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Lengthy mutterings about strategy for hiring faculty....and coaches
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edinburger Online
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Lengthy mutterings about strategy for hiring faculty....and coaches
For a while UTPA and then UTRGV had this strategy for moving up to research university status: we'd try to poach senior level, somewhat famous professors from top 50 universities. We spent a lot of money doing it.

It was almost entirely a failure. The main reason was lack of humility, a failure to be realistic about ourselves. We did not ask the obvious question: "Why would a successful person at a top 50 university want to give it up and move to an obscure university most people couldn't locate on a map?". Many times we found out the hard way there was an issue at their previous job. Even the hires who *weren't* essentially being kicked out by their old employer, were not particularly successful here. Why? They didn't have the level of facilities, resources, and staff to which they had become accustomed.

Eventually we learned our lesson, and we now focus our hiring on new entry level talent who will grow within our system, have reasonable expectations, are willing to make their own copies and grade their own papers, and occasionally make us proud by earning some national recognition.

Which brings me to coaches. Athletic rankings are different from academic rankings but for UTRGV it's much the same: the honest truth is we're D1 but at the low end.

In my opinion, for a school like us it's a mistake to try and hire head coaches away from D1 mid-majors higher up the RPI/NET rankings. If we consider it, we need to bluntly ask ourselves why this person wants to move down - and it is down. If there isn't a real solid reason, like family here, maybe it's not a good idea.

Seems like we should try to hire coaches who are assistants at P5s, and now want their own team; or coaches who have been outstanding at D2 or NAIA and want to try their hand at D1. At least there's a chance of finding an undiscovered diamond (think Lowery, Mantrana, Hill) and if it doesn't work out the contract's probably less expensive to buy out.

No reference intended to any unnamed current coaches, of course. Just general observation.

I'd be interested to know what the other few UTRGV fans here think, and fans of other WAC teams down below the 150 mark.
05-14-2022 04:30 PM
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WACfan86 Offline
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RE: Lengthy mutterings about strategy for hiring faculty....and coaches
(05-14-2022 04:30 PM)edinburger Wrote:  For a while UTPA and then UTRGV had this strategy for moving up to research university status: we'd try to poach senior level, somewhat famous professors from top 50 universities. We spent a lot of money doing it.

It was almost entirely a failure. The main reason was lack of humility, a failure to be realistic about ourselves. We did not ask the obvious question: "Why would a successful person at a top 50 university want to give it up and move to an obscure university most people couldn't locate on a map?". Many times we found out the hard way there was an issue at their previous job. Even the hires who *weren't* essentially being kicked out by their old employer, were not particularly successful here. Why? They didn't have the level of facilities, resources, and staff to which they had become accustomed.

Eventually we learned our lesson, and we now focus our hiring on new entry level talent who will grow within our system, have reasonable expectations, are willing to make their own copies and grade their own papers, and occasionally make us proud by earning some national recognition.

Which brings me to coaches. Athletic rankings are different from academic rankings but for UTRGV it's much the same: the honest truth is we're D1 but at the low end.

In my opinion, for a school like us it's a mistake to try and hire head coaches away from D1 mid-majors higher up the RPI/NET rankings. If we consider it, we need to bluntly ask ourselves why this person wants to move down - and it is down. If there isn't a real solid reason, like family here, maybe it's not a good idea.

Seems like we should try to hire coaches who are assistants at P5s, and now want their own team; or coaches who have been outstanding at D2 or NAIA and want to try their hand at D1. At least there's a chance of finding an undiscovered diamond (think Lowery, Mantrana, Hill) and if it doesn't work out the contract's probably less expensive to buy out.

No reference intended to any unnamed current coaches, of course. Just general observation.

I'd be interested to know what the other few UTRGV fans here think, and fans of other WAC teams down below the 150 mark.

I see your point but those hires (Lowery, Mantrana, and Hill) were all Chris King hires... Chasse Conque has Matt Figger, Mark Foster, and Raheem Hancock are all TBD when it comes to success.
05-15-2022 10:56 AM
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