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Hey did we just hire a BiG AD with NO football experience?

Yes. Our HC, whoever it is, will have a tremendous amount of power because of it too. I don't see this as a negative
 
I heard there was a tiger on the hiring committee.

calvin-and-hobbes.jpg
 
he's got plenty of experience that will serve him well in his position as AD:


http://law.shu.edu/Faculty/Documents/upload/Patrick_Hobbs_CV.pdf
Well we can tell that he isn't very detail-oriented. The first bullet point of the AD section of his resume has a typo.

That being said, not too many people can pivot mid-career into a very competitive space and be very successful. You can't often build relationships and subject matter expertise on the fly. Here's to hoping he can pull it off. But hey he has some political connections and this is NJ, so......

At the very least, a law school dean probably will be very measured when speaking to the press, so he crosses that low bar that the imbecile JH couldn't manage.
 
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Bill Martin, a highly successful AD at UM had zero experience as AD beforehand. He was a real estate guy. He is also seen as one of their best AD's of all time.

I'm not saying this guy is going to be any good, and I'd rather get a guy that has previous experience at all of it, but this is what we have. There's nothing saying he can't be good. The other side of that coin though is - there's not much saying he can't be bad.

FWIW, I checked out the SHU board. It's pretty unanimous over there, that they think this is classic RU and are happy to be rid of him.

Shrug.
 
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Does it really matter if he has football experience? If we make the right hire at head coach, the head coach is basically the head of football operations. The AD is primarily there for other reasons. Those reasons include fundraising which I'm thinking Hobbs will be great at with his connections.
 
Does not seem to be a problem at Notre Dame. They have an OK football program, no?

Swarbrick was born March 19, 1954 in Yonkers, New York, the son of John Brian and Mary Catharine (née Comey) Swarbrick.[5] He earned an undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) in economics from Notre Dame in 1976 and a law degree from Stanford in 1980.[5] He practiced law for 28 years and was a partner in the law firm of Baker & Daniels immediately prior to accepting his position at Notre Dame.
 
Bill Martin, a highly successful AD at UM had zero experience as AD beforehand. He was a real estate guy. He is also seen as one of their best AD's of all time.

I'm not saying this guy is going to be any good, and I'd rather get a guy that has previous experience at all of it, but this is what we have. There's nothing saying he can't be good. The other side of that coin though is - there's not much saying he can't be bad.

FWIW, I checked out the SHU board. It's pretty unanimous over there, that they think this is classic RU and are happy to be rid of him.

Shrug.

Not true. He is an outstanding leader and is extremely well thought of . He will do a terrific job at RU.
 
Does not seem to be a problem at Notre Dame. They have an OK football program, no?

Swarbrick was born March 19, 1954 in Yonkers, New York, the son of John Brian and Mary Catharine (née Comey) Swarbrick.[5] He earned an undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) in economics from Notre Dame in 1976 and a law degree from Stanford in 1980.[5] He practiced law for 28 years and was a partner in the law firm of Baker & Daniels immediately prior to accepting his position at Notre Dame.
Dude, ND is one of the most storied programs in the nation and has the strongest foundation in football. Swarbrick is probably on autopilot 95% of the time.
 
This is the obvious downside of this hire. RU has gone from someone who had experience in a program with a serious football team but who didn't have responsibility for football to someone who had experience in a program with no football team. And his very first task is going to be to hire a football coach.

Personally, football is not the most important thing to me (sorry), but I recognize that a strong football team is good for the whole department, so this worries me.
 
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He will be fine....this is no different than Bob Mulcahey. Top administrator who is well connected throughout the state and knows the "politics" and how to navigate. The fact that he has a reputation as a great fundraiser is an added plus. now let's make the right hire for head football coach.
 
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Bill Martin, a highly successful AD at UM had zero experience as AD beforehand. He was a real estate guy. He is also seen as one of their best AD's of all time.

I'm not saying this guy is going to be any good, and I'd rather get a guy that has previous experience at all of it, but this is what we have. There's nothing saying he can't be good. The other side of that coin though is - there's not much saying he can't be bad.

FWIW, I checked out the SHU board. It's pretty unanimous over there, that they think this is classic RU and are happy to be rid of him.

Shrug.

Those morons on the SHU BBall board are only thinking from an basketball perspective, and they themselves asked if an AD has to fundraise. Um.

Those RU fans who actually went to SHU law and saw firsthand the things he did there think this is a great hire. He won't embarrass us like Hermann and he can fundraise. 70% of SHU law alumni donated during the last campaign?? That's crazy high. Even I donated although I swore I wouldn't until my loans were paid off...
 
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we needed a former dean of a law school to straighten this out--tells you how bad it is
 
He will be fine....this is no different than Bob Mulcahey. Top administrator who is well connected throughout the state and knows the "politics" and how to navigate. The fact that he has a reputation as a great fundraiser is an added plus. now let's make the right hire for head football coach.

Plus excellent academic credentials, plus he has actually worked as, The Athletic Director. Great hire!
 
