Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi, who is looking for the “right fit” in a new basketball coach, remembered in 1997 when he looked for the “right fit” in a coach as AD at Denver, which is also looking for the “right fit” now.
Maturi thought he had the perfect fit. The coach was highly successful at a small school and believed in academics. They had a handshake agreement. But those in the university ivory tower didn’t think they could market a Division III coach.
So, DU passed on Bo Ryan helping them transition into Division I. This week Ryan leads Wisconsin (29-5) into the NCAA Tournament as the Midwest Regional’s No. 2 seed. Meanwhile, out of 336 schools in the season-ending RPI, Denver (4-25) finished No. 335.
All athletic directors look for the right fit when they make a hire. While it may reek of a cliché, knowing what is the right fit for your school is every bit as important as getting the big name. After all, a big name might not be the right fit.
And the pressure is on Front Range athletic directors, with Colorado, Denver, Colorado State and Wyoming all looking for new coaches. And Air Force might soon be looking unless Jeff Bzdelik chooses to stay.
Four state schools, all with different fits, but all with the same goal.
“It depends on the personality of the department and what you want accomplished,” Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton said about finding the right coach. “Ultimately, you’re trying to get student-athletes to come to your school. You want them to have a successful venture, and there are different ways to slice that pie.”
Take Denver. In 1997 it wanted a splashy hire. Buried on the state’s sports food chain, it was moving into Division I and soon into the sparkling new Magness Arena. Ryan had already won two Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Platteville and had 10 consecutive 20-win seasons at the time.
“He shared the values,” Maturi said. “DU is a very wonderful educational institution, a gem in the center of Denver and the state of Colorado. They have a high-profile hockey program. Why not a high-profile basketball program? CU didn’t dominate basketball.
“This wouldn’t be a program that would be second fiddle.”
Instead, Denver hired Marty Fletcher, a “name” who twice took Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) to the NCAA Tournament, then had four consecutive losing years during DU’s transition to Division I.
Hamilton knows what DU, CU and CSU are going through. In 2005, Tennessee went through its fifth coach in 15 years. Hamilton had a coach to hire and a half-empty, 24,535-seat arena to fill. He wanted a “coach with a track record of success” and “a guy who could interface in the community and really understand what it took to sell basketball tickets.”
Hamilton found Bruce Pearl, who had taken mid-major Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 the season before. Pearl is as fiery as the electric orange blazer he wears on the sideline. He visited every civic group he could fit into his calendar. He spoke atop chairs in student cafeterias. He embraced the success of the women’s team, even painting his chest orange and sitting in the student section this season.
OK, it’s schlocky – but Tennessee men’s basketball was in the living room of every home on “SportsCenter” that night.
“I always joked that if there was a group of old ladies at a quilting club and he thought he could sell five tickets, he would talk to them,” Hamilton said.
Then again, behind the showman, you had better find a guy who can coach or the buzz won’t last.
“You can get a hit with it (showmanship),” Texas coach Rick Barnes said, “and I’m not saying that person can’t do the job, but the right fit would be a person who can do the job regardless of what people think early.”
Pearl lifted Tennessee from 14-17 to 22-8 last year and 22-10 this season entering the NCAA Tournament. Attendance at men’s games averaged 19,661 this season.
Some schools look for image as a fit. Nevada-Las Vegas had been in a death spiral on the court since Jerry Tarkanian left in 1992, and the image hadn’t improved much, either. Then Charlie Spoonhour abruptly quit in the middle of the 2004 season.
“I didn’t try to match a coach with Las Vegas,” UNLV AD Mike Hamrick said. “I matched a coach with what I wanted as athletic director. I wanted a coach with character. We had just come off probation. We weren’t graduating any of our players. Zero. None.”
Hamrick paid big bucks to attract Lon Kruger, who had coached Kansas State and Illinois, took Florida to the Final Four and had coached the Atlanta Hawks. Kruger shook hands with every booster on charter planes, went to UNLV soccer games and threw the book at students who wouldn’t hit them. Saturday night, UNLV beat Brigham Young for the Mountain West Tournament title.
So what’s the right fit for DU, CU and CSU? DU athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes and CU’s Mike Bohn have been at their jobs less than two years, and they’re saying all the right things. They both need similar fits: a coach who can prop up interest and wins in programs that are blips on the state’s sports radar.
“(Football coach) Dan Hawkins was appropriate in so many ways,” Bohn said of his most high-profile hire. “On the basketball side, we need a similar fit. We want a coach to fit where they can be successful and not be overcome with the hurdles.”
Denver isn’t much better off today than when it was Division II. This season it averaged a heavily papered 1,472 fans a game. It’s clear the win column had more to do with coach Terry Carroll’s dismissal than anything else, with Bradley-Doppes saying, “Anytime your program is (335th) out of 336, it’s my job to assess the situation.”
She is not looking for a showman, adding, “We have a marketing department.”
Instead, she needs someone to win.
“I want someone here,” she said, “who I have to fight to keep in five years.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
