Ken Tysiac of the Raleigh News and Observer (and its sister publication the Charlotte Observer) posted an update on the start of NC State’s search for a new athletic director:
- The school hopes to name a new AD by the “middle of summer”
- It has retained Parker Executive Search of Atlanta to assist
- Chancellor Woodson gave the search committee a list of specific questions he wants answered by candidates for the position
- Members of the search committee were required to sign confidentiality agreements to stem any leaks
According to their website, Parker Executive Search assists a school in the following ways:
The Parker Executive Search Process promotes innovative and proactive search solutions, with the following major steps:
- Gaining a thorough understanding of our client’s organization, purposes, and goals.
- Assisting in developing a position specification and targeted search strategy.
- Providing an agreed-upon search timeline.
- Assisting with and advising on appropriate advertising venues for higher education searches.
- Identifying and contacting all potential candidates.
- Developing and executing targeted research.
- Assessing candidates and conducting interviews.
- Presenting the most highly qualified panel of candidates.
- Advising and facilitating the selection process.
- Conducting extensive background and reference checks on final candidates. The findings of these comprehensive reviews are released only to the client.
- Assisting with all candidate follow-ups, including recruiting the preferred candidate.
The Parker Collegiate Athletic Search Process has been designed specifically for our collegiate athletic clients.
That may well be boilerplate web advertising, but it seems pretty clear that the group essentially plays matchmaker for schools looking for talent to candidates looking for a new gig. They vet the candidates and present them to the client school, who then makes their hiring decision, presumably in confidence that they have found the best hire out there and that the new person is one whose resume matches the truth of his curriculum vitae.
PES has had a role in some interesting hires, for example, they assisted the NCAA when it sought a replacement for former President Myles Brand, it helped Iowa recruit Fran Mcaffery of Siena as its new men’s basketball coach, and it helped Mississippi State hire alumnus Scott Stricklin as its new athletic director recently as well.
Interestingly, PES also recommended that the University of Georgia hire Michael Adams as its new president, who in turn has had a very rocky time of it down in Athens.
(Adams) pushed out athletic director Vince Dooley, a much-beloved figure in Georgia, a year early and sold a surprisingly compliant Atlanta Journal-Constitution the entirely misleading premise that it was a matter of academics vs. athletics, which simply was not the case.
Adams’ problems also went past athletics at UGA:
[A] 2004 poll of the university’s largest college, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, which gave Adams a 70 percent vote of “no confidence†and includes comments like this: “Specifically, he readily compromises both ethical and moral standards. He blames others for his own misdeeds and never admits personal error or responsibility.â€
In fairness, not all hires are going to work out, no matter what search firm is used. PES enjoys a good reputation, otherwise it would not be getting new clients to work with. Put simply, it’s probably the exception rather than the rule.
As for the confidentiality statement, it seems that Chancellor Woodson is well aware that there are members of his inner circle that are willing to make their case in the media or on blogs, and that he will have none of it.  He also clearly doesn’t want anything akin to swirling forest fire that seemed to surround the replacement for Herb Sendek when he resigned NC State to take the Arizona State job, a search that featured everything from plane tracking on Internet web sites to fans staking out the RBC Center to see if it was true that then-Memphis head coach John Calipari was in town to review the facilities. Of course, a search for an athletic director is unlikely to create that sort of interest in the typical fan, but it is a clear sign of the way that the new Chancellor intends to do business, and that may well become quite important if a search for a new hoops or football coach is required in the future.
Essentially, it seems that no news will be the norm until a hiring is imminent and a press conference near.
