if Chris were to leave. I don't know. I think some would argue that DI experience is a must. I would like us to consider an AD who has been real successful at the the DII level promoting, raising money, and growing his/her program. If they can do it at that level, you would think they could do it here.

(09-19-2013 12:03 PM)mjs Wrote:  if Chris were to leave. I don't know. I think some would argue that DI experience is a must. I would like us to consider an AD who has been real successful at the the DII level promoting, raising money, and growing his/her program. If they can do it at that level, you would think they could do it here.

Wonder if we might look for someone who has started up a football program from scratch like Rick Mello did at FIU? Hey, Rick might even be available and I know he loves Little Rock.

(09-19-2013 01:16 PM)mjs Wrote:  Wonder if we might look for someone who has started up a football program from scratch like Rick Mello did at FIU? Hey, Rick might even be available and I know he loves Little Rock.

Isn't he the one who hired Sidney Moncrief and the woman who re-started the women's basketball program? Evidently hiring coaches is not his speciality.

(09-19-2013 01:35 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(09-19-2013 01:16 PM)mjs Wrote:  Wonder if we might look for someone who has started up a football program from scratch like Rick Mello did at FIU? Hey, Rick might even be available and I know he loves Little Rock.

Isn't he the one who hired Sidney Moncrief and the woman who re-started the women's basketball program? Evidently hiring coaches is not his speciality.

If we are lucky enough to be in a position to hire a new AD, there will be no shortage of qualified candidates. It never ceases to amaze me that people sometimes think the candidate pool doesn't go beyond people they have a already heard of. Most people working in college athletic administrations are largely unknown to the general public.

How many of us had heard of Jeff Long before he was hired?

(09-19-2013 01:41 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(09-19-2013 01:35 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(09-19-2013 01:16 PM)mjs Wrote:  Wonder if we might look for someone who has started up a football program from scratch like Rick Mello did at FIU? Hey, Rick might even be available and I know he loves Little Rock.

Isn't he the one who hired Sidney Moncrief and the woman who re-started the women's basketball program? Evidently hiring coaches is not his speciality.

If we are lucky enough to be in a position to hire a new AD, there will be no shortage of qualified candidates. It never ceases to amaze me that people sometimes think the candidate pool doesn't go beyond people they have a already heard of. Most people working in college athletic administrations are largely unknown to the general public.

+500000000000000000000000000000000000000000

If the AD or coaching job opened up there would be plenty of people that could really do the job apply.

There are about 350 jobs and a ton of people just waiting for their chance.


Honestly, you would never get very far in life thinking this is just the best we can do.......

If that is your standard, then when you look at your school mates and peers at work and wonder why they did so much better than you, you can look back at your words and how you feel in your heart, " this is the best I can do and I just don't have any fight in me and you should not either."

I was lead over a bunch of engineers at my work and I built a lot of good engineers and some are at other jobs. I put time and effort into any of them that had some heart and were willing to better themselves and some time into a few that did not.

Some people you just can't help. Does not make them bad people for not trying to do better it just means they will not achieve at the same rate as others.

I'm hearing that same stuff we heard about not being able to find a good young coach, and now it's how are we going to be able to hire a good AD. Hell, every major, and most minor league programs like ours has about a dozen Assistant or Associate Athletic Directors. Should be more candidates for AD than coaching candidates, since schools have more Assistant and Associate AD's than coaches on their staffs. Besides, if there is an opening, wouldn't surprise me to see Gary Hogan promoted. That's the M.O. of our athletic department for the last ten or twelve years.

Hiring an AD would be the least of our problems.

(09-19-2013 05:43 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Hiring an AD would be the least of our problems.

If an opening occurs, which I still doubt it will, it will be an extremely important hire for the future of our athletic program. Does Dr. Anderson know what it takes to be a successful AD and move the athletic department forward from where Chris has taken it? Hope he does.

What do you see as a bigger problem? Every decision about our athletic program (i.e. what coaches stay or go, who we hire, whether we look for another conference, whether we consider football, whether we change how we promote our athletics, ticket prices, scheduling decisions regarding money games, etc.) will be made by who is in that position.

(09-19-2013 06:46 PM)mjs Wrote:  Does Dr. Anderson know what it takes to be a successful AD and move the athletic department forward from where Chris has taken it? Hope he does.

They use consultants.

(09-19-2013 04:19 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  I'm hearing that same stuff we heard about not being able to find a good young coach, and now it's how are we going to be able to hire a good AD. Hell, every major, and most minor league programs like ours has about a dozen Assistant or Associate Athletic Directors. Should be more candidates for AD than coaching candidates, since schools have more Assistant and Associate AD's than coaches on their staffs. Besides, if there is an opening, wouldn't surprise me to see Gary Hogan promoted. That's the M.O. of our athletic department for the last ten or twelve years.

