(08-25-2017 06:20 AM)queenladybug817 Wrote: I like Scott and I think he will do well. My only critique of him is that he's first and foremost a salesman. Thankfully, that always on salesmanship comes from a genuine passion for ETSU and it shows that he has tremendous pride in the school and athletic programs. That makes it much less annoying than it can be when others have that personality trait. As long as he can continue with that passion and pride, he has the potential to grow the program to great heights.
I agree with about all that, but that "salesmanship" trait *
could* come at the expense of strategic thinking. And strategic thinking is what Sander has excelled at. To an almost mind-boggling degree. If Sander isn't a literal genius (by whatever definition(s) you want to use), he's darn close. Carter is no dummy - don't get me wrong - but I haven't yet seen great intellectual prowess demonstrated. To be fair tho.....one couldn't see it right away in Sander, either. (But it didn't take long.) Scott has been around the program enough, and I've interacted with him enough, to know there *appears* to be a small step down there on a pure intellectual level. But of course his passion walks tall, and should serve us well. Also fortunately, not everyone (hardly) at the top levels of intercollegiate athletics is a "genius". But you might be surprised at how bright many of the presidents and ADs in the SoCon are. Several are WAY sharp.
Also, and this may come across as nit-picking, but I think Scott's very strong loyalty to ETSU could also partially blind him to pitfalls. This point is hard to explain, and I don't think I adequately can in short format. A semi-analogy might be for an athlete to have the mind-set "if I try hard enough I'll succeed". While that's well and good, it's not enough in and of itself. That's where the strategic thinking and strategic vision come in. Hopefully, since Scott's been back here, Sander has helped to hone that (although I've yet to see it). And despite Scott's enthusiasm and experience.........said experience pales, still, in comparison to both Sander and some of his fellow ADs he'll be 'competing' against.
Let me pose a thought experiment............could/would Scott have hired Steve Forbes? Maybe that helps illustrate my point. Discuss amongst yourselves....
Ultimately, I think it'll come down to exactly what challenges lie down the road. We certainly could do far worse, and as I wrote earlier, I'll be cautiously optimistic.