Curious—Why are we paying 125K for a search committee for the next AD?

[maplesyrup95]

We don't already know internally? Is this a normal thing to do? After SE was fired, I hoped they had someone ready to go. When I saw that we didn't, it didn't worry me per se, just made me go...huh? I really hope the people in the positions above the AD figure this out.

 

[headcard]

We don't already know internally? Is this a normal thing to do? After SE was fired, I hoped they had someone ready to go. When I saw that we didn't, it didn't worry me per se, just made me go...huh? I really hope the people in the positions above the AD figure this out.

How would we already know internally? We need to go find the best AD available, not just someone down the hall. This boards obsession with how much is spent on every facet of the athletic department is crazy.

 

[sparky62]

I would hope they would outsource for a search committee. 125k is peanuts when you're talking about a multi-million corp.

 

[Toms Wife]

Because of what took place we went through this last time we needed an AD. Last time out Perlman had a committee do initial work but he was the only one to interview Eichorst. He knew Eichorst was the guy after one question.

“I asked him, ‘If you were here five years from now, how would you measure your success?’” Perlman said. “His response was, ‘If the coaches and student athletes have been successful and nobody knows my name, it will be a success.’"

Well, it's now been almost exactly five years since that interview. I would say by Shawn's own words it was not a success.

 

[Huskerfan2112]

People would gripe if they went without a search group. People will gripe with a search group. If they hire a search group people will gripe that they paid too much or too little. After the group makes recomendations, people will gripe and want to view meeting records. If NU goes with the groups recommendation, people will gripe that the decision could have been made internally all along and the money was wasted. If NU doesnt go with the recommendation people will gripe that the fix was in.


In other words, people are gonna bitch no matter what so lets just let the process play out. None of us in the message board warrior community have a damn bit of influence either way.

 

[maplesyrup95]

How would we already know internally? We need to go fins the best AD available, not just someone down the hall. This boards obsession with how much is spent on every facet of the athletic department is crazy.

I don't know if I'm being referred to as "the board" but I've never had the sheep mentality in my life and I have 0 obsession with not spending the money, I just don't see the benefit of using it here. I know hiring an AD and a coach is probably night and day difference, but to me, hiring a firm like this kind of sounds like hiring an ADPR firm, which in the branding industry can be a waste of $ and resources for poor product. As the poster above me says, we don't have a whole lot of influence either way.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

They should just place an ad in the OWH and LJS in the jobs section.

Looking for non-asshole coach that also isn't too nice, must have ability to win all games and not lose any games. Experience is a plus but the fans are willing to train.

 

[N-sane]

I don't know I'm being referred to as "the board" but I've never had the sheep mentality in my life and I have 0 obsession with not spending the money, I just don't see the benefit of using it here. I know hiring an AD and a coach is probably night and day difference, but to me, hiring a firm like this kind of sounds like hiring an ADPR firm, which in the branding industry can be a waste of $ and resources for poor product. As the poster above me says, we don't have a whole lot of influence either way.

I think some of the reason that "search committees" are used is it allows potential candidates to inquire about the job with more discretion. Both sides are able to say that they didn't talk to the other one, since all initial communication is through a third party.

 

[LZZOSO]

125K really isn't that much. Businesses pay $25K for $75K positions. This is a big time position, and the salary will be 1M+, so this is chump change.

 

[TruHusker]

Let me take a shot at this maple. Going from past experience with similar situations and just some guessing.

You are talking about a high profile job. The business or in this case, UNL tells the search firm what they are looking for in candidates, salary, expectations, job description etc. They may ask for some names that they may have in mind or not. Then the search committee puts the package together to present to candidates. They handle contacts, phone calls, ads, scheduling etc. I don't think you realize the amount of work involved in this high level process. It could literally be a full time job for one person at UNL. Who would do it at UNL? That is what search companies are good at. You also take the biased out if it. The search company doesn't care, they are going off of criteria already established.

Generally the search committee will bring names to the UNL committee with recommendations from follow up info. The UNL committee then conducts interviews and the search committee manages all of the communication. I have headed up two of these, obviously WAY smaller than this and have been contacted by a search committee as well. There are variances on how they do things but this is a guess. The search committee may even send multiple people to the place where candidates work and find out all they can about the person.

I am glad they are using a search committee. It is a big job and you want it done professionally.

 

[Huskerfan2112]

A bit of personal perspective on my end as well. When I hire people, I work with a recruiter but I also keep a list of names based on industry interactions. Sometimes my recruiter finds a great candidate and I hire that person. Sometimes I hire someone who never speaks to my recruiter. Either way, its best to have options. And also either way, I have pissed people off because they think there was a better candidate who shouldve been hired because he was an experienced person or she was inexperienced but had more drive.

 

[Bugeater]

I would hope they would outsource for a search committee. 125k is peanuts when you're talking about a multi-million corp.

Like Sparky said, peanuts! They gots the money, like Scrooge McDuck, now it's time to spend!

