Todd Turner for UNC Athletic Director

Turner was our AD through our self-imposed punishment. He’s a Carolina guy, and he’s obviously got the experience to lead them through the jungle of sanctions. I do not see a more reasonable choice for the position.

Like you’ve come to expect from SFN, here is a soothsayer-like discussion of Mr. Turner’s worthy resume that shows his propensity to ignore competition results in favor of off-the-field compliance.

Turner is just what the doctor ordered to restore North Carolinan’s confidence in UNC Athletics.

From his bio at University of Washington:

Turner previously held the position of athletic director at North Carolina State University and the University of Connecticut. He also worked in athletic administration at the University of Virginia.

As the athletics director at Washington, Turner oversees one of the nation’s most successful programs. It includes 23 sport programs with a $50.5 million annual budget. Approximately 650 student-athletes compete for Washington’s athletics teams, while the department includes a staff of 195. In the most recent NCAA graduation report, Washington student-athletes graduated at 84 percent, above the national average for Division I institutions and slightly ahead of the graduation rate for all UW students.

Turner has a reputation for being highly respected by his peers, and a leading advocate in the movement to bring academic reform to NCAA member institutions. After leaving Vanderbilt he continued to serve the NCAA as chair of the NCAA Management Council’s Working Group on Incentives and Disincentives tied to academic performance.

In 2004, his efforts on academic reform were felt when the NCAA implemented changes in academic requirements and eligibility restrictions aimed at improving graduation rates among student-athletes. The Incentives/Disincentives Working Group completed work on an academic reform proposal that includes raised initial and continuing academic eligibility requirements. That group developed an ambitious proposal to penalize schools based on poor academic performance.

Turner resigned from University of Washington in 2008 and left with the statement below regarding an alleged commitment to winning as reported by this article from the Seattle Times.

Turner said he would never say winning is not important, “but the message that our students hear, that our coaches hear, that our leadership hears from the general run-of-the-mill fan is that the only thing we really care about is how many games they win. And I have to look at that after 32 years of doing this and say ‘wow, is that really what we are all about? Have I been that naïve all this period of time? I have been spending all my time on the student-athlete experience and trying to create better lives for people and the proper place in higher education when all I should have been worrying about is how many games we’ve won.’ Why didn’t I go to the NFL if that’s all it’s about.’’’

From another article by the Seattle Times, a UW official had this to say about Turner:

Emmert praised the job Turner did in “getting the ship upright. We are in much better shape than we were four years ago. … The program was in many ways in great disarray, and Todd’s done a great job of turning that all around. But we also have a lot of other things that need to get done in the athletic program, and for me this is a question if this is the right fit for Todd at this stage of his career.”

Aren’t those statements essentially the “anti-Butch?” Hire him yesterday, Heels. Turner can certainly fix what ails you.

Turner is apparently now working as a Collegiate Coach headhunter via Collegiate Sports Associates.

General

43 Responses to Todd Turner for UNC Athletic Director

  1. wolfbuff 07/30/2011 at 8:00 PM #

    If y’all recall, the race thing came up when BMFD was hired, which is when the “1/16th American Indian” thing came out, which led to his other nickname – Chief. So, UNC and DB can’t be racist in their hiring practices. They just can’t.

    As for Turner, he is in all seriousness the kind of AD they need. But he needs a BoT with the same mindset for there to be true reform. And, despite the actions this week, I am not convinced they have that. It may take an NCAA b*tch slap to wake them the eff up.

  2. wolfwarrior 07/30/2011 at 8:03 PM #

    The York man would undoubtedly approve this, so would Herb man.

  3. primacyone 07/30/2011 at 9:01 PM #

    Unfortunately for the holes, Holden Thorpe is the hiring manager. May be the first and only hire he has ever made. May be the last hire he ever makes.

    What will he do?

  4. DFMo 07/30/2011 at 10:49 PM #

    Wolfbuff, thanks for the refresher on origin of “chief”. embarrassed a little but I had forgotten!

  5. wolfhouse1999 07/31/2011 at 1:00 AM #

    I know this is off topic, but know one seems to be addressing it. Another recruit signed today, ranked with zero stars, I know the ranking system is not perfect, but give me a break. Look at the Ohio State, Florida, Texas, and other relevant football teams and tell me how many unranked recruits they sign. I love TOB to death, but something has to give. If he can’t recruit top end talent then at least hire some coordinators that can.

  6. wolffpride 07/31/2011 at 1:26 AM #

    The guy he signed is a 6-6 220 pound DE. Has 4.8 speed and if they bulk him right then he will keep that speed. Screw the stars, recruit the potential. Besides, being unranked means no one has had the oppertunity to evaluate him. I will say this again: Nate Irving, Russell Wilson, and Phillp Rivers were all 2 star recruits (among others).

  7. wolfhouse1999 07/31/2011 at 4:02 AM #

    Wolffpride -> Nate Irving, Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, I will remind you, none of those three were recruited by TOB. For every two star recruit that you can name that had a big impact in college, i can name a 100 that didn’t. Those stats dwindle tremendously with 5 star recruits. There is a reason why Florida State is picked to win the Division every year. They bring in top 5 recruiting classes. I’m not trying to mince words here, I would just like to see more effort put into drawing top notch talent. TOB has a track record of recruiting 2-3 star recruits. In Boston college he blamed it on the recruiting region. Wasn’t one of the reasons why he came to Raleigh was because he thought he could get better recruits? Currently, we are still being out recruited by the Tar Holes, and we all know what situation they are in. We all expect our Basketball coach to bring in top recruiting classes, why do we not expect the same from our football coach?? To me, it 50% coaching, 50% recruiting, we are sorely lacking in the recruiting department

  8. TruthBKnown Returns 07/31/2011 at 10:07 AM #

    Having no stars is better than having 1 or 2 stars. It means he isn’t rated (either that or he is close to being a paraplegic). If he’s 6’6″, 220 lbs with 4.8/40 speed, I’m not concerned about his lack of a rating.

