Joe Schad: Michigan targeting NU AD Jim Phillips

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Interesting. Isn't this the guy that was jumping around under the goalpost waving "no good" at Michigan's fire drill FG at NU in 2013? 

Michigan has targeted Northwestern athletics director Jim Phillips as a candidate to succeed Dave Brandon.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) November 1, 2014

This is an indication that Michigan will seriously consider AD candidates without Michigan ties.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) November 1, 2014
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bob_ufer

November 1st, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^

Looked like clown last year at NWU - wearing purple tie, high-fiving field hockey team, jumping around like a ref on the FG.  I like the names Long and Bates much better.  Of course, I would get "input" from UM alums - especially ones who are head coaches in the NFL right now.

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Brodie

November 1st, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^

Other than the unsubstantiated belief that he is Harbaugh's BFF, what about Bates suggests to you that he is a superior AD to Phillips? Their resumes are functionally equivalent to one another... if anything, Bates has a longer track record of making shitty football hires compared to Phillips who brought in Jerry Kill at NIU.

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detrocks

November 1st, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^

Yeah, if football hires are what you're considering, Bates hired Shane Montgomery, Mike Haywood and Don Treadwell at Miami, all of whom were disasters. Addazio seems to be working out better at BC. Phillips hired Jerry Kill, which turned out much better.

Now, Long hired Bobby Petrino and Bret Bielema (pretending the John L Smith era never happened). Good hires--character issues notwithstanding.

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CalifExile

November 1st, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^

If you're referring to the 10 months he spent at Arkansas, I don't think you can fault that hire. Petrino was fired in April of 2012. There weren't a lot of coaches sitting around looking for work at the time.

If it had been a year earlier, on the other hand . . . .

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True Blue Grit

November 1st, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^

We were there too and he was standing around on the sidelines in his dress shirt and tie (no jacket in lousy weather) seeming like he wanted to be seen.  Based on that alone, I'd rather we look at someone else.  If he's an AD who has a need to be seen or be the center of attention, no thank you.  But, I'll keep an open mind if he's very good in other ways.  

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FreddieMercuryHayes

November 1st, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^

Eh, sounds a bit over-compensation to a strong academic institution type AD. UM is a blue blood of football and a strong academic institution. I think you can find a candidate to tow that line a bit better.


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Mr. Yost

November 1st, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^

I know their Deputy AD, Chris Reynolds...I know he has respect for him, but that's "boss-speak" in my eyes.

Personally, I think we can do better. But from what I've read in the past 10 minutes he certainly sounds like an upgrade.

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Commie_High96

November 1st, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^

I think the likelihood of a non-michigan connected person is higher than one with connections to UM. If I was Schiz, I would not want someone in that position that could out Michigan me.

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True Blue in CO

November 1st, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^

First stop for candidate search, conference rival with stellar academic reputation. Goal is to divert those pesky MGoBloggers and get them off my tail. Also causes turmoil in conference rival athletic department and forces them to spend more money on salaries and less on facilities.

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Mr. McBlue and…

November 1st, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^

I love how commenters seem to think the AD has a direct correlation to wins on the field. President Schlissel wants someone who will run a clean department that prides itself on academics. It isn't like the AD will be coaching the team ala Brandon. Schlissel even admitted the AD will run athletics, all of them. If any of the candidates aren't corrupt let him/her oversee M.

But...why insert logic into fandom AD mania. DONT HIRE NU GUY or ANYONE WHO DOESNT OVERSEE A WINNING FOOTBALL PROGRAM. ROOOAAARRRR.

Oh, go blue and NU (Nebraska)

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Brodie

November 3rd, 2014 at 1:55 AM ^

this is the most hilarious thing about this process, the media and general public thinking an AD search == a coaching search. Like the only criteria AD's are judged on are football wins and losses.

This is a story because we haven't fired Hoke yet and people are looking to vent their pent up desire to track flights and shit.

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dnak438

November 1st, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^

here: http://www.insidenu.com/2014/11/1/7142439/michigan-reportedly-targeting…

In short:

This is generally par for the course with Phillips, as he is repeatedly mentioned for open AD jobs. He was reportedly a candidate for the open Penn State job this year. This is a bit different, because if Schad is correct, he seems to be "the" top target, which is different than the Penn State opening. Phillips has expressed that he's happy in Evanston, and he has reportedly turned down numerous AD jobs since arriving at NU, including the Stanford job.

Seems like a strong candidate if he was up for Penn State and Stanford.

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21-194-13

November 2nd, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-14/sports/chi-sources-phillips-shuns-stanford-to-remain-at-northwestern-20120714_1_phillips-last-year-twitter-teddygreenstein-massive-facilities

Some more info:

How did he get to Northwestern? How much longer will be stay there (Hint: I don’t know)? And why does it feel like a lot of other schools covet him? Let’s go way back. Phillips graduated from Illinois in 1990 and served as a manager and student assistant in the school’s athletic department. He completed a master’s degree in education at Arizona State and a Ph. D. in educational administration at Tennessee.

Phillips served as an assistant AD with the Volunteers, then held multiple positions at Notre Dame, who hired him in 2000. Phillips became Northern Illinois’ AD in 2004. Over his four years there, Phillips struck a four-year rights deal with a major Chicago radio station, scheduled football games against Big Ten teams Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State and was at the forefront of a fundraising campaign for a $14 million athletics facility. He was the driving force behind several other fundraising campaigns and hired Jerry Kill (now at Minnesota) as football coach.

http://www.insidenu.com/2014/7/31/5955007/jim-phillips-northwestern-ad

 

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detrocks

November 1st, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^

Being in the Chicago area, I can say that Phillips is pretty well regarded here. He had a good stint at Northern Illinois, where he was probably best known for hiring Jerry Kill, who was at that time a pretty unknown coach at Southern Illinois.

Since coming to NU, he's helped to drive the planning and development for their new lakefront facilities which look like they're going to be awesome. He inherited Fitz so unclear how he would approach hiring a football coach at the B10 level, but the Kill hire at NIU was a winner. He probably stuck with Carmody too long and the jury is still out in Collins but we have Belein so we're fine.

Unlike Brandon, Phillips has a lot of background in college athletics working at Arizona State, Tennessee and Notre Dame before going to NIU. He also seems pretty media savvy, which would be a nice change. He's definitely a Midwest guy as an Illinois grad and has been mentioned for AD openings at Illinois and Penn State in the past. Salary at NU is around $750k according to the Chicago Tribune.

I think he would be a great candidate.

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one ring

November 1st, 2014 at 11:05 PM ^

With due respect to detrocks, I hear differently from current and former coaches, staffers, and donors at NU about Dr. Phillips. I hope that Michigan turns over all the stones and spends the requisite time vetting him thoroughly... If he is being considered a leading candidate. If they do that and still like him... Very well.

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