According to John Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News "sources" at SCU say the new A.D. decision will be made soon, possibly this week. The final 2 are reported to be Renee Baumgartner from Syracuse via University of Oregon, and Larry Williams from Marquette via University of Portland.
This identification of the candidates names is a pretty standard PR tactic to gauge press/people's reactions before a final decision.
I met earlier this week with Jeff Mitchell, Senior Associate Athletic Director and interim Athletic Director. He also intimated that the search process was "moving along" and there could be positive announcements sooner than later.
Whoever is the final choice, they will have an athletic staff who, perhaps for the first time in their SCU careers, will be included in the strategy, given resources to compete and tasked/measured with taking SCU to national level performance, first in major sports.
All this won't be in place day one, but over time it's coming.
While this sounds straightforward, it IMHO will be a welcome change for some coaches, both in resources provided and a shorter window for measurements of success. Academic performance is already a mainstay.
Wow...Resources....Accountability...Now that's real....
Who will it be?
Both final candidates come from bigger programs that have dealt with big issues.
If these are the final 2, here's my guess...
Larry Williams.
Seems to me to be the best match and least controversial.
He has more than 10 years of A.D. experience at schools similar to SCU.
Knows the Jesuit foundations from the University of Portland and Marquette.
Knows the WCC competitive environment from his days as A.D. at Portland.
Has the proper high level connections at SCU with people who know him from Notre Dame and Portland.
Known for his "transparency" and willingness/ability to communicate and connect - a biggie at SCU.
Manages to high standards and is not afraid to take on tough issues like he will face at SCU. You can see the attached article on what he had to try to clean up at Marquette and appears to have left on his own principles.
He's a good fundraiser - a key role for the new A.D.
He's had success managing the exact same sports areas that SCU wants to take to national levels - particularly men's basketball. Has managed women's soccer and volleyball at Portland and Marquette to NCAA titles and Big East Championships and inherits great coaches for these sports at SCU.
My only "unknown" is what he's been doing since leaving Marquette 18 months ago?
Milwaukee Journal Article
Renee Baumgartner
While Renee Baumgartner has outstanding credentials, for me the "fit" is a tough one.
No doubt she's smart and motivated, but she has built her career at schools very different from SCU.
She appears to be a top notch manager and fundraiser and has been a sports supervisor for relevant SCU sports at Oregon and Syracuse.
Oregon and Syracuse, while known for athletic success, are much larger and have far different academic standards than SCU.
She has not been an A.D. and was seemingly passed over for the Syracuse A.D. job after surviving the Men's Basketball fiasco and NCAA suspensions. (See attached article).
Even though she has loads of talent, it just seems to be an "outlier" choice to me.
Maybe, that's what SCU feels it needs....
Syracuse Athletics Shakeup
So, for now the "ball" is in Fr. Engh's court to make the final decision. Whatever the outcome - the most important thing is for SCU to follow through with the President's Commission on Athletics plan.
Fund it, build it, measure it....
The long term payoff for SCU could be HUGE...
And, as season ticket holders and fans, we're ready to buy in....
Next up: My conversation with Jeff Mitchell - Interim SCU Athletic Director.
Also follow The Bucking Bronco on Twitter @Fcrary.
