search firm and she just went out and got who she wanted.

[AnkrDwn]

Has any AD in history ever had such a tough first year plus? Having to deal with a pandemic, social justice issues, firing and hiring a football coach, beginning a huge fundraising campaign, and firing and hiring a women's basketball coach has made for a busy year. I for one am excited to be a Commodore right now and love the direction things are headed. I know some thought ADCL was the easy hire, but not the best how. I think she is going to prove the doubters wrong. The wbb hire was one of the quickest I've ever seen. I like that we didn't hire a search firm and she just went out and got who she wanted.

It's great she went out and got exactly who she wanted. I'm sure a search firm was used. Search firms don't just help to identify candidates. They also do a deep dive into candidate's backgrounds. Hiring coaches isn't simply about W's & L's. Ever wonder why the "No brainer/Homerun hire" coach didn't get a certain job? Probably something identified during their interview/vetting process.

[vandy05]

Agree with all of that. She seems to be doing a great job and appears prepared for the task at hand. She clearly had Coach Ralph lined up as a target of interest from the get go and went and got her.

[Doresince89]

She is doing remarkable. Time will tell whether the football and WBB hires were successful but I hope the blame is not placed on ADCL for any failings that might occur. She went out and got coaches to take the positions that I feel were below their resumes. These 2 coaches she nabbed could have gone to better situations at other schools. That is the mark of a great AD.

[alathIN]

It's great she went out and got exactly who she wanted. I'm sure a search firm was used. Search firms don't just help to identify candidates. They also do a deep dive into candidate's backgrounds. Hiring coaches isn't simply about W's & L's. Ever wonder why the "No brainer/Homerun hire" coach didn't get a certain job? Probably something identified during their interview/vetting process.

The search firms also give everyone cover to say:
"No, I haven't talked to anyone at Vanderbilt about that opening."
"No, we haven't talked to Coach Bubba about our opening."

Also saves everyone involved the hassle if the university or the coach have some kind of "deal killer" requirement they are going to insist on. It's difficult for the involved parties to get to the heart of these kind of things. A neutral middleman(middleperson?) can more rapidly help them figure out whether there is any point in further discussion.

[alathIN]

People thought ADCL was an idiot when whatzername was the interim chancellor and ADCL knew that nobody had her six, and if she stepped out of line or asked too much she'd get torpedoed.

Then she got a supportive chancellor and almost instantly, by pure total coincidence, her IQ went up by about 50 points.

It's really difficult to be good at your job if your immediate superior doesn't care about you or your entire department.

[dallasdore]

I'm not sure whether there were "better" candidates available or not, but ADCSL was a no-brainer hire. She's in the Vandy bloodline, she's done her time in the AD department here, and I just had a gut feeling that she was not going to just step in line with how things have been going. I think she had/has the desire to be great. So far, as an outsider I'd have to give her an A, especially after shaking things up with the women's BB program.

I know I've been a big proponent of ADCSL, which not everyone agrees with and that's fine. We all have our opinions. All I know is I really have had a great feeling about her in this position for quite some time.

We've had two categories of AD's in the past: 1) kindof acceptable; and 2) horrible. CSL is in the process of adding a third category to this. Yes, some things may fail. And yes, she probably has novel (for Vandy) support from Diermeyer based on the accounts I've read. However, I think we will all be hailing her as our greatest ever in the not-too-distant future.

[vandy05]

I'm not sure whether there were "better" candidates available or not, but ADCSL was a no-brainer hire. She's in the Vandy bloodline, she's done her time in the AD department here, and I just had a gut feeling that she was not going to just step in line with how things have been going. I think she had/has the desire to be great. So far, as an outsider I'd have to give her an A, especially after shaking things up with the women's BB program.

I know I've been a big proponent of ADCSL, which not everyone agrees with and that's fine. We all have our opinions. All I know is I really have had a great feeling about her in this position for quite some time.

We've had two categories of AD's in the past: 1) kindof acceptable; and 2) horrible. CSL is in the process of adding a third category to this. Yes, some things may fail. And yes, she probably has novel (for Vandy) support from Diermeyer based on the accounts I've read. However, I think we will all be hailing her as our greatest ever in the not-too-distant future.

Some things WILL fail. But you can't argue with how the process has gone with these two hires. I join you in being a big proponent of ADCSL (if it wasn't already obvious from posts on the WBB board).