Woolard headed to the Big East?

[SLURadioBoy]

With all this excitement with Lisch and some special days up ahead for our Bills, it seems this has become overlooked.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...+S.+Florida+job

Looks like Woolard might be headed to S. Florida and the Big East.

"Praises we sing, to you our alma mater,

Praise to the white and blue.

Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you,

We hail Saint Louis U."

Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer

[kshoe]

has taken some heat from people on this board and I'm sure there are some that would just assume he go this doesn't seem like a good time as we are in the middle of major fundraising for the arena. Furthermore, it seems Doug and Brad have a very good relationship and I hate to break up that foundation.

[billiken_roy]

while i like doug and would hate to lose him, it appears to me that doug woolard has little to nothing to do with the fund raising project. the arena is being done at a level above our athletic department. that is probably a big reason we know nothing about what is going on.

[slufanskip]

I have mixed emotions about Doug leaving ... there are things I like about him and things I dislike. This may not be a bad time though. We are a program on the rise and will attract many good applicants. New blood may establish different relationships and have different ideas with fund raising and therefore get the ball rolling a little quicker.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[jjray]

There were two very major decisions / issues (and another fairly important) made in recent years on Woolard's watch: (a) how to play the breakup of CUSA, ( the replacement for LoRo, and © replacement for soccer coach Warming when he bolted to Creighton. In each case we came out smelling like a rose. Landing in the A10 is about as good a result as we could have hoped for from the NASCAR'ification of CUSA, Brad has been a godsend to the basketball program, and Dan Donigan has the young soccer Bills squad poised to play for national championships for years to come. The major complaint during the Wollard era has been game promotion for b-ball. Marketing might not be Doug's strong point but he has done an excellent job at addressing the main issues facing the athletic department.

[willie]

I agree Doug has done a very good job on the big picture items. The rap has been that he's hard to work for. He's supposedly a micro manager. We have had a lot of turnover especially in area like promotion. I think he'd like to move on if he can find a better job, especially one with football. This is probably the 4th or 5th time his name has been mentioned for a new job.

[billiken_roy]

jjray, great post. i echo all your praises and examples. i also would like to point out that under doug's watch, we have expanded our athletic department and the facilities overall. we complain about west pine gym, but let's not forget that we have one of the nicest soccer facilities in the nation, and have upgraded the baseball and softball fields as well. i dont know the exact numbers, but i would venture to guess that we have more athletes at slu now than ever before.

like everyone else here, i love to talk about the men's billiken basketball team, but doug's job is not solely about the men's billiken basketball team. he has the delicate job of balancing the entire department. that is not an easy task. the fact that the likes of kansas, unlv and now south florida (which fyi is the largest school in florida) have all put doug in their "final fours" speaks volumes about his abilities.

those of you that are "hoping" he leaves, with the belief we will then find the david stern of college basketball need to do a reality check. the more likely prospect is we are fed a replacement with little to no actual athletic director experience. that might turn out. hell everyone has their first job at a certain level, but i just want to caution those hopes.

[slu72]

I don't think, if it happens, his replacement will be taken lightly. Not with a new arena and the current excitement about Billiken basketball. The keys to this program, however, remain keeping UB in the fold, God forbid should he up and leave, and getting the arena built. The only thing I can fault Woolard on is his not hiring UB before 'Zo, when he was an assistant at UW. If he had, we'd have had at least two or three NCAA's under our belt by now.

[davidnark]

Woolard has had a lot of positives during his tenure, most notably the hiring of Brad, the arena project, and the athletic department's academic accomplishments. He should not, however, be given a free pass for (i) overseeing a drastic decline in basketball attendance over the last eight years, (ii) allowing Billiken marketing to fall somewhere between irrelevant and embarrassing, (iii) allowing the Great Midwest conference to deevolve into the NASCAR league, and (iv) leading us into the Romar debacle (Roy, feel free to dispute the last point). I have also heard through the grapevine that not all of the powers-to-be were happy with the results of the soccer stadium. I like where the program is today, but the road to where we are has been far from perfect.

