Curious what some of you on here would have for expectations in football and men's basketball.Say in a 5 year contract what would success look like? Then say in a 10 year span, what would success look like. Will 7 and 8 wins in football and bowl invites cut it? How many conference titles will be needed in your view to stay employed. How about Basketball? Will 20 wins be acceptable? How many invites to the Big Dance will be required. I am really curious.
I'm gonna go in a different direction...
1. Fight Sluggo and kick his ass so he'll shut up. Either a Kimura or D'Arce finish and tell him it was Spears.
2. Go to the FCS ranks and look for a HC there. I would also look at ones who had abysmal seasons and see how/if they brought their teams back to winning ways. It shows the HC isn't just used to, or too comfortable with, winning. That he can rebuild a team after a bad season.
3. Be realistic in expectations. I don't expect the HC to win it all in year one, unlike some of the clowns. Year 2? Improvement. Both statistically and in overall look. By year 3, MU should be in the title game and then win it.
4. If my HC hasn't left yet, offer a possible extension with a larger buyout, knowing the P5 is calling.
5. Branch out to youth league programs and coaches. Not sure how many are connected to MU, but reaching out is a great gesture. Inquire about up and coming stars and send them interest letters as well as invites to tour the campus and programs. Same with coaches, a free clinic/seminar for them build good rapport with them, they are MU's eyes and ears for in state talent.
I know this probably already exists but I am unsure of the extent of it or how well it is run/done.
6. Depending on when I was hired, I'd evaluate ALL the programs and their coaches to see who has done what. I'd give all of them a year to basically audition for their jobs. Each program has a different set of expectations so obviously that would be taken into account.
7. Sit down ALL of the head coaches and recruiters we have, and have a week long seminar on how the portal and NIL work. I don't care who I'd bring in for it, but I think none of the coaches actually know the true workings of either.
This would be extended to all interested parties regarding athletes and how they wish to sponsor them as well.
8. Evaluate the facilities and see the cost of repairs/upkeep. Begin to request from donors/fundraise repairs for them, but also take a small percentage of earnings from the program, each season, to be transferred to a separate account, strictly for upkeep to all athletic facilities. This would be allocated to any facility that needs it based on its level of urgency.
9. Examine how other programs do sales for games and tickets. Send scouts to games to see/track the atmosphere, advertising, and other elements that could contribute to GameDay improvement.
10. Contract to local businesses for food, use food trucks and have them prominently parked around the stadium. If needs be, re-negotiate with Sodexo. Despite their terrible food, they actually fund quite a bit for MU.
11. Offer discount tailgate spots for student groups (if this isn't already an official thing) in and around the lot. Increase the social atmosphere through this and the Greeks as well. Each fraternity pays a group rate for 2 spots next to each other for tailgates. Sororities are more strict so they'll just have to show up (no complaints there).
Also extend this to service industry folks, firefighters, police, military, etc. I'm sure these exist but MU should recognize them formally. Again, good rapport.
12. Build a good narrative for the upcoming season. Rakeem Cato was on course to surpass Russell Wilson for consecutive TD passes in college. It didn't get much coverage nationally and not much locally. That would be a story I would plaster everywhere and sell as a reason to come. It's essentially what Jon Elmore had for his scoring title...or else My wouldn't have had as many people come to watch a meaningless l, 4th rate tournament final.
You could easily create a good narrative with the local press...even if that means letting idiots like Landon back into the locker room.
13. Coordinate with other youth leagues to invite them to Marshall games, maybe even have a randomly selected youth league team get a press box pass. It'd be cool for little kids to watch MU from there and their parents would enjoy it too.
14. Create fundraisers for the programs. Have a Ladder Match between members of this board. Winners get Tudor's.
Do at least some of this, and you'll have a pedigree for your programs to be in the hands of a competent HC to be successful.
As AD, I'd want to have any casual person look at what I am doing and say, "well, that guy is doing his job."
