(06-18-2013 11:07 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(06-18-2013 10:46 AM)Afflicted Wrote:  A "Rice guy" who is actually qualified to be an AD may be very hard to come by. It's a very tough job that requires a unique skill set and a lot of experience. You can't just throw a Rice grad in the position and think everything will be fine. Go out and find the best candidate in the country who is interested.

Herring, thou art red. No one is suggesting grabbing an unqualified Rice grad. What we are suggesting is that there are, without doubt, multiple qualified Rice grads. Grab one of them because we know they will add a passion and drive to the job that a hired gun can't match, plus we don't have to worry as much about them deserting as soon as they get an offer from a more prominent school.
I understand Owl 69/70/75's argument that we shouldn't fear having a good AD hired away as long as Rice can hire a capable replacement. But that's the rub, right?!? I'd rather trust the powers that be to make one good hire that will stay for a while than trust them to make one good hire, followed by another good hire, followed by another good hire. That's a hard proposition in a well-run organization. That is very difficult when your organization (Rice athletics) has not functioned well and is at the bottom looking up.

How hard would it have been to hire either Sayler or Bobby Williams to replace CDC? Had we hired either one, we would not be having this dilemma today. And IIRC correctly, both made it to the short list. So it's not that hard to hire a capable replacement. We just have to eschew stupidity.