If Chris were to get a job at this time, no doubt Gary Hogan or Richard Turner would become interim AD. Whether Dr. Anderson would consider either of them for the full-time position, who knows. I like both of them a lot personally but bringing in some new blood is probably the best idea. Don't know if either would want the headaches of being AD's at this point in their lives. Yncopirt always has called this "the toughest job in America" due to the general disinterest in UALR among the general population and media and I've always tended to agree. But, like has been said, there will be no shortage of candidates. Chris has gotten us the facilities which will make the job that much more attractive.

(09-19-2013 06:46 PM)mjs Wrote:  What do you see as a bigger problem? Every decision about our athletic program (i.e. what coaches stay or go, who we hire, whether we look for another conference, whether we consider football, whether we change how we promote our athletics, ticket prices, scheduling decisions regarding money games, etc.) will be made by who is in that position.

If anyone comes in here and starts a football program and it becomes successful, he'll have to be a magician who can pull money out of a hat. Most of these Sun Belt schools who have either started football lately, or ones like Western Kentucky who have moved up to the big boys, and those like ASU who upgraded their programs, and are paying coaches three times what they were paying, are probably hurting financially, and have sorta let their basketball programs slide a little. Western being in a basketball state, probably won't let it slip as much as the other schools. Football is the only reason FIU, FAU, MTU, and North Texas got to leave the Belt. ASU wants out. For football of course. And, no doubt they have had the best football in the Belt the last three or four years. They don't have the pull of the media that the above mentioned schools had going for them. Western leaving had more to do with basketball than football I'd guess.

(09-19-2013 07:14 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(09-19-2013 06:46 PM)mjs Wrote:  What do you see as a bigger problem? Every decision about our athletic program (i.e. what coaches stay or go, who we hire, whether we look for another conference, whether we consider football, whether we change how we promote our athletics, ticket prices, scheduling decisions regarding money games, etc.) will be made by who is in that position.

If anyone comes in here and starts a football program and it becomes successful, he'll have to be a magician who can pull money out of a hat. Most of these Sun Belt schools who have either started football lately, or ones like Western Kentucky who have moved up to the big boys, and those like ASU who upgraded their programs, and are paying coaches three times what they were paying, are probably hurting financially, and have sorta let their basketball programs slide a little. Western being in a basketball state, probably won't let it slip as much as the other schools. Football is the only reason FIU, FAU, MTU, and North Texas got to leave the Belt. ASU wants out. For football of course. And, no doubt they have had the best football in the Belt the last three or four years. They don't have the pull of the media that the above mentioned schools had going for them. Western leaving had more to do with basketball than football I'd guess.

I haven't really change my opinion that starting football would likely be a disaster for UALR. Still, if we get a new AD I would like him to take a fresh look at it from a totally unbiased perspective. I think the conclusion would be that it is not feasible, but maybe I'll be surprised.
I don't know what the attendance is "really" like at places like FIU, USA, GaState, etc, but those are all schools that I would have said would be heading for disaster if they started football. They seem to be doing fine, although I would bet they all get substantially more State funding than we do.

Someone is going to have to show me where the market is for more football in Little Rock is before I will believe it will work.

(09-19-2013 07:28 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Someone is going to have to show me where the market is for more football in Little Rock is before I will believe it will work.

I don't see the market either. But, again FIU seems to be doing okay in Miami competing directly with The U and with the Dolphins. GaState has Georgia Tech and the Falcons down the street, and U of Ga. an hour away in Athens. USA is in a State dominated by U of Al and Auburn, and also has UAB and Troy. We are supposed to be a "great" football state. The capital city should be able to support football, but like you, I'll have to see it to believe it.

(09-19-2013 07:28 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Someone is going to have to show me where the market is for more football in Little Rock is before I will believe it will work.

"more" football? We'd be the only D1 game in town in about seven years once the beloved hogs forsake the Central AR faithful. I'm not totally sold on UALR football, but it's not out of the question. We never thought we would be gifted with a nice on campus arena, did we? But it happened and we are glad it did.

(09-19-2013 07:28 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Someone is going to have to show me where the market is for more football in Little Rock is before I will believe it will work.

I think the market might be larger than we believe. There are only two Razorback games a year being played in Little Rock. No stadium to build and pay for. You don't start in D1. You start at a lower level. Maybe FBS.
But I believe if promoted right, it could succeed. The other thing. Football brings in more male students, and that, if I read correctly, was why Hendrix reinstituted it. I believe they were getting out of balance between male and female students. Maybe PTJR or one of the other Hendrix grads can talk about that. Anyway it's a moot point at this time.

Honestly, if you can start it at the d2 level, it could work.


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(09-21-2013 02:02 PM)insideualr Wrote:  Honestly, if you can start it at the d2 level, it could work.


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Actually South Alabama started at the non scholarship level and worked their way up to Division I.

I agree that while it might not be feasible, it would be worth looking into at some point.