So I'm hearing all this great feedback about him as a law school dean. Great. I'd feel pretty good if he had gotten the job as the Rutgers law school dean. But I'm interested in what he did in his short two years as interim AD. Anybody have any details? NJ.com may have reported on it, but I don't read that garbage.
Did Pat Hobbs make any hires at SHU?
- Thread starter RUSK97
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He hired men's basketball coach Kevin Willard, who would've been dismissed at the end of last year if his contract wasn't so onerous. Accounts vary whether he or the current AD is to blame for Seton Hall outbidding itself for Willard's services.
He hired Kevin Willard, whose career record at SHU is currently 87-82 with just two seasons finishing over .500 in the last 5.
http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=5038671
http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=5038671
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He also hired Anne Donovan as WBB HC. She left SHU after 3 years and a 27-65 overall record.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/c...an-takes-head-job-seton-hall-article-1.171255
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/c...an-takes-head-job-seton-hall-article-1.171255
Lol. But Barchi, Greg Brown and Ken Schmidt were so blown away by his "attributes" that he was hired on the spot as our AD, without any other candidates being considered.
Fact is, both of his hires were extremely risky. Anne Donovan was a WNBA coach, and Willard was a "flavor of the month" type of hire. Willard had a losing record in his 3 years at Iona, following up two 12 win seasons with a 21 win season at which point he left Iona to come to SHU.
He has an 84-80 record at SHU and is 30-60 in conference play.
Fact is, both of his hires were extremely risky. Anne Donovan was a WNBA coach, and Willard was a "flavor of the month" type of hire. Willard had a losing record in his 3 years at Iona, following up two 12 win seasons with a 21 win season at which point he left Iona to come to SHU.
He has an 84-80 record at SHU and is 30-60 in conference play.
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Well, he was interim AD when Gonzo was fired... but I think Msgnr Sheeran actually did the firing. Don't know what went on behind closed doors though, or how hard Hobbs pushed to have him fired.
Where Rutgers is at this point and time, they need an administrator to do all the behind the scenes work (fundraising, planning, renovating, updating, etc) more than hiring new coaches. Don't get me wrong, we need new coaches, in quite a few different spots. But no coach we can afford at this time is going to do anything meaningful without the proper infrastructure to sell to recruits. So we either get that infrastructure in place, or we raise the money to hire excellent coaches.
I don't think they had to be blown away. When the Guv says "you're hiring this guy," what choice did they have?
There's actually some thought that Hobbs could be in line to replace Barchi when the time comes. Any chance, with the med school merger complete, that Barchi would retire before Christie's term is up? Christie is his patron, though I believe he is somewhat popular across party lines (could be wrong on that, though).
Precisely my point. His hiring had nothing to do with whether or not he was actually qualified for the job.
I'm not sure that he is. But he may be qualified for the other position. He's an impressive guy, but not necessarily an athletics administrator. He did clean up the Gonzo mess at The Hall, though, and if Barchi believes that Flood and Julie tainted the department at Rutgers, he's a good guy to make it right.
There could be a silver lining here for you guys...if Hobbs is in line to take Barchi's job, then you are actually recruiting an AD/HC position potentially which is more attractive (better pool of candidates). If the plan is for Hobbs to take his job in 2-3 years, than you can attract a good candidate because 1) They are going to know their boss (now as an AD, later as President), and 2) They know they will either get the AD/Coach or AD position in 2-3 years assuming they don't recruit a bunch of criminals. Hobbs would make a far better President than AD.
Saw this on premium and a good article on how he went about hiring Willard. Both his hires in Willard and Donovan were bad but here's the process for Willard.
Passed on McCaffery and Cooley and how is Mike Rice on that list after Gonzo. This was before Rice came to us but others here have said his reputation preceded him even at that time. Donahue was their 2nd choice after Willard, another coach who failed at BC.
From the article:
In addition to Willard and Mooney, the list would include Robert Morris’ Mike Rice, Vermont’s Mike Lonergan, Cornell’s Steve Donahue, Fairfield’s Ed Cooley and former Pirate star and Milwaukee Bucks assistant Adrian Griffin.
And, of course, Siena’s Fran McCaffery.
According to two people with knowledge of the search process, McCaffery didn’t present “the sincerity behind it that (Seton Hall) wanted.” The people requested anonymity so as to not publicly disparage McCaffery. McCaffery had been in Atlanta earlier that day, interviewing for the Iowa job.
Even though Seton Hall came away from the interview enjoying the Siena coach, something was off.
As one person put it: “He was the safe choice.”
http://www.nj.com/college-basketbal...anded_its_man_the_kevin_willard_timeline.html
Passed on McCaffery and Cooley and how is Mike Rice on that list after Gonzo. This was before Rice came to us but others here have said his reputation preceded him even at that time. Donahue was their 2nd choice after Willard, another coach who failed at BC.
From the article:
In addition to Willard and Mooney, the list would include Robert Morris’ Mike Rice, Vermont’s Mike Lonergan, Cornell’s Steve Donahue, Fairfield’s Ed Cooley and former Pirate star and Milwaukee Bucks assistant Adrian Griffin.
And, of course, Siena’s Fran McCaffery.
According to two people with knowledge of the search process, McCaffery didn’t present “the sincerity behind it that (Seton Hall) wanted.” The people requested anonymity so as to not publicly disparage McCaffery. McCaffery had been in Atlanta earlier that day, interviewing for the Iowa job.
Even though Seton Hall came away from the interview enjoying the Siena coach, something was off.
As one person put it: “He was the safe choice.”
http://www.nj.com/college-basketbal...anded_its_man_the_kevin_willard_timeline.html
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