Athletic Director Search Committee

[GeauxCajuns]

The guy from OU (and originally from Lafayette) would be far from a "good ole boy" hire. He's almost 30 years removed from Lafayette. His tie is Terry Don Phillips, and that's a positive.

That said, he was told he isn't going to get the job. There are 2 finalists and he isn't one of them.

Wasn't referring to him, or the lsu guy

[ragin2112cajun]

Mike Alford was a stud at Acadiana High in baseball in the late 80s

[ragin2112cajun]

Mike has put together an impressive body of work outside & away from Lafayette. Hope he would get a fair chance at the position.

[CajunAlum10]

My only concern with Alford, is that he has seemed to move around to different jobs QUITE A LOT. I mean, I don't expext our next AD to stay here forever. But I want someone that's fully vested in what we are doing here and not looking to jump at the next cool opportunity (not saying Alford is definitely this way, it's just something I noticed from reading his bio.)

My pick would be Nunez. He's young, probably very motivated to make a name for himself on his own accord, and has TONS OF EXPERIENCE in literally almost every category we are looking for. He could be a slam dunk.

[Crawfish]

It looks like Alford has a fantastic resume, but maybe more for a full time sports marketing type guy. By that, I mean the marketing end of it is very important, but it does not look like he has been at the university level enough to have been involved in hiring coaches. I have a feeling we will need to make a big coaching hire in the next year or so.

[cb089]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0bH3UCVa0g

Here's some kind of Tiger TV interview with Eddie Nunez. Apparently he's pretty heavily involved in facilities fundraising/projects at LSU. Given where we currently are in our athletics master plan, that background could certainly be an asset.

[CajunT]

It looks like Alford has a fantastic resume, but maybe more for a full time sports marketing type guy. By that, I mean the marketing end of it is very important, but it does not look like he has been at the university level enough to have been involved in hiring coaches. I have a feeling we will need to make a big coaching hire in the next year or so.

I don't want to get too deep into vetting resumes right now considering the new AD maybe announced in the next week or two. But the most important job of an AD is fundraising and the second is hiring coaches. That criteria has been defined by a number of successful administrators from Alden, Phillips, Neinas and others. Our #1 need as an athletic program is funding and raising revenue. Alford's experience with the Dallas Cowboys was not just about marketing, but corporate sponsorship. Corporate connections and funds are vital to our athletic program going forward.

I also agree that hiring coaches is important, but understand that most of these candidates dealt primarily with minor sports and coaches, not football and basketball which are your revenue sports.

I don't necessarily care about anyone that is looking to stay for a decade, or for life. But the new AD must be able to relate to our current staff, alumni and RCAF members with respect and have the willingness to build relationships and lead with a vision.

[DaddyCajun]

What kind of money y'all think UL will put out there for the new AD?

[cajun4life]

What kind of money y'all think UL will put out there for the new AD?

I've heard $450k

[duggie85]

I don't want to get too deep into vetting resumes right now considering the new AD maybe announced in the next week or two. But the most important job of an AD is fundraising and the second is hiring coaches. That criteria has been defined by a number of successful administrators from Alden, Phillips, Neinas and others. Our #1 need as an athletic program is funding and raising revenue. Alford's experience with the Dallas Cowboys was not just about marketing, but corporate sponsorship. Corporate connections and funds are vital to our athletic program going forward.

I also agree that hiring coaches is important, but understand that most of these candidates dealt primarily with minor sports and coaches, not football and basketball which are your revenue sports.

I don't necessarily care about anyone that is looking to stay for a decade, or for life. But the new AD must be able to relate to our current staff, alumni and RCAF members with respect and have the willingness to build relationships and lead with a vision.

T, out of curiosity, why would relationships for conference realignment & better scheduling, media rights/dealings, coaches (as stated), not be more important since we have a head of RCAF now dedicated to fundraising?