The Next UGA Athletic Director

There's never a good time to undergo a change like Damon Evans' departure from UGA. However, we have to look at the bright side. The athletic department is in rare air when it comes to its income statement, its competitive positioning and the compensation package.

On the flip side, the job won't be without its challenges, and that's what makes the hire so incredibly important.

Here's a partial list of some of the things the new AD will likely have to deal with in the next 5-6 years (in no particular order):

• Replacing the baseball coach - David Perno has dug himself an enormous hole, and it's possible that he'll pull himself out of it. However, making himself (a former utility infielder) as the pitching coach isn't the most confidence inspiring move this off season. To me, it would be like Mark Richt solving his problems with Willie Martinez by making himself the Defensive Coordinator.
  
  
• Retaining or Replacing Mark Fox - Mark Fox's timing in this transition is exceptional. He'll have a loaded team next year capable of making a helluva first impression on his new boss. In 100+ years of athletics, UGA has only lost two coaches to other programs that we wanted to keep -- Tubby Smith and Ron Polk. The new AD will likely see what Damon saw. The best/fastest opportunity to build a legacy at UGA is via basketball because Richt will get all the credit for football. Retaining Fox (or replacing him if he flames out) will be a major part of the new AD's job over the next 5 years. Luckily, the checks for Stegeman renovation were all written before Damon walked out.
  
  
• Replacing Andy Landers -- Landers turns 58 in October. It's not unreasonable to think that he'll be doing something other than coaching hoops when he's 64 years old. UGA has only had one full-time women's basketball coach in its history.
  
  
• Replacing the Gymnastics Coach - I don't want to poop on Jay. He had a solid first year, but almost nobody survives replacing a legend in their sport like Wooden or Bryant. That's what Suzanne was. Can he survive the next 5-6 years? Sure. Would I bet on him to make it? History says "no."
  
  
• Conference Realignment - It's highly unlikely that the conference landscape will stay the same over the next six years. How will UGA be positioned from a TV, Revenue, and Divisional Alignment standpoint?
  
  
• A new university president - Mike Adams is about 62 years old now. He won't be here much past 65. We'll need a strong leader to help us navigate that change.
  
  
• Replacing Jack Bauerle - Jack is also about 58 years old. Will he be here in 6 years? Probably...because that's just how he rolls. But how much longer beyond that?

And that's just a partial list of big personnel issues out there. There's also marketing opportunities to be unlocked, new media to be leveraged, facilities to be expanded and debt to be managed. All while getting many of our women's sports (other than softball) out of the ditch. Oh...and the football team could make this search a lot easier with a fast start in September of this year.

This is an absolutely enormous hire, and it's a tremendous part of Adams legacy. That's why I've got more confidence in his role in this search than many others. He knows how big a job this is, and what leaving us with a mess would do to his "place in history." Am I resting easy with Adams running the ship on this? No. But, I'm a lot more optimistic than others because the job offers so much.

PWD

About the Search Committee and the Process

Let me start by saying that I'm incredibly pleased with the quality of the search committee that Dr. Adams has assembled for the Athletic Director search, and I'm also pleased that he's setting a realistic time line for the AD search of 6 to 12 months.

The search committee includes (Bios from the Red and Black and Georgiadogs.com):

• Chairman: David Shipley -- Law School Professor, former Dean of the Law School, and faculty representative on the Athletic Board. (PWD Note: Dawgnoxious gave Shipley a big vouch as did another trusted source today. He's a big UGA fan attending many home and away football games)
  
  
• Jack Bauerle -- UGA's Swim Coach with multiple national titles under his belt. Former Coach of the US Olympic Women's team. (PWD Note: Former student, assistant coach and player who has been a part of the UGA athletic program since 1970. As an ultra successful coach for men's and women's swimming as well as an enormous football fan, Jack is the perfect fit for the committee to represent the coaches)
  
  
• Tom Landrum - Senior VP of External Affairs at UGA. Holds two degrees from UGA, and is a member of Mike Adams senior team. (PWD: It was a no brainer that he would be part of this committee.)
  
  
• Swann Seiler -- Member of UGA Athletics Executive Board, Trustee of UGA's Arch Foundation, Marketing Executive with the Southern Company* and UGA Journalism School Graduate. (PWD Note: Swann obviously understands the UGA culture as good as anyone in the group, and she's got a marketing / fund raising background to help with the search. Plus, most of our biggest boosters trust the Seiler family. Good voice for them in the process.)
  
  
• Carla Williams -- Senior AD for Women's Sports, two degrees from UGA and a PhD from FSU, former UGA basketball player and former assistant basketball coach under Andy Landers with two Final Four rings as an assistant. Prior to managing the women's programs at UGA, she ran the compliance department. (PWD Note: Making her part of the process is an excellent use of her skill set. Despite the articles mentioning her as a candidate that never made sense given her experience level. However, she can add real value here.)
  
  
• Robert "Trey" Sinyard -- a native of Athens and the recipient of a Foundation fellowship—the highest academic scholarship awarded to UGA students, is a student representative on the board of the UGA Athletic Association and a member of the cross country team. (PWD Note: Trey comes from a hardcore UGA family, and he's an incredibly bright kid.)

This is the type of search where Mike Adams can add value through this connections. As he said during the press conference, he knows many of the athletic director candidates across the country from his involvement as Chair of the SEC Board of Presidents and member of the NCAA's Executive Committee.

The fact that we're a tremendously profitable athletic department who looks to be willing to pay $600k or more makes the position incredibly attractive. UGA's Athletic Director position is one of the Top 10 or so jobs in terms of salary.

In fact, the compensation package should be enough to attract a variety of candidates outside of the traditional Athletic Director role. You're talking about a comp package that would interest Chief Operating Officers and Presidents of mid-sized companies with backgrounds in sports and sports marketing. More on that later.

For now, I just want to say that I'm very pleased with the committee.

See Also:
-- Frank Crumley is interim AD - AJC

PWD


*Not sure if Swann still with the Southern Company or not.