I have no idea whether Brad Smith can make this work, or whether Bill Noe would be a good choice, but I like that we seem to be taking a different approach to finding candidates.
I think with Noe you’d be getting much of the same benefits people seem to value in Brad Smith…someone with a successful business pedigree that might have the ability and clout to operate in what has become a very political landscape in the college athletics world. Although I believe that a college president needs to be more politically tuned in than an AD, there’s no doubt the AD position has become a political one.
But much like the importance of a strong academic background in the provost position to offset Smith’s inexperience or connection to academia, I think that if Noe is the guy, that hiring an experienced and athletically connected associate AD is equally important. Maybe that’s where O’Malley fits in.
But the problem that has held Marshall back over the years, in my opinion, are the very things that endear us to them. This program has been tied so closely to the community that Marshall is our identity. And as the community became close to the program, we’ve become plagued with provincialism. Provincialism has stunted our growth and has left us on the outside looking in in the college athletic world. We make seemingly stupid decisions because they are always tied to local interest. Like the mall in Barboursville or the regional airport not being built because of small-minded self-interests.
What Smith and possibly Noe bring in my opinion is that we get people who both have ties to and sincerely loves Marshall, but their success and life experience transcends our regional mindset. They have operated in and rose to the top of their professions by understanding how to function in a political landscape. Just reading the comments from Governor Justice, James Manchin, President Gee, etc. tells me how connected and respected he is.
I have no clue whether these guys will be successful or not. But I do know that the limitations that Marshall has is tied directly to their political impotence and clout as well as their lack of viable revenue streams. Who better to navigate that landscape than someone who has been successful in it before? That just might trump an academician as president and an athletically connected person as AD. At least for the first time in my existence we’re truly thinking outside the box.
I think with Noe you’d be getting much of the same benefits people seem to value in Brad Smith…someone with a successful business pedigree that might have the ability and clout to operate in what has become a very political landscape in the college athletics world. Although I believe that a college president needs to be more politically tuned in than an AD, there’s no doubt the AD position has become a political one.
But much like the importance of a strong academic background in the provost position to offset Smith’s inexperience or connection to academia, I think that if Noe is the guy, that hiring an experienced and athletically connected associate AD is equally important. Maybe that’s where O’Malley fits in.
But the problem that has held Marshall back over the years, in my opinion, are the very things that endear us to them. This program has been tied so closely to the community that Marshall is our identity. And as the community became close to the program, we’ve become plagued with provincialism. Provincialism has stunted our growth and has left us on the outside looking in in the college athletic world. We make seemingly stupid decisions because they are always tied to local interest. Like the mall in Barboursville or the regional airport not being built because of small-minded self-interests.
What Smith and possibly Noe bring in my opinion is that we get people who both have ties to and sincerely loves Marshall, but their success and life experience transcends our regional mindset. They have operated in and rose to the top of their professions by understanding how to function in a political landscape. Just reading the comments from Governor Justice, James Manchin, President Gee, etc. tells me how connected and respected he is.
I have no clue whether these guys will be successful or not. But I do know that the limitations that Marshall has is tied directly to their political impotence and clout as well as their lack of viable revenue streams. Who better to navigate that landscape than someone who has been successful in it before? That just might trump an academician as president and an athletically connected person as AD. At least for the first time in my existence we’re truly thinking outside the box.
