Rutgers reported to be hiring a booster as a recruiting coordinator
NJ Star-Ledger is reporting that Rutgers is on the verge of hiring a booster with no football experience as a recruiting coordinator. This should be interesting.
Stewart Mandel with an interesting take on why it may be a good move that more programs should consider (hiring people outside of football, not the booster part). The one problem with it is that he is a booster and has no football experience. I would still think you would want "GM" or someone organizing recruiting to have at least some background of working in football.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
As a booster includes season ticket purchasers, I'd think a sizable number of hires are boosters. It's a fairly broad definition.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
And in this case by some reports, this booster is more than just a season ticket holder.
February 12th, 2015 at 6:31 PM ^
Why would you want someone with GM experience? What does recruiting have to do with the auto industry? /s
February 12th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
I heard about it during the mgoblog segment on WTKA.
February 12th, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^
Today's segment was awesome.
"Workers of the night" had me rolling as did them ripping on "Hail and Unite".
WTKA hasn't had an afternoon show in years since the Big Show when it was Jeff Defran and his weekly infamous RR rants.
They should make it the mgoblog show in the afternoons. Brian and maybe Ace or Seth could do a full call-in show maybe twice a week. That'd be great and it would certainly get ratings.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
Seems like a very Dave Brandon move.
February 12th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
The last 2 Athletic Director hires at Michigan had zero experience as an Athletic Director but I don't think it would be a stretch if the were boosters. Did FREEP run a story, "Michigan Hires Booster With no Experience as New AD"
February 12th, 2015 at 2:15 PM ^
I think the point is regarding the perception of this move. We're constantly educating boosters how to not run afoul of NCAA rules. Boosters can cause the university a lot of headaches. So what did Rutgers do, they hired one!
February 12th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^
How do you even find things like this?
February 12th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
They find me!
February 12th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^
What's the downside? You're Rutgers.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:40 PM ^
Interesting logic in the article, but a major trip-up is that college teams, much more so than pro teams, are dependent on the coaches' systems. And we already see instances in the pros where the GM and the coach disagree on talent because it's not a system fit. That'd be much more so in college. So a recruiting coordinator is still dependent on the head coach to identify the talent. And that's pretty much the whole recruiting game right there - identifying players that you both want and can get.
The rest is admin and marketing. And a lot of it still has to fall on the head coach, because the recruiting coordinator might say, "I've set up Coach Joe to be in Chicago today to meet with so-and-so" and the head coach goes "nuh-uh, I need him here today." When the head coach is doing that - or when it's someone on the coaching staff - the communication is a lot easier. So admin is still not entirely in the hands of the "college GM" either. That leaves marketing. I'm guessing coaches would love to have some of that stuff taken out of their hands, but then you've hired a marketing manager, not a recruiting coordinator.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
By current NCAA rules that are unlikely to change, only the 10 person coaching staff can make off-campus recruiting visits or initiate phone calls. Prospects can call the recruiting coordinator, but I do not think the recruiting coordinator can make phone calls to recruit players.
So a recruiting coordinator's job boils down to what you said: admin and marketing. Organize on-campus visits for recruits, social media marketing, organize and prepare recruiting film, and recruiting schedules for coaches. You don't need a CEO or an executive to do that job.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
February 12th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
Rutgers has boosters? What is the difference between a booster at this job and a booster as AD? Both of our last two ADs I think would qualify as boosters.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
and neither one had any AD experience, although they both did play football in college.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
Looks like they just want to go another route in recruting. The guy does Strategic Planning and Marketing. Sounds like a fit to me. He doesnt have to play football, to tell someone about the school.
Im sure Tyrone Wheatley has given some money to UofM and he does recruting.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
In other news Penn State is hiring Mike McQueary as the director of the campus child development center.
February 12th, 2015 at 8:46 PM ^
February 12th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
The part I found interesting is that he's married to the wife of a former hedge fund billionaire (http://nymag.com/news/features/2007/hedgefunds/30343/) and a former banker herself. Obviously, this guy has some cash to burn.
February 12th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
Where's the outrage over that?
February 12th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^
whoops, i left out "former".
February 12th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
It's not a bad idea in theory, but it just feels like it will be filled with miscommunications and dissension between the HC and the recruiting coordinator in the event that both sides are not on the same page all the time, which is a given.
I just remember Bill Parcells complaining while he was the coach in Dallas that the reason he left NE was because he was expected to coach the food without picking the groceries, and how infuriarting it was to ttry to get his system implemented with players being drafted/signed outside of his control. Now, this is a different situation because you expect the coaches to have more control than a traditional GM, but during the heart of the season I could absolutely see a couple of coaches ignoring recruiting to the extent that when they finally start paying attention they realize there are a couple of kids on their board they don't need but the coordinator liked for whatever reason. Could get thorny.
February 12th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
It's a bad idea for the opposite reasons that hiring Wayne Lyon's mom is a good idea. A recruiting coordinator that has never played and doesn't know the pressure & lifestyle of football players cannot relate to them.
I'm not advocating hiring a star like Charles Woodson, but somebody who played (ideally at that school) and can relate to the recruit.
As an aside, what "business executive" quits to become a low level staffer at Rutgers?
February 12th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
Jeff Towers, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is an "executive with 30 years of experience leading robust marketing, communications and fundraising programs in some of the largest nonprofit organizations in America,''
I will admit that I read this person's background and am sort of intrigued as to how this would shake itself out in a recruiting coordinator role. On the surface, it might seem like a strange move, but I get the motivation to go this direction - they want the Rutgers name out there in a way that it is not. If that's what this guy is going to be doing while others do the active recruiting, that's not necessarily a bad move.
February 12th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^
February 12th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^
be general manager of a major league baseball team?