Sluggo 72’s thread got me to thinkin’ ….

[W-S HerdFan]

……about all of the AD’s we’ve had over the last 50+ years of MU athletics. My goal with this thread is to hopefully generate responses from members regarding their impressions from when they were students, and then what has been observed as adults and now senior perspectives.
Here goes:
The 1st one I remember was Charlie Kautz. He was on the plane that night coming back from Greenville. As a 11 y.o. kid, I offer no comment. From what I have been told Kautz was a long-time Marshall employee, and I would guess he was promoted from within the A.D. after the MAC fiasco in 1967-68 (Green Duke can confirm).

I then went through puberty, and everything from 1972-1977 is prettty fuzzy!
Enrolled in 1977 @ MU. I know Sluggo mentioned Lynn Snyder, and he was probably in this era. The next name I remember is Lee Moon, probably the least qualified AD we’ve had……until Lance West comes along! He never could get my name right. Kept calling me “Jack”. Really nice guy,
just way in over his head.
Skip ahead to Kayo.
I know, a horrible choice who did a even horribler job for at least 5 years longer than he should have been allowed to. He waltzes into the arguably zenith year of Marshall sports (1997) and rides that pony well past 2003, makes a poor choice for HC in Mark Snyder, drives the athletics programs into a gaping hole in the ground, then rides off chuckling in 2009.
We then hire Mike Hamrick. The most accomplished & experienced AD in the history of Herd sports. And he oversees the most successful facilities construction/improvements ever in the history of M.U. He is here for 12 years, the same length of time as Marcum.
Hamrick is fortunate in that he comes in when Steve Kopp is President, again imo the best leader we’ve had ever until Brad Smith.
My bottom line:
Hamrick moved us forward. I believe Christian Spears has a chance to take our program’s much higher.
Thoughts?

 

[herdfan06]

 

[GreenDuke]

……about all of the AD’s we’ve had over the last 50+ years of MU athletics. My goal with this thread is to hopefully generate responses from members regarding their impressions from when they were students, and then what has been observed as adults and now senior perspectives.
Here goes:
The 1st one I remember was Charlie Kautz. He was on the plane that night coming back from Greenville. As a 11 y.o. kid, I offer no comment. From what I have been told Kautz was a long-time Marshall employee, and I would guess he was promoted from within the A.D. after the MAC fiasco in 1967-68 (Green Duke can confirm).

I then went through puberty, and everything from 1972-1977 is prettty fuzzy!
Enrolled in 1977 @ MU. I know Sluggo mentioned Lynn Snyder, and he was probably in this era. The next name I remember is Lee Moon, probably the least qualified AD we’ve had……until Lance West comes along! He never could get my name right. Kept calling me “Jack”. Really nice guy,
just way in over his head.
Skip ahead to Kayo.
I know, a horrible choice who did a even horribler job for at least 5 years longer than he should have been allowed to. He waltzes into the arguably zenith year of Marshall sports (1997) and rides that pony well past 2003, makes a poor choice for HC in Mark Snyder, drives the athletics programs into a gaping hole in the ground, then rides off chuckling in 2009.
We then hire Mike Hamrick. The most accomplished & experienced AD in the history of Herd sports. And he oversees the most successful facilities construction/improvements ever in the history of M.U. He is here for 12 years, the same length of time as Marcum.
Hamrick is fortunate in that he comes in when Steve Kopp is President, again imo the best leader we’ve had ever until Brad Smith.
My bottom line:
Hamrick moved us forward. I believe Christian Spears has a chance to take our program’s much higher.
Thoughts?

Kautz got the job after Eddie Barrett was run out of town in the wake of Perry Moss and Ellis Johnson’s creative recruiting practices. I believe Charlie was an upstanding man. He coached with Charlie Snyder and put Rick Tolley in the head coaching job for 1970. He also was there for the Fairfield expansion though I’m not sure how much credit goes to him.

