OT: Coaching Searches and Turnkey Search (The Athletic)
I saw this article on The Athletic today with a lot of Michigan connections:
The article starts with some quotes from Warde about hiring Turnkey Search to fulfill the MBB opening last spring. Len Perna, head of Turnkey, is a Michigan alum as well. There is also mention of John Beilein as currently on Turnkey's radar. I'll admit the whole article reads like a nice marketing/PR piece for Turnkey, but still a little peak behind the veil for the UM athletic department.
So Manuel turned to the man that helped him land his own role as the Michigan AD in 2016: Len Perna and his executive search firm, Haddonfield, N.J.-based Turnkey Search.
“I didn’t have much time. They knew many of the people in the department. I turned to them pretty quickly because of their knowledge of the university and its people,” Manuel said. “Not that other people couldn’t have done it, but many of same people (involved in UM’s search process) were in place. I was correct in my assessment that it would help the process go faster.”
Here before people bitch about you posting a pay-walled link
I mean, they're a sponsor of the podcast and I indicated it was from The Athletic in the thread title. I tried to pull a couple meaningful paragraphs for those that choose not purchase a subscription on why Warde hired a search firm and Turnkey in particular to fill the MBB opening.
But I suppose people are welcome to complain about posting a link to website that costs a few bucks a month, and then go back to complaining on other threads about how this *free* website sucks. To each their own.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting you're doing this - just trying to head off those who will inevitably complain about posting a paywalled article.
I subscribe to and love the Athletic. You did a great job with being informative on your post. It's just that this site has people who are always looking to bitch about something.
I imagine someone below will bitch since they don't feel like spending the money for the Athletic.
Me too. The Athletic is great IMO and worth every penny, especially if you live out of state from teams you follow like I do. I obviously get all their U of M stuff but in addition I've added the Lions, the Tigers, the Pistons and the Red Wings to my feed - even though now days I'm more interested in the the Browns, the Indians and the Cavs (sorry Lake Erie Monsters - minor league hockey bores me).
I'm not going to pay for content. I'm also not one to complain about what Brian needs to do here to make a buck and keep this free.
I think you did a great job summarizing as well as providing a link for those who are willing pay for content. If I really truly needed more information about this I should get off my wallet.
Thank you.
Thank god we used Turnkey. Not sure how we could have identified Juwan Howard as candidate.
Yeah, I get that, but that's not the only reason ADs hire search firms. Search firms have preexisting relationships with candidates and their agents, so they can operate with more confidentiality. They have the processes in place to expedite searches/hirings compared to an AD running it in-house. Its just outsourcing the process so Warde and the rest of the AD can remain focused on everything else they do.
It allows the university to say, "we haven't contacted candidate X" and candidate X to say, "the university hasn't contacted me.
Search firms are also not subject to FOIA requests
Identifying people you think would make a good coach is the easy part. Knowing whether they are actually interested in you're position is harder. Professional search firms know how to discreetly contact candidates, discreetly obtain permission to contact them, assess whether they're interested (or could be made interested), and get ballpark salary/benefits information. All that can happen before the public knows anything.
Contrast that with the often ham-handed approach of most AD's, coupled with the knowledge any particular AD may have about thousands of coaches and assistant coaches throughout dozens of professional leagues and hundreds of organizations. I'm not opposed to the hiring of a search firm...
I would guess identifying candidates is a very small part of what search firms do.
I think places like Turnkey are how you avoid situations like MSU's football coaching search, where well known planes land in expected locations, broadcasting to the world your intentions. Tucker raked MSU over the coals financially because it was clear that their hands were tied. If Fickell wasn't clearly #1 with a bullet, Tucker probably doesn't send his "I'm staying" tweet and then light the media world on fire when MSU comes back with their offer.
Had there been more subtle communications, MSU might have negotiated a much better contract than literally doubling his salary with huge guarantees on the MSU side, and next to no guarantee from Tucker's side after 2 years.
Michigan fans get anxious when there isn't much chatter on the past two coaching searches, but it almost certainly to UM's benefit that they both played out that way.
Aren't these the clowns that tried to give us Ed Cooley?
Got Ed Cooley a nice raise is what they did.
I don't know what Gene Smith does to hire football coaches, but I think that would be a good place to start.
Hookers and blow.
PrisonKey
I'm just here to complain that no one listened to my exhortations to hire Matt Rhea away from (formerly) Windiana.
So naturally Alabama did it.