[billiken_roy]

david nark said, "Woolard has had a lot of positives during his tenure, most notably the hiring of Brad, the arena project, and the athletic department's academic accomplishments."

again, the more i see what is going on, i dont think doug is too active in the arena project. maybe i am wrong, but it sure seems he knows about as much as any of us do. not a knock on doug, just my observations.

david nark said, "He should not, however, be given a free pass for (i) overseeing a drastic decline in basketball attendance over the last eight years,"

point well taken

david nark said, "(ii) allowing Billiken marketing to fall somewhere between irrelevant and embarrassing,

point very well taken. my biggest ***** about saint louis university sports. and to be honest may have fixed all these negatives you bring up had marketing been stronger.

david nark said, "(iii) allowing the Great Midwest conference to deevolve into the NASCAR league

not sure how this is woolard's fault. the fact is he got slu in on the ride more than could be said for say dayton. and it is my belief that mike slive more or less pulled a fast one on the league from it's original inception. of course he had the help of the memphis, louisville and cincy people. how doug could have done anything about this is beyond me. i applaud the fact that when the dust settles, we will be in the a-10 and not the remaining shell of the nascar aka cusa league. if their is anything that is regretable, it is not being able to bond with our brothers depaul and marquette to force the coming about of the papal league. from conversations with doug though, i get the distinct impression that slu did all they could to make that a reality and still hopes it happens when the inevitable blow up of the big least happens in the near future.

david nark said, "(iv) leading us into the Romar debacle (Roy, feel free to dispute the last point)."

i am tired of defending lorenzo. you guys beat away, but dont expect me to join in. lorenzo did his job and imo was close to breaking through to a national presense. he was getting mentioned with bigtime recruits more and more and it was inevitable that eventually he was going to hit. one player CAN make a big difference. see larry hughes or duane wade.

david nark said, "I have also heard through the grapevine that not all of the powers-to-be were happy with the results of the soccer stadium."

i have heard the same, but it still doesnt dispute the fact that we have upgraded what we had and that we now play soccer games on campus and enjoy the top attendance in the nation.

david nark said, "I like where the program is today, but the road to where we are has been far from perfect."

no one said it was or is perfect. all i am saying is that overall the big picture says he does a good job. willie mentioned his micro managing or the rumor he does that. well judging by the level of experience on staff, that might be more of a necessity than a shortcoming. one would hope that if the staff stays around, that would become less and less the fact. the real question is the turnover. maybe we need to allocate more dollars to pay this staff. when the likes of dan oldani, who i thought the world of, leaves slu to go work at a high school, i have to ask, how the hell does that happen? i like john garrison, and jim braun and lori flanagan, and koshe irby, and their staff a lot. but we got to get these folks to stay around and develop. anyone that has been in corporate management knows that you are only as good as your replacements. thus look to that sub group for your answers. if they are being micro managed, what have they done to show they dont need to be? the marketing issues alone scream for opportunities to shine. have they brought ideas and projects to the table that have been shot down? i dont know the answer, but i suspect not enough.

[davidnark]

nm

[kshoe]

but the main reason I like him is his stated goal to get to the Final Four and his belief that he can get us there. His whole, "if Wisconsin can do it, why not SLU".

Well, if you hire him instead of Romar he never goes to the final four and he never gets a half year head coaching experience at UW. I think Brad is a considerably stronger coach because of those three years (I even include the humbleness that comes from being passed over for your dream job and having to be an assistant for a while as part of his development as a coach).

[BillikenButch]

We got Brad at the right time...for us and for him.

Things are definately looking up, but I am sure he will be the first to say that we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be.

[Schasz]

I found some articles in the Tampa Trib and St. Pete Times on the USF AD search that I will add to this thread. The Oliver candidate also has a past at WASU...Woolard's old haunt. By the way, wasn't Woolard an Asst. AD at WASU and not the head man when he came to SLU. Seems to me that we could find a decent replacement and Woolard leaving won't be counted as a major setback to our program IMHO. It looks like USF could make a decision by the end of the week.

http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGAFDN5HTTD.html

http://bulls.tbo.com/bulls/MGAL00R1JTD.html

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/04/Sports/A...boasts_va.shtml

[cheeseman]

Hold on - Lorenzo was brought to SLU by Woolard and without digging up all the stuff about Romar and his stay at SLU - you can not let Doug off on the drop off the program took under Romar. Second, the way it was reported, it was Fr. B who hired Brad - Doug did some legwork but did not do anything special in that regards. Finally, Doug has done some good things but overall, he is unimaginative and has never run a very good marketing scheme. Lets not forget that for whatevere the reason, when a coach leaves there is always the whispers that one of the reasons they left was because Doug killed them with paperwork and jumping through hoops. Doug has been a finalist before for jobs and has not gotten them so no reason to think he will get this one either.

[Iggy]

His goal is not to get to the final four. His goal is to win a national championship.