 

[sluggo72]

……about all of the AD’s we’ve had over the last 50+ years of MU athletics. My goal with this thread is to hopefully generate responses from members regarding their impressions from when they were students, and then what has been observed as adults and now senior perspectives.
Here goes:
The 1st one I remember was Charlie Kautz. He was on the plane that night coming back from Greenville. As a 11 y.o. kid, I offer no comment. From what I have been told Kautz was a long-time Marshall employee, and I would guess he was promoted from within the A.D. after the MAC fiasco in 1967-68 (Green Duke can confirm).

I then went through puberty, and everything from 1972-1977 is prettty fuzzy!
Enrolled in 1977 @ MU. I know Sluggo mentioned Lynn Snyder, and he was probably in this era. The next name I remember is Lee Moon, probably the least qualified AD we’ve had……until Lance West comes along! He never could get my name right. Kept calling me “Jack”. Really nice guy,
just way in over his head.
Skip ahead to Kayo.
I know, a horrible choice who did a even horribler job for at least 5 years longer than he should have been allowed to. He waltzes into the arguably zenith year of Marshall sports (1997) and rides that pony well past 2003, makes a poor choice for HC in Mark Snyder, drives the athletics programs into a gaping hole in the ground, then rides off chuckling in 2009.
We then hire Mike Hamrick. The most accomplished & experienced AD in the history of Herd sports. And he oversees the most successful facilities construction/improvements ever in the history of M.U. He is here for 12 years, the same length of time as Marcum.
Hamrick is fortunate in that he comes in when Steve Kopp is President, again imo the best leader we’ve had ever until Brad Smith.
My bottom line:
Hamrick moved us forward. I believe Christian Spears has a chance to take our program’s much higher.
Thoughts?

Mary Snyder was not Bob Marcum’s choice, it was Verna Gibson, many on the board wanted to hire Doc This comes from a then board member

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Congrats Sluggo 72!!!!!!!
1000 posts and counting!!

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Bandwidth alert:
When Sam gets wind of this, his triggered response on Marcum is going to require extra grid capacity!

 

[The Real SamC]

Bandwidth alert:
When Sam gets wind of this, his triggered response on Marcum is going to require extra grid capacity!

Marcum is a liar. He lied to BP, and he lied to me. He destroyed all that had been built from 1985 to that point. We have not, and probably never will, fully recover.

Done.

 

[GeauxHerd]

I was there in the lance west and beginning of Marcum era. Football was good, basketball was decent and softball and tennis had hot chicks that practiced in front of the twin towers cafeteria. Life was good. Obviously behind the scenes the athletic department was starting to trend downward at the time

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

All in all, KO was the worst AD we had. All things considered. Poor West was nowhere near qualified. Many AD's had good and bad points. Nature of the job. I thought Dave Braine was a pretty good AD.

As a side, I thought Scooter Shreeve was the best BG director we've ever had.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

All in all, KO was the worst AD we had. All things considered. Poor West was nowhere near qualified. Many AD's had good and bad points. Nature of the job. I thought Dave Braine was a pretty good AD.

As a side, I thought Scooter Shreeve was the best BG director we've ever had.

Didn’t Braine end up at a Power 5? I want to say ND…

 

[caliherd]

Didn’t Braine end up at a Power 5? I want to say ND…Va Tech after Marshall

 

[i am herdman]

Quote:
I then went through puberty, and everything from 1972-1977 is prettty fuzzy!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Tonycried2]

Georgia Tech and headed the summer games in 96....very capable guy!

 

[RhinoD]

I was at MU during the early days of Marcum... He was a walking cartoon.

The athletes laughed at him, the coaches talked shit about him behind his back, the fans didn't like him... I remembered thinking "How did this guy get hired? And how long can his schtick last?"

I thought Hamrick did a good job, especially in terms of facilities and positioning our programs for success in the Sun Belt... He, and now Spears, have let DD ride the cushy job train too long but it is what it is.

Spears to thus point has been fine... He's hit a home run with the baseball stadium actually getting built and improvements to the Joan ongoing over the next couple years... We will see about coaching hires when this opportunities arise.

 

[Tonycried2]

I was at MU during the early days of Marcum... He was a walking cartoon.

The athletes laughed at him, the coaches talked shit about him behind his back, the fans didn't like him... I remembered thinking "How did this guy get hired? And how long can his schtick last?"