 

[redfanusa]

...because when they hire whomever Tom Osborne wants, they have to make it look like there was a nation-wide search to throw off the critics.

It's like when I worked for a Fortune 500 company as an Oracle applications developer. We were desperate to hire an absolutely killer Oracle DBA because we were growing so fast. They assured us the applicant pool was deep, and that we'd have a next-level person on staff within weeks. The man who was actually hired happened to be the brother of the VP of Finance. He had just gone through a difficult divorce and just needed someone to give him a chance. Ran the department into the ground during a long and disastrous tenure ending with his termination. #buddyhires

 

[maplesyrup95]

Let me take a shot at this maple. Going from past experience with similar situations and just some guessing.

You are talking about a high profile job. The business or in this case, UNL tells the search firm what they are looking for in candidates, salary, expectations, job description etc. They may ask for some names that they may have in mind or not. Then the search committee outs the package together to present to candidates. They handle contacts, phone calls, ads, scheduling etc. I don't think you realize the amount of work involved in this high level process. It could literally be a full time job for one person at UNL. Who would do it at UNL? That is what search companies are good at. You also take the biased out if it. The search company doesn't care, they are going off if criteria already established.

Generally the search committee will bring names to the UNL committee with recommendations from follow up info. The UNL committee then conducts interviews and the search committee manages all if the communication. I have headed up two of these, obviously WAY smaller than this and have been contacted by a search committee as well. There are variances on how they do things but this is a guess. The search committee may even send multiple people to the place where candidates work and find out all they can about the person.

I am glad they are using a search committee. It is a big job and you want it done professionally.

Thanks Tru. Nice response. And you're right—I don't really know the inner machinations of how a hire this big goes down in hiring someone for an Athletic Director position. I see why it would be beneficial to hire with a search committee. I just hope this committee realizes that someone young and inexperienced isn't out of the field of play. I mean a man can dream but what if we hired a Theo Epstein or a Dayton Moore type of guy, only a college football version of them?

 

[CC_Lemming]

When you have the track record we do of hiring coaches and ADs over the past two decades, 125k is easy to justify when it may save you millions in buyouts.

 

[Mack In Motion]

...because when they hire whomever Tom Osborne wants, they have to make it look like there was a nation-wide search to throw off the critics.

It's like when I worked for a Fortune 500 company as an Oracle applications developer. We were desperate to hire an absolutely killer Oracle DBA because we were growing so fast. They assured us the applicant pool was deep, and that we'd have a next-level person on staff within weeks. The man who was actually hired happened to be the brother of the VP of Finance. He had just gone through a difficult divorce and just needed someone to give him a chance. Ran the department into the ground during a long and disastrous tenure ending with his termination. #buddyhires

So basically exactly how we hired Eichorst with the same result.

Hopefully tgeyre taking a different approach this time

 

[CC_Lemming]

The cynical response is that, whether or not they go with the firm's recommendation, it needs to be perceived that they did.

 

[headcard]

I don't know if I'm being referred to as "the board" but I've never had the sheep mentality in my life and I have 0 obsession with not spending the money, I just don't see the benefit of using it here. I know hiring an AD and a coach is probably night and day difference, but to me, hiring a firm like this kind of sounds like hiring an ADPR firm, which in the branding industry can be a waste of $ and resources for poor product. As the poster above me says, we don't have a whole lot of influence either way.

I guess I don't see how it is a waste of $$, unless you already know who you are going to hire. Who on staff is supposed to have the expertise to evaluate and hire an AD by themselves, or even know who is available? Let the firm weed out the candidates and make the phone calls. Otherwise it would just be grasping at straws. "TCU has good athletics lets call their AD" "What about USC", "Maybe we could steal Purdue's AD". " I head OSU's AD's mom is from Nebraska, maybe he wants to come here".

Not specifically you, but yes, there is an obsession with these type of money issues on this board. We have another thread on the front page about how $50K/mo is too much for an interim AD. Like anyone here knows the going rate for an interim AD.

 

[tpmcg]

When you have the track record we do of hiring coaches and ADs over the past two decades, 125k is easy to justify when it may save you millions in buyouts.

no further explanation.

 

[ru4nu2win]

Hey, I would take 125k to drive up to Omaha.

 

[coachDubs]

When you have the track record we do of hiring coaches and ADs over the past two decades, 125k is easy to justify when it may save you millions in buyouts.

Considering many other schools paid the exact same firm less (<$105K) for 3 times the amount of time it took, spending $125K for a 60-day search is most definitely a head scratcher.

 

[CC_Lemming]

Considering many other schools paid the exact same firm less (<$105K) for 3 times the amount of time it took, spending $125K for a 60-day search is most definitely a head scratcher.

Didn't know that. Inflation? j/k

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

All head hunter firms base their fee on the salary being offered, not the length of their contract with their client. A $100k job could cost as much as $25k. The fee for a $1 million job could easily be $250k. If a client wants a faster search, it will cost more.

 

[Harry Caray]

Our athletic department has so much money that we're literally giving millions away to non-athletes.

