Next Athletic Director?

[Vent]

Now that the announcement has been made by the university, it will be interesting to see who Bradley selects as its next athletic director.

The only names I have seen on message boards or heard through the rumor mill are Chris Reynolds and Brent Walker. I heard recently that Reynolds was not interested in the job now, because his wife was recently tenured at Northwestern University. As for Brent Walker, I believe he is currently at Columbia University an Ivy League school. I'm not sure the university needs to go back to the Ivy League well.

I would like to see somebody hired from the state of Illinois, that has a respected relationship with coaches and athletic directors throughout the state. Similar to what we got when we hired Ron Ferguson, several years ago. Anybody have any suggestions? What about Jim Molinari?

[Da Coach]

Mo is a coach, and a very good one. I doubt he would want to become an administrator.

[wizard1]

Next Athletic Director

Vent.....I agree with you that we do not need some Ivy League type who has no understanding of the traditions at BU or what BU means to Central Illinois. Finding an Illinois or Midwest based person who is well connected to college basketball and has good contacts would be excellent. I still have hopes that we can get Chris Reynolds.
Wiz

[Da Coach]

By the way, in case it was missed, I posted in another thread that there is more news about the next AD and head coach. But because we seem to have a couple overly sensitive whiners who don't like to read things that scoop the local newspaper boys, I will not be posting the info publicly here.

But as usual, I will be happy to share this news, and other news as it becomes available, by PM.

[Big Mike]

Midwest please......nothing from the east coast !

[AZ BU Fan]

Personally, I would rather hear information about BU personnel issues (hiring/firing) after officially announced by BU (unless BU wants to leak out info unofficially through BF.com).

Although I have every reason to believe super BF.com insiders could know its OK to release before an official announcement, wouldn't want BF.com posts to cause any grief with BU Admin, the people involved, affected staff, players, recruits, their families/friends, and unemployed's ability to look for other employment opportunities as appropriate before the media crap hits the fan.

JMHO

[Vent]

It doesn't matter to me who releases information regarding the hiring or firing of people at Bradley University, as long as the releasing of the information is approved of by the school.

There is a lot of good information on this board and I hope it continues.

[RickBB]

For those of you who don't know, Brent Walker is an East Peoria native who played baseball at BU under Dewey and threw the last no-hitter (at least as far as I know) in BU history. He also spent a winter on the BU hoops team under Mo as he was an all Mid Illini performer in basketball as well.

If anyone knows the traditions of BU and what BU athletics means to Central Illinois, I'm certain it would be him. In full disclosure we are former teammates who have known each other since we were about 10 years old and were close enough to be in each others weddings.

I have no idea if the rumor is true or not, or even if he'd be interested. If anyone knows more than that, feel free to communicate via PM. I won't comment on anything more in public forum out of respect for his current employer and him and his family.

[tornado]

Columbia is replacing their AD now and I don't believe Walker is being considered.... he would not be among my top choices
The one guy I would ask for advice is a guy who would not come back here because of the way he was slammed here four years ago, by the incoming AD at that time spewing all the crap about the mess he was going to come in here and clean up.

[lefty]

I'm sure there are plenty of good candidates. Hopefully we get a good one

[CubbieBear]

I cannot be happier that Cross is out the door next month!! i would hope the search for applicants for a replacement has been underway for a while--but wouldn't we likely wait till we have a new Pres. in place to hire an AD (that will work under the leadership of the new Pres?)
So--the question now is--will we do the "right thing" and pony up the 1.25 mil (or whatever the figure is) and bite the bullet & buy out Geno and get a clean sweep NOW while we are cleaning house--or wait and continue to sink to new lows before we are able to reload and rebound??

[tornado]

just hire someone who is smart enough not to stomp all over people's contracts and get us tied up in more lawsuits

[patrick_o'brian]

It has to be a regional hire. Like I said previously, Bradley has the most success when there is a family atmosphere with a little nostalgia. We cannot move forward by forgetting what we once were.

[CubbieBear]

just hire someone who is smart enough not to stomp all over people's contracts and get us tied up in more lawsuits

+1

[tornado]

one more request..
I want an Athletic Director who is honest and man enough to notice when his moves fail and admit it and try to correct them...
judging from some of the crap we are seeing today - it is apparent that the very people whose decisions have hurt Bradley athletics and driven Bradley basketball to the worst it's been at least in my lifetime - still think they've done a great job and are crowing about their great accomplishments.

this is why we are where we are....not just people making horribly bad decisions - but compounded by their resistance to even seeing how bad things are and instead viewing really, really bad as somehow really good and better than ever before!

Again - earth to whoever- if your moves lost half your fan base and generated more losses, fewer wins, more financial disasters, lawsuits, 20 & 30 point blowouts, the worst scoring & shooting ever seen since before the shot-clock era, more revolving-door player turnover, and even more players in jail than any prior 4-5 year span, then it explains why massive changes are needed and we are cleaning house.
If I made such moves and caused such similar fallout to someone's fine business, I'd have expected to have been fired 3 years ago.