I thought Hamrick did a good job, especially in terms of facilities and positioning our programs for success in the Sun Belt... He, and now Spears, have let DD ride the cushy job train too long but it is what it is.

Spears to thus point has been fine... He's hit a home run with the baseball stadium actually getting built and improvements to the Joan ongoing over the next couple years... We will see about coaching hires when this opportunities arise.

I too like Spears but he's making a mistake sticking with Dan long after he should be sitting in a rocking hair.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

I too like Spears but he's making a mistake sticking with Dan long after he should be sitting in a rocking hair.

I don't think he has a choice.

 

[sluggo72]

I don't think he has a choice.

Spears doesn’t have any control over Danny or Huff

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Spears doesn’t have any control over Danny or Huff

……because neither’s contract is getting ready to run out?

 

[GreenDuke]

Dave Braine was AD at VT when the ‘96 Atlanta games were held. He went to GT in ‘97 and was there until 2006. Probably the sharpest AD ever at MU, probably why he was able to hit the road after a couple of years in Htgn.

 

[ru4_mu2]

……because neither’s contract is getting ready to run out?

.......DD's contract was just up, and renewed.......opportunity was there......

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

Mary Snyder was not Bob Marcum’s choice, it was Verna Gibson, many on the board wanted to hire Doc This comes from a then board member

I was about to say, that wasn't Marcum's choice.
Probably the only thing I'd defend him on.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

I too like Spears but he's making a mistake sticking with Dan long after he should be sitting in a rocking hair.

You think the AD is the sole person to hire/fire someone?
The MU BoG has to approve of what they do.
You also have some bigwigs who can declare they'll not fund something if it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Then you have dumbasses like that Gibson idiot, who need to stay the hell out of running college sports.

I was at MU when Marcum took over.
He is, and always will be, the absolute worst AD in the history of anything.
When he got hired here, some UMass fan wrote MU fans about how terrible of an AD he was up there and single handedly tanked their once prominent basketball program.

I recall during an MU basketball game when we got Donnie Jones, that he (paraphrasing here) "expected DJ to make MU successful, ...and then he'll leave us to go elsewhere better."
At that moment, we were fu*ked...

Regardless of any reality of such statement, you never say that. It diminishes the value of your program.
He felt "MU could do more with less" and never tried to build the program.
I was hopeful he might have gotten hired by UK because of his ties to Coach Calipari...it would have been great because:
1. We'd have gotten rid of him.
2. UK basketball would suffer.
3. Upon realization of #2, the UK fans would have tarred and feathered him before dumping his body out of town...and frankly, we need a good tar and feather.

Once his ass got canned, we got Hamrick.

Solid dude, energetic, did wonders with scheduling and actually got facilities built.

He said, "MU can do more with more" or something like that.
Even with doubters, he got plans and money raised for a baseball stadium, which is both, actions and millions more than anyone before him.
Despite the laughter from Goddamn Sam and a few others on here, he laid the foundations for it.
He got fired, sadly.

Not sure how quickly Spears would have gotten a baseball stadium funded and constructed, but Hamrick had a good bit of the hurdles done.

Without Hamrick, we don't beat Notre Dame...because there is no Notre Dame on the schedule.
He did his job of scheduling MU in a position to win and also building facilities for them to get there.
He built the soccer complex.
He hired Grassie.

One thing overlooked about Hamrick vs. others, is he entered MU leadership when NCAA sports were really starting to take a financial turn and expand the gap between the G5 and P5.
Combine that with the CUSA TV deal that literally crippled much of the funding MU relief upon, it was NOT easy to do what he did.

Marcum is cancer and it felt like it for me with MU sports.
Hamrick certainly made MU sports the most fun for me.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

You think the AD is the sole person to hire/fire someone?
The MU BoG has to approve of what they do.
You also have some bigwigs who can declare they'll not fund something if it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Then you have dumbasses like that Gibson idiot, who need to stay the hell out of running college sports.

I was at MU when Marcum took over.
He is, and always will be, the absolute worst AD in the history of anything.
When he got hired here, some UMass fan wrote MU fans about how terrible of an AD he was up there and single handedly tanked their once prominent basketball program.