If we're actually doing a legitimate nation-wide search for the best candidate, this will be a worthwhile investment. If we end up hiring Trev Alberts, then I'll probably agree it's a waste of money.

 

[TruHusker]

Tuco is correct on the pricing.

Something was said about the search committee deciding, they don't decide anything. They do preliminary leg/ground work. You might say they make contacts and get down. In the weeds on candidates. A typical question might be about handling head coaches. You wait until the interview or sometimes the search committee, providing they have to go ahead can dig deeper for that particular info.

Let's say you have 10 candidates and the interview committee wants to get down to five. This five get highly scrutinized by search committee people before they come to the interview in some, but not all cases.

If reading this board is any indication, it is a no win situation whichever way they go.

 

[Redd Webster]

They didn't accept by resume for new AD position. So, gotta pay bucks to find someone as equally qualified

 

[swissticuffs]

appearances.

 

[Nebraska Fan]

Considering many other schools paid the exact same firm less (<$105K) for 3 times the amount of time it took, spending $125K for a 60-day search is most definitely a head scratcher.

The fee is also depends on the services rendered.

 

[Husker.Wed.]

One would think practical and thrifty Nebraskans would just use Ziprecruiter.

 

[coachDubs]

All head hunter firms base their fee on the salary being offered, not the length of their contract with their client. A $100k job could cost as much as $25k. The fee for a $1 million job could easily be $250k. If a client wants a faster search, it will cost more.

I'll believe it, pending who's hired and the compensation offered. A flat fee of $125K, for a "60-day search", compared to $88K for a 6-month search seems odd.

In time...

 

[tpmcg]

The fee is also depends on the services rendered.

that being said, i hope payment will be made afterwards...

 

[dinglefritz]

I'll believe it, pending who's hired and the compensation offered. A flat fee of $125K, for a "60-day search", compared to $88K for a 6-month search seems odd.

In time...

On the other hand if you have to expedite it I can see a company charging more for a shorter turn around. Personally I can't imagine that it's that tough to find out who is interested or not and then turn the names over but hey charge as much as you can and GET PAID$$$$$$....It's the American way.

 

[rchrisreade]

I'll believe it, pending who's hired and the compensation offered. A flat fee of $125K, for a "60-day search", compared to $88K for a 6-month search seems odd.

Completely understand why it seems odd but also understand that shorter timeframe means more immediate work needs to be done. In dealing with search firms in our industry, if we say that we need someone on a short timeframe, they basically charge an expedite fee to drop whatever else they were working on and to quickly gather and vet candidates and they do more of the screening. On a longer term search, the search firm can allow the applications and resumes to trickle in and can defer some of the due diligence to the client. Basically it is a comparison of having to screen "Who is interested v. Who is interested immediately."

 

[Nebraska Fan]

On the other hand if you have to expedite it I can see a company charging more for a shorter turn around. Personally I can't imagine that it's that tough to find out who is interested or not and then turn the names over but hey charge as much as you can and GET PAID$$$$$$....It's the American way.

That would be the cheapest for sure but I suspect they want a background check including claimed degrees. Don't want a Notre Dame situation.

 

[Toms Wife]

Aren't we saving 50k a month anyway? How come everyone forgets that?

Oh, wait. We gotta keep paying SE. Hip hip hooray?

 

[Minn1954]

They should just place an ad in the OWH and LJS in the jobs section.

Looking for non-asshole coach that also isn't too nice, must have ability to win all games and not lose any games. Experience is a plus but the fans are willing to train.

The search committee is being used to find an AD, not a football coach.

 

[WDMHusker]

125K really isn't that much. Businesses pay $25K for $75K positions. This is a big time position, and the salary will be 1M+, so this is chump change.

20% of 1st year's salary is common, especially when it's just one position. This would be way under that.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

The search committee is being used to find an AD, not a football coach.

Ehhh, it is almost the same ad.

 

[coachDubs]

Completely understand why it seems odd but also understand that shorter timeframe means more immediate work needs to be done. In dealing with search firms in our industry, if we say that we need someone on a short timeframe, they basically charge an expedite fee to drop whatever else they were working on and to quickly gather and vet candidates and they do more of the screening. On a longer term search, the search firm can allow the applications and resumes to trickle in and can defer some of the due diligence to the client. Basically it is a comparison of having to screen "Who is interested v. Who is interested immediately."

I understand and get it, but I'll believe the industry standard talk after the hire is official.

 

[Red I 73]

People would gripe if they went without a search group. People will gripe with a search group. If they hire a search group people will gripe that they paid too much or too little. After the group makes recomendations, people will gripe and want to view meeting records. If NU goes with the groups recommendation, people will gripe that the decision could have been made internally all along and the money was wasted. If NU doesnt go with the recommendation people will gripe that the fix was in.


In other words, people are gonna bitch no matter what so lets just let the process play out. None of us in the message board warrior community have a damn bit of influence either way.

"The Nebraska way"