When a new head coach is hired at the DI level, what are the expectations of how much autonomy the new hire gets?
I'm not talking at all about oversight if the guy breaks rules, has serious off-court issues or prompts NCAA sanctions, or pressure to do better if he isn't winning.
Those things do happen at almost every place.
I am specifically talking about 3 things...
- should he be able to hire the entire staff he wants without pressure or oversight from somewhere else in administration?
- should he be able to coach the way he wants without some higher-up butting in & telling him what to do different or which players to play?
- should he be able to recruit who he wants, offer scholarships as he wants and choose NOT to offer or take anyone into his program if he doesn't want to?
My answers are all quite simple - yes, yes, and yes (of course barring some serious ethical issue or departure from reasonable behavior)
I've been around Bradley basketball for 60 years, and here are some thoughts.
- there was reportedly minimal pressure put on Joe Stowell - even in years he wasn't winning - to recruit better, maybe more widely but it was minimal and Joe still pretty much got to do what he wanted.
- there was little pressure on Versace until he told the NCAA investigator to go to he&&, then admin slapped him & he left, costing Bradley a few years of rebuilding after Versace's players left
- Stan simply couldn't win without Versace's players, so he didn't last long
- there was a little pressure on Molinari because fans griped about his defensive style, but never was he told who to hire or recruit
- then things changed massively in 2002. Jim Les was NOT granted the privilege of choosing his own assistant coaches & staff. In fact, for 5 of the 9 years he was at Bradley, one or MORE of his staff were chosen for him and without his permission or consent - something virtually unheard of, yet JL did the best he could. Maybe not so coincidentally, the only four years he had his staff fully of his own choosing, his record in those years was 86-56 with four post-season appearances.
But that's not all, there were more than a half dozen times the players he recruited and wanted at Bradley were banned by someone higher up in the administration, including his own son who went elsewhere and LED ALL OF DIVISION I in 3-point shooting - and one other kid who wanted to come to Bradley but was not allowed, & ended up in the SEC and was All Conference. There were other instances of oppressive oversight from admin until Les was fired. It was bizarre, and hopefully we never see that again because it led to a decade of the worst years Bradley has ever seen in Athletics.
- Geno by stark contrast, was given carte blanche with no oversight- he was free to do whatever he wanted and even was granted massive extra revenue that became a huge issue to the Board of Trustees as Athletic Dept spending grew wildly out of control - eventually getting everyone up there fired.
- Lastly - as far as I can tell, there's essentially no oversight since 2015, Coach Wardle is free to recruit who he wants and hire who he wants. - as it should be.
But I hope Bradley has learned from the horrible mistakes of the past and our new coaching hires - IN ALL SPORTS - should be given the freedom to build their roster as they want,
without pressure from above and without yielding to social media morons who think they know better.
I'm not talking at all about oversight if the guy breaks rules, has serious off-court issues or prompts NCAA sanctions, or pressure to do better if he isn't winning.
Those things do happen at almost every place.
I am specifically talking about 3 things...
- should he be able to hire the entire staff he wants without pressure or oversight from somewhere else in administration?
- should he be able to coach the way he wants without some higher-up butting in & telling him what to do different or which players to play?
- should he be able to recruit who he wants, offer scholarships as he wants and choose NOT to offer or take anyone into his program if he doesn't want to?
My answers are all quite simple - yes, yes, and yes (of course barring some serious ethical issue or departure from reasonable behavior)
I've been around Bradley basketball for 60 years, and here are some thoughts.
- there was reportedly minimal pressure put on Joe Stowell - even in years he wasn't winning - to recruit better, maybe more widely but it was minimal and Joe still pretty much got to do what he wanted.
- there was little pressure on Versace until he told the NCAA investigator to go to he&&, then admin slapped him & he left, costing Bradley a few years of rebuilding after Versace's players left
- Stan simply couldn't win without Versace's players, so he didn't last long
- there was a little pressure on Molinari because fans griped about his defensive style, but never was he told who to hire or recruit
- then things changed massively in 2002. Jim Les was NOT granted the privilege of choosing his own assistant coaches & staff. In fact, for 5 of the 9 years he was at Bradley, one or MORE of his staff were chosen for him and without his permission or consent - something virtually unheard of, yet JL did the best he could. Maybe not so coincidentally, the only four years he had his staff fully of his own choosing, his record in those years was 86-56 with four post-season appearances.
But that's not all, there were more than a half dozen times the players he recruited and wanted at Bradley were banned by someone higher up in the administration, including his own son who went elsewhere and LED ALL OF DIVISION I in 3-point shooting - and one other kid who wanted to come to Bradley but was not allowed, & ended up in the SEC and was All Conference. There were other instances of oppressive oversight from admin until Les was fired. It was bizarre, and hopefully we never see that again because it led to a decade of the worst years Bradley has ever seen in Athletics.
- Geno by stark contrast, was given carte blanche with no oversight- he was free to do whatever he wanted and even was granted massive extra revenue that became a huge issue to the Board of Trustees as Athletic Dept spending grew wildly out of control - eventually getting everyone up there fired.
- Lastly - as far as I can tell, there's essentially no oversight since 2015, Coach Wardle is free to recruit who he wants and hire who he wants. - as it should be.
But I hope Bradley has learned from the horrible mistakes of the past and our new coaching hires - IN ALL SPORTS - should be given the freedom to build their roster as they want,
without pressure from above and without yielding to social media morons who think they know better.
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