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A Longhorn for Commish?
By Kirk Bohls | Saturday, June 30, 2007, 08:10 PM

Little word has seeped out in the Big 12’s search for a replacement of Kevin Weiberg as league commissioner. In fact, nothing is expected to even take shape in the form of a search committee until after this week’s holiday when the conference presidents start to seriously approach the issue.

But here are a few more names to consider alongside interim commissioner and clear front-runner Dan Beebe: SMU president Gerald Turner, Cotton Bowl executive director Rick Baker, NCAA senior vice-president Tom Jernstedt, Florida State athletic director Dave Hart and one other intriguing name.

To read the rest of the story:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... n_for.html

Excuse my ignorance, but which one of those is a Longhorn?

LonghornFan68 wrote:Excuse my ignorance, but which one of those is a Longhorn?

"...one other intriguing name." ... (If you read the rest of the story, it is as follows) ... "That would be Texas women’s athletic director Chris Plonsky..."

My bad, I thought there was some common knowledge I wasn't privy to. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't suppose RGT will get the gig - sounds like Beebe is the prohibitive favorite. But RGT would be very hard to replace. He has been as athletics-friendly as almost any university president out there.

For the sake of argument, let's say Turner gets the Big 12 job. Am I right in my assumption that the SMU Board of Trustees would choose Turner's replacement?

My fear is how high on the Board's priority list an athletics-friendly President would be. Everyone, I would think, wants a president who seeks to make the university the best academic institution it can be. But it is absolutely vital that any successor be heavily vested in athletics.

My initial hope comes from the fact that the financial resources the university has committed in recent years - GJFord Stadium, assurances to Steve-O, coaches' salaries (especially Doherty), Crum Center, Moody overhaul, facilities upgrades for soccer, swimming, tennis, etc. - are so large that any future administrators would come on board with the assumption that like it or not, athletics will remain a major part of university finances and operations.

Hopefully Turner doesn't get the job and stays exactly where he is.

RGT is not interested in the job as big 12 commish - second even if he was it would be a big pay cut

Pony Up wrote:For the sake of argument, let's say Turner gets the Big 12 job. Am I right in my assumption that the SMU Board of Trustees would choose Turner's replacement?

My fear is how high on the Board's priority list an athletics-friendly President would be. Everyone, I would think, wants a president who seeks to make the university the best academic institution it can be. But it is absolutely vital that any successor be heavily vested in athletics.

My initial hope comes from the fact that the financial resources the university has committed in recent years - GJFord Stadium, assurances to Steve-O, coaches' salaries (especially Doherty), Crum Center, Moody overhaul, facilities upgrades for soccer, swimming, tennis, etc. - are so large that any future administrators would come on board with the assumption that like it or not, athletics will remain a major part of university finances and operations.

Hopefully Turner doesn't get the job and stays exactly where he is.

Your view of the issue is a strong one. Turner was hired to raise money. Yes, he needed to have enough gravitas to manage the faculty and enough administrative savvy to manage the Deans and VPs (Finance, Legal, Student Life, etc.). But his job the past 12 years has been to raise cash, and he has done so. Personally, I think Malcolm Gillis (former President of Rice) would have done as equally well in fundraising, and even better as far as academic gravitas and administrative prowess (his parting shot as he retired was to the naysayers regarding Div-1A athletics), but Turner made a believer out of me that he could lead the university very effectively on all fronts. But money is money, baby, and he showed us the money.

You are correct, the BOT is responsible for the hiring of SMU's President. In the past, the practical realities of doing so required the appointing of a Hiring Committee complete w/ a chairman (Boards aren't real good at tasks...they stick to policy to their credit). That committee also had faculty members, an administrator or Dean, and several students (grad and UG). They will probably hire a search firm: Korn/Ferry most likely...the Managing Director and Partner there is/was Bill Funk, and he was arguably the most successful Higher Ed search guy in the country during the 90s. He may still be. His job is to funnel resumes and vitaes to the committee for review. They will narrow the field to say, 10 candidates, and keep whittling away until they get to 4 or 5, if possible.
They will bring all in for an interview, evaluate all of them, and then the Officers of the BOT will have an interview with the finalists, and then they will choose. There may or may not be a vote at the moment, but they will vote to approve the choice at a board meeting. That creates the deadline everybody has to fill the position.

I hope that Turner doesn't leave, but if he does, I believe we should look at Rutgers, Wake Forest, or USC for a university president. They all have strong athletics (now, anyway), which suggests somebody got them there and knows what they are doing. They also have academics, etc.

W will be available. He could live in the Library, and like him or not, he can raise money. Cheney could be an advisory AD. That would probably even make Viloria tougher.

mrydel wrote:W will be available. He could live in the Library, and like him or not, he can raise money. Cheney could be an advisory AD. That would probably even make Viloria tougher.

Now THAT IS funny!!

mrydel wrote:W will be available. He could live in the Library, and like him or not, he can raise money. Cheney could be an advisory AD. That would probably even make Viloria tougher.

Would we lead an invasion against TCU citing they have WMDs?

perunapower wrote:

mrydel wrote:W will be available. He could live in the Library, and like him or not, he can raise money. Cheney could be an advisory AD. That would probably even make Viloria tougher.

Would we lead an invasion against TCU citing they have WMDs?

We could call air strikes on Amon Carter stadium to improve the appearance.

As wierd as it sounds, there is some precedent here. Thomas Jefferson became President of UVA after his presidency. Woodrow Wilson was President of Princeton before he became President of the United States.

EastStang wrote:As wierd as it sounds, there is some precedent here. Thomas Jefferson became President of UVA after his presidency. Woodrow Wilson was President of Princeton before he became President of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson founded UVA...was he ever the "President," however? Obviously, he was the de facto President, but my (obviously limited) knowledge of UVA history is that there was no president of the university at that time.

Woodrow Wilson was president of UVA at one point in his career as well.

shock and awe in toadville - best idea of the day.

Only an idiot sportwriter would suggest that a university president would leave to run the Big 12 - thats just a stupid comment.