I recall during an MU basketball game when we got Donnie Jones, that he (paraphrasing here) "expected DJ to make MU successful, ...and then he'll leave us to go elsewhere better."
At that moment, we were fu*ked...

Regardless of any reality of such statement, you never say that. It diminishes the value of your program.
He felt "MU could do more with less" and never tried to build the program.
I was hopeful he might have gotten hired by UK because of his ties to Coach Calipari...it would have been great because:
1. We'd have gotten rid of him.
2. UK basketball would suffer.
3. Upon realization of #2, the UK fans would have tarred and feathered him before dumping his body out of town...and frankly, we need a good tar and feather.

Once his ass got canned, we got Hamrick.

Solid dude, energetic, did wonders with scheduling and actually got facilities built.

He said, "MU can do more with more" or something like that.
Even with doubters, he got plans and money raised for a baseball stadium, which is both, actions and millions more than anyone before him.
Despite the laughter from Goddamn Sam and a few others on here, he laid the foundations for it.
He got fired, sadly.

Not sure how quickly Spears would have gotten a baseball stadium funded and constructed, but Hamrick had a good bit of the hurdles done.

Without Hamrick, we don't beat Notre Dame...because there is no Notre Dame on the schedule.
He did his job of scheduling MU in a position to win and also building facilities for them to get there.
He built the soccer complex.
He hired Grassie.

One thing overlooked about Hamrick vs. others, is he entered MU leadership when NCAA sports were really starting to take a financial turn and expand the gap between the G5 and P5.
Combine that with the CUSA TV deal that literally crippled much of the funding MU relief upon, it was NOT easy to do what he did.

Marcum is cancer and it felt like it for me with MU sports.
Hamrick certainly made MU sports the most fun for me.

This x 1000

 

[BleedsGreen33]

You think the AD is the sole person to hire/fire someone?
The MU BoG has to approve of what they do.
You also have some bigwigs who can declare they'll not fund something if it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Then you have dumbasses like that Gibson idiot, who need to stay the hell out of running college sports.

I was at MU when Marcum took over.
He is, and always will be, the absolute worst AD in the history of anything.
When he got hired here, some UMass fan wrote MU fans about how terrible of an AD he was up there and single handedly tanked their once prominent basketball program.

I recall during an MU basketball game when we got Donnie Jones, that he (paraphrasing here) "expected DJ to make MU successful, ...and then he'll leave us to go elsewhere better."
At that moment, we were fu*ked...

Regardless of any reality of such statement, you never say that. It diminishes the value of your program.
He felt "MU could do more with less" and never tried to build the program.
I was hopeful he might have gotten hired by UK because of his ties to Coach Calipari...it would have been great because:
1. We'd have gotten rid of him.
2. UK basketball would suffer.
3. Upon realization of #2, the UK fans would have tarred and feathered him before dumping his body out of town...and frankly, we need a good tar and feather.

Once his ass got canned, we got Hamrick.

Solid dude, energetic, did wonders with scheduling and actually got facilities built.

He said, "MU can do more with more" or something like that.
Even with doubters, he got plans and money raised for a baseball stadium, which is both, actions and millions more than anyone before him.
Despite the laughter from Goddamn Sam and a few others on here, he laid the foundations for it.
He got fired, sadly.

Not sure how quickly Spears would have gotten a baseball stadium funded and constructed, but Hamrick had a good bit of the hurdles done.

Without Hamrick, we don't beat Notre Dame...because there is no Notre Dame on the schedule.
He did his job of scheduling MU in a position to win and also building facilities for them to get there.
He built the soccer complex.
He hired Grassie.

One thing overlooked about Hamrick vs. others, is he entered MU leadership when NCAA sports were really starting to take a financial turn and expand the gap between the G5 and P5.
Combine that with the CUSA TV deal that literally crippled much of the funding MU relief upon, it was NOT easy to do what he did.

Marcum is cancer and it felt like it for me with MU sports.
Hamrick certainly made MU sports the most fun for me.