[Sheltiedave]

This is the perfect time to be looking for a new AD to fill Doug's shoes. We have ground being broken on a new bball arena, and we have the opportunity to add on to the soccer venue to have an MSL caliber facility.

On Doug's side, he has to be looking for better opportunities than SLU, and they exist. His forte at WSU was the football program and the revenue it generated. SLU never will generate the same level of revenue from bball and soccer that WSU took in, and I'm sure Doug would be quite happy to shepard USF into the Big East.

On SLU's side, there is a burning need to get an AD who is a firebrand trailblazer. Debbie Yow would be great, but not being available, we should be able to find someone of her ilk and caliber, even though she rubbed certain peoples' fur enormously. Marketing, strategic planning, and elevating the quality of smaller atheletic programs are just the tip of the iceberg. A major focus should be getting asses in all the empty seats at the bball and soccer games, as these actually will generate profit to be used by the total AD.

[BillikenButch]

There is not a single employee in administration at SLU that is a firebrand trailblazer. There will never be one as long as a Jesuit is the President of the University.

The job of filling the seats is a whole lot easier when (a) you have a lot fewer seats to fill in a new arena, and ( the team starts generating interest because of landing hot local prospect and winning.

I am all for finding a young, aggressive AD interested in developing the entire athletic department, but the lack of a football program will likely diminish interest in candidates who want to make a name for themseleves in the industry. At best it will limit the tenure of an up and comer who wants the title of AD.

[3star_recruit]

So basically this search will be limited to assistant ADs from a Big Six conference?

[billiken_roy]

billikenbutch said, "There will never be one as long as a Jesuit is the President of the University."

while i admittedly have never even spoken to father biondi, judging from his previous acts and accomplishments, this statement surprises me. i dont consider biondi the typical stereotype jesuit personality thus i would think he would look for the same in his employees?

[slufanskip]

Matt Oldani ... not Dan. I also think a lot of him. When I first started going on the road trips and to many soccer games I was usually alone. Matt always went out of his way to make me feel comfortable and to let me know that he appreciated my support. I don't know though that he leaving was or was not any unhappiness with SLU ... maybe just a better opportunity with more responsibility.

I know Matt reads the board once in awhile ... hope you are enjoying your new job ... come out to a soccer game or something once in a while.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[BillikenButch]

I am not quite sure what you are asking, but I think I can rephrase my statement.

Fr. Biondi is one of a kind and the university is extremely fortunate to have his leadership. The talent he surrounds himself with is very professional, hard working and dedicated. They are not, however, firebrand trailblazers. I liken the senior staff at SLU to that of AB, extremely good at what they do and they let the attention fall on the Busch family.

It is my opinion that no Jesuit is particularly interested in hiring firebrands in anything except for the head of social justice programs. It is also my opinion that the Jesuits, as evidenced in Universities across the country, have placed the role of the athletic department behind that of academic departments. Simply, athletics support the mission of the University, they are not the mission of the University. I think that Jesuits take the academic mission extremely seriously and as such, they are not likely to let something upstage the mission.

[bonwich]

I think BillikenButch has spoken articulately, but I also believe he paints Jesuits with too broad of a brush. I'd be interested to hear B-Law's take on the relationship at Marquette; I'd also suggest that the basketball philosophy at Georgetown hasn't always matched the model that Butch presents.

That said, I agree with the general premise, at least for the specific. I think Father Biondi favors loyalists over those who might be risk-takers, but at the same time will probably end up butting heads with him. For a prime example, look at what happened during the hiring of the Biz School dean.

[AlumniFan]

If there is one thing that seems clear to me, everyone in the AD office is a fund raiser. I think Doug and Jim Braun are ALWAYS looking for potential donors and benefactors. From what I have seen, I think that even the coaches, who are just as excited as we are (actually, probably more so) are also very attuned to the fund raising needs.

I would be disappointed to see Doug leave as I think he has built some strong relationships in the community and has overseen important improvements to Billiken athletics. However, I do agree that if he does leave, we are in a position to attract top talent to the very important AD job.

[BillikenButch]

I want to be clear that being loyal does not inhibit your ability to be creative or innovative. What inhibits these things is the trap of not acting like an athletic director, but rather like an athletic administrator. It is a tough distinction to make in a culture like SLU's. I am not sure what kind of leader we have in Woolard; I know we have a very good administrator.

When Woolard is replaced (it will happen at some point), the only firebrand I can envision is a female athletic director charged to raise the profile of women's athletics and maintain the quality of men's soccer and bball. Otherwise we will get a very competent adminstrator with hopefully some leadership abilities.