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This is the obvious downside of this hire. RU has gone from someone who had experience in a program with a serious football team but who didn't have responsibility for football to someone who had experience in a program with no football team. And his very first task is going to be to hire a football coach.

Personally, football is not the most important thing to me (sorry), but I recognize that a strong football team is good for the whole department, so this worries me.
Seems to have worked out for Baylor and Ian McCaw who was AD an Northeastern prior to coming to Baylor in 2003. And don't tell me Northeastern has a serious football team. Like RU, Baylor was broken in 2003, and look at what McCaw did.

Read the linked article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbe...reatest-organizational-turnarounds-in-sports/
 
He will be fine....this is no different than Bob Mulcahey. Top administrator who is well connected throughout the state and knows the "politics" and how to navigate. The fact that he has a reputation as a great fundraiser is an added plus. now let's make the right hire for head football coach.

In multiple emails among friends today I have referred to Hobbs as "Mulcahy 2.0 without the political enmity". Hobbs appears to be, if not universally liked, at least universally respected among NJ officials at multiple levels. Bob, unfortunately, had enemies in high places before he took the job at Rutgers.

He is also extremely well-connected to a lot of very big money people. I'm not talking about Jeff "I'll write you a six-figure check if you make me Recruiting Coordinator" Towers. I'm talking about many people at the Greg Brown level. I think the landscape of Rutgers donations is about to get very interesting.

This is a good hire. I'll have to wait to pass judgment on his passion for Rutgers athletics, but I have zero doubt that he has all the tools to be great at his job.
 
Not sure when the appropriate time to discuss this buried lead.

He also had no experience being the Dean of a college, and he excelled.

This is an executive position. We need an excelled executive to fill it. Hobbs has demonstrated his superlative executive ability. When you meet him, you will understand the hire. It won't take him long to exceed your expectations. He's the kind of guy who always seems to end up at the schools that always beat us. He's a winner and he's very smart. I'm so happy with this hire.
 
Given the assortment of critical compliance issues facing the Rutgers Athletic program, it would be hard to find somebody with extensive "Football" experience who would also have the wealth of experience in these critical issue areas - and had been intimately involved in major fund raising and major athletic facility planning, funding and construction.
There may be individuals with this kind of background - but it is likely a very short list.
 
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In multiple emails among friends today I have referred to Hobbs as "Mulcahy 2.0 without the political enmity". Hobbs appears to be, if not universally liked, at least universally respected among NJ officials at multiple levels. Bob, unfortunately, had enemies in high places before he took the job at Rutgers.

He is also extremely well-connected to a lot of very big money people. I'm not talking about Jeff "I'll write you a six-figure check if you make me Recruiting Coordinator" Towers. I'm talking about many people at the Greg Brown level. I think the landscape of Rutgers donations is about to get very interesting.

This is a good hire. I'll have to wait to pass judgment on his passion for Rutgers athletics, but I have zero doubt that he has all the tools to be great at his job.

From what you are saying that makes it an even better hire IMO! It sounds like Hobbs won't have anyone out to get him like Mulcahey did in the end.
 
So who exactly is vetting candidates for our next HC? The committee is Hobbs, Schmidt, Brown and Barchi. Is this truly paving the way for a Schiano return? Are we not considering anyone else? I guess Schiano is a known entity to Schmidt as well as Brown? I guess the decisiveness is good but I would hope a couple of other names have been in the mix.
 
He's connected in Trenton, can raise money and has a strong risk/compliance background. Those are the qualities we need in an AD.
 
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So who exactly is vetting candidates for our next HC? The committee is Hobbs, Schmidt, Brown and Barchi. Is this truly paving the way for a Schiano return? Are we not considering anyone else? I guess Schiano is a known entity to Schmidt as well as Brown? I guess the decisiveness is good but I would hope a couple of other names have been in the mix.

I think that's quite possible, as it would be consistent with what happened in hiring Hobbs as the AD. The Julie hate is so strong among some people that they're just skipping over what actually happened there - Barchi basically did exactly the opposite of what was done last time, made no effort at all to do a national search or find the best possible candidate and kept the whole thing as close to the vest as possible. In other words, it was a complete improvisation. I'm going to guess that one person suggested Hobbs and that was the end of the candidate list.
 
I think that's quite possible, as it would be consistent with what happened in hiring Hobbs as the AD. The Julie hate is so strong among some people that they're just skipping over what actually happened there - Barchi basically did exactly the opposite of what was done last time, made no effort at all to do a national search or find the best possible candidate and kept the whole thing as close to the vest as possible. In other words, it was a complete improvisation. I'm going to guess that one person suggested Hobbs and that was the end of the candidate list.
Last time we commissioned a nationwide search, had a search committee, and look what happened. The best hires I have made have been on the personal recommendation of trusted colleagues and definitely not from recruiters or culling from piles of resumes.
 
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Cabbage is right. Christie just stuck RU with a political appointee who knows absolutely nothing about managing an athletic department. He has absolutely no experience in any sports capacity other then hiring Kevin Willard. Up to now, Barchi and Christie have not been willing to spend money on Football and basketball. It has been all about the medical school merger.
 
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