Hamrick did a phenomenal job to dig Marshall out of the gutter from the previous administration. He and Dr. Kopp were committed to turning things around and the did. However the one thing that tarnishes his legacy is allowing Doc to get complacent and in turn the program became the stagnant.

 

[muthed]

You think the AD is the sole person to hire/fire someone?
The MU BoG has to approve of what they do.
You also have some bigwigs who can declare they'll not fund something if it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Then you have dumbasses like that Gibson idiot, who need to stay the hell out of running college sports.

I was at MU when Marcum took over.
He is, and always will be, the absolute worst AD in the history of anything.
When he got hired here, some UMass fan wrote MU fans about how terrible of an AD he was up there and single handedly tanked their once prominent basketball program.

I recall during an MU basketball game when we got Donnie Jones, that he (paraphrasing here) "expected DJ to make MU successful, ...and then he'll leave us to go elsewhere better."
At that moment, we were fu*ked...

Regardless of any reality of such statement, you never say that. It diminishes the value of your program.
He felt "MU could do more with less" and never tried to build the program.
I was hopeful he might have gotten hired by UK because of his ties to Coach Calipari...it would have been great because:
1. We'd have gotten rid of him.
2. UK basketball would suffer.
3. Upon realization of #2, the UK fans would have tarred and feathered him before dumping his body out of town...and frankly, we need a good tar and feather.

Once his ass got canned, we got Hamrick.

Solid dude, energetic, did wonders with scheduling and actually got facilities built.

He said, "MU can do more with more" or something like that.
Even with doubters, he got plans and money raised for a baseball stadium, which is both, actions and millions more than anyone before him.
Despite the laughter from Goddamn Sam and a few others on here, he laid the foundations for it.
He got fired, sadly.

Not sure how quickly Spears would have gotten a baseball stadium funded and constructed, but Hamrick had a good bit of the hurdles done.

Without Hamrick, we don't beat Notre Dame...because there is no Notre Dame on the schedule.
He did his job of scheduling MU in a position to win and also building facilities for them to get there.
He built the soccer complex.
He hired Grassie.

One thing overlooked about Hamrick vs. others, is he entered MU leadership when NCAA sports were really starting to take a financial turn and expand the gap between the G5 and P5.
Combine that with the CUSA TV deal that literally crippled much of the funding MU relief upon, it was NOT easy to do what he did.

Marcum is cancer and it felt like it for me with MU sports.
Hamrick certainly made MU sports the most fun for me.

Good post GHMY.

 

[oldeherd]

First AD I'm familiar with was on campus when I was there, along with Danny D., in the early-mid 60s, a guy named Neal "Whitey" Wilson. Was a local product, IIRC, and rumor was he was pretty well off financially before coming to MU as AD. Another "rumor" was that he actually used some personal monies to support/shore up the Athletic Dept. financially! Only thing I do specifically recall is that Whitey drove the biggest damn Cadillac I'd ever seen up to that time and it really stood out around the campus, and elsewhere around town, I'm sure! Thought Lynn Snyder was pretty competent, but his MU tenure was pretty short so no outstanding accomplishments and/or F*%k Ups! He had been pretty high up in Athletic Administration at a "Power" School, Ilinois, prior to coming to Huntington, and went to another one, Kansas State, I believe, after MU, where he subsequently was eventually canned.

Agree generally that, overall, Mike Hamrick, who was personally likeable, IMO, was probably best all-around AD over the many years I have been a MU student and a long time fan/supporter. Agree, too, about the general assessments of Kayo's Herd tenure. Was a former MU player, and obviously had a lot of local support, initially. He was obviously best at, well, promoting KAYO!! Was an AD at some known schools before MU, like UMass and South Carolina, the latter at which he was either canned or forced to "resign". Braine was also overall pretty competent, and left for "higher" positions, like at VA Tech and GA Tech. Again, had a "short" tenure as leader of HERD Athletics.

I say as to AD Spears, it is too early in his tenure. Some positives during his first year; maybe a "questionable" move or two, also. Have to give him more time on the job to effectively evaluate his performance in a position where no matter whatever move/decision he makes, it will be questioned and/or criticized in some quarters! Nature of the Position.