  9. camel77 07/31/2011 at 10:19 AM #

    Wolfhouse1999.

    TOB has a record of turning the lower rank star high school players into NFL players. This is what you want in a football coach, someone that can coach up the player and make him better. It s better to have the results on the field and not in some rating system that is the opinion of a few people.

  10. Hungwolf 07/31/2011 at 11:33 AM #

    I think everyone would like to see us bring in a bunch of 4-5 star recruits every year, but we are just not in that position. TOB is building a program and to me his following a similar pattern as Va. Tech. Beamer built his program on average recruits and developed them into great 5 year players. Did you not notice at media day, the two players choosen to represent us, where 5 year players. Sheridan used a similar format, stating why waste our recruiting time battling for 4-5 star recruits that everyone is recruiting and be left disappointed on national signing day? Usually only difference in a 5 star recruit is they ready to compete at a high level now and most likely start where as a 2-3 star recruit needs time to develop either physically or mentally football wise.

    Va. Tech keeps showing a five year three star recruit beats a 4-5 star playing right now. I think I read Beamer got the most consistent record last 15 years. Wake Forest showed a bunch of 2 star five year players can win an ACC championship. We can take short cuts and probably get higher rated players in and we’d be in UNC’s baot or we can can do it like TOB is doing. Look at UVA, Geroge Welsh built the Cavs into a consistent winner. Fan base got greedy, wanted more and forced him out. You think they wish they had stcuk with Weslh now?

    We got to turn our program into a consistent winner first then build up from there.

  11. packhammer 07/31/2011 at 12:14 PM #

    Discussion is a bit academic! TOB has his ways, makes his decisions, and goes forward with what he thinks is right. Decision to go with Glennon would be exhibit A. Exhibit B would be the 30 guys that are “no longer with the program” over the past few years. You go with this guy and he is just plain going to do it his way. And that is what you want so long as he is mostly doing the right things and winning games and building a program.

  12. Virginia Wolf 07/31/2011 at 1:22 PM #

    TOB gets the 2-3 star recruits with integrity and those that want to be team players. We could insist on 4-5 star recruits like Marvin Austin and others with no integrity at all. It’s a choice TOB has made and I’m sticking with it and happy with it.

  13. Virginia Wolf 07/31/2011 at 1:25 PM #

    Turner is an excellent choice! He has proven what he can do for a program and it’s exactly what the cheats on the Hill need. I’m hoping this is the way they’ll go but I suspect that it will be either the AD at VCU or Ga.T.

  14. gcpack 07/31/2011 at 3:19 PM #

    The star system is a joke. For example a player decides to go to wfu and the so called experts give hima one star. Then florida finds out about him, offers him and suddenly he becomes a four star just because the gators show interest. Its a crock and is proved to be every year.

    As for toddy he will help carolina just as he helped carolina when he was at state. It didn’t hurt when he alienated the top baseball coach in the country and one of the top football coaches so that unc would not have to recruit against them.

  15. gcpack 07/31/2011 at 3:22 PM #

    Would NOT have to recruit against them.
    Edit will not save.

  16. wolffpride 07/31/2011 at 4:40 PM #

    I look at the recruiting boards every week and watch what guys we are going after. I get excited about the 4-5 star recruits that we pursue and hope that we land them. But I dont get caught up in it to the point that I think we are failing our future if we dont bring in “elite” players. If we can put up 10 win seasons then we will get some good guys. I like David Amerson, Mustafa Greene, Terrell Manning, and R.J. Mattes which were all 4 stars and Rob Crisp who was a 5. They have proven to be really good players.

    Then there is Brandon Barnes who was a 4 star and has never really been healthy. I fear Jarvis Byrd may be in the same boat. our RB Tony Creecy looks like he will be a 3rd or 4th stringer and he was a 4 star. In his defense I think we should have kept him as a wide receiver, I still dont understand the logic with him. We will need receivers next year and we are set at RB with Moose and Washington, right?

    We recruited a 4 star DE last year named Fra’shad Hunter who never qualified. Same with Kyle Linney who was a 4 star DT a few years back. The point is that you never know what will happen with so called “elite” player.

    I leave with this: Earl Wolfe, Audie Cole, and George Bryan were all 2-3 star TOB recruits who have developed into good players. They are team leaders with All ACC potential and have the ability to play at the next level.

  17. Virginia Wolf 07/31/2011 at 5:00 PM #

    Can someone just get the police or NCDOT to check out the 9 license plates on 5 different vehicles? That has to be a criminal act. Why has there not been any arrests????

  18. Ashman87 08/01/2011 at 12:57 PM #

    I hope UNC will hire Todd Turner, but I’m afraid there are other AD’s who are more attractive who also happen to be UNC alums, most notably the AD’s at South Carolina and VCU. (UNC will not hire an AD associated with a major NCAA investigation, which knocks out Ga. Tech)

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