I joked in another post that Andrew Luck’s father was a candidate, but in all seriousness, I never understood why Oliver would be interested in the UH AD job. He is very accomplished in sports management, but on the back end of his career, has nothing to prove and while being very familiar with UH, has no ties to UH. In fact, Luck may be too familiar with UH and understand the challenges of being a college in a pro town.
It just doesn’t make any sense.
no idea what you are talking about. Have to say no.
I loved Chris Baldwin’s dig at Duarte in the article.
“It also contradicts a Houston Chronicle report that cited Luck as a “name to watch” in the AD search, a report which then got picked up nationally and spread by outlets such as Sports Illustrated and MSN.”
They’re in no rush and that’s fine. It’s no accident the chancellor put Big Ray Bartlett in charge as interim. He’s a 30 year veteran of UH and has lead multiple departments when she’s decided to turn them over. He’ll set the new person up for success with a SWOT and have any A&F errors corrected by their first day.
Thanks Big Ray……Sandwich on Tuesday?
Duarte & Baldwin with a Twitter beef
Duarte wins this round imo
You dont think every day we don’t have conplete alignment of the Athletic program + marketing + fundraising + NIL collective + facility management + creative revenue streams + outreach to increase our fan base , ticket sales + game day preparation isn’t a problem and especiallt this close to the start of the season of our most important sport?.
The fact they didn’t have a solid short list BEFORE firing Pez is concerning …very concerning.
We need someone to take this position and run with it.
Unless Luck turned us down but that was a bad older retread option to begin with.
The average interview process even with a solid candidate in mind usually takes about 2 months. Especially, this time of year with vacations and holidays.
Most important thing is to thoroughly vet the candidates, have them meet with as many stakeholders as possible, and help them build relationships internally so that they have people in their corner when they start that want to see/ help them be successful.
Thanks Guardian, appreciate this new info…RK will take her time and get us the right person…and Big Ray will run the ship meanwhile…
Duarte wins no rounds. Laziest reporter.
The thing about this is there are no leaks. Just guesses. This is driving some of us crazy. Feeling that nothing is being done, the sky is falling. When the search is being handled internally the potential for leaks is greater because there are more “sources.”
The search is being performed by an outside firm. They’ve been given specifications about what is being sought for any candidate. They are also doing the vetting. When they have two or three viable candidates, they will present them. Then, we’ll probably start hearing things.
…two or three…or when they have ID’d and vetted their top recommended and available candidate.
So as i told everyone, Luck was never a candidate. My source says there is an another non mentioned candidate that looks like the front runner. We will see. I don’t have a name yet
Is it a zero or a hero?
Duarte is salty that Baldwin is trusted by sources that he is not (Fertitta is my guess). This is due to his own (sometimes) antagonistic attitude and/or laziness. Key people definitely notice.
Baldwin is the only media guy that knew Keenum was being dismissed and undervalued.
The Chancellor didn’t fire Pezman because the athletic department was lacking “complete alignment.” That’s very difficult to achieve and pretty rare for any organization. Ironically, to your point though, there actually is an org damn near close. Her’s - aka UH as a whole, and even UHS as a whole.
Pezman was let go because his department was not aligned with HER strategy and expectations. Its crazy to say student affairs, academics, even A&F aren’t the weakest links anymore. Athletics is…
Over the last 5-7 years the rest of UH really has become completely aligned. Every other vice president and cabinet member has been hitting home run after home run, delivering results while athletics drifted further from the Chancellor’s vision (which I encourage everyone to read HERE)
If anyone is scratching their head on why a change was made, simply zoom out. It’s not coaching contracts or softball rumors. It’s failure to deliver on UH’s overall goals leading up to the centennial…
Now Pez did a lot of good things. He’s a great guy and was pretty good at most of his job. He also dealt with an obscene amount of change and volatility…Unfortunately, he came up short where it counted - everything you see in GOAL 4 … all 4 milestones.
Khator released this plan in 2021 and gave her VPs a mandate - milestones done by 2027 - UH’s centennial. She told Eloise Brice to raise $1 billion… she raised $1.3 billion. Told Richard Walker to make student affairs respectable… he made it elite (and was rewarded). Told Provost Short to hit a home run in academics…she hit multiple grand slam.. Ramanan Krishnamoorti merged Energy & Innovation and is killing it in partnerships. Dona Cornell is one of the most respected GCs in in America.. Claudia Neuhauser’s research figures speak for themselves. Jason Smith took on UT / PUF and got Prop 5 passed. Stephen Spann only went out and got us a whole damn medical school! Haha. Lastly, for a look inside the methodical and organized brain of Big Ray Bartlett just look at his VISION 2027 plan - one might say he’s “completely aligned” with his boss and her goals. Both Bartlett and Cornell have spent significant time supporting athletics - likely a little too much time for Khator’s liking and poor reflection on the previous AD. It’s not likely but if no AD candidate blows her away, Khator could leave Bartlett as interim for 12-18 months and we’d be more than fine.
That’s a long way of saying yes, I do indeed think we have an alignment issue. Just not the same one. Almost everyone I mentioned above was a Renu Khator hire… and all of them have exceeded expectations. So I say let her cook… take all the time she needs.
Go Coogs
Good points Coog 2010. Let’s remember the VP of Student Affairs search in 2011… it dragged on all summer and had everyone worried.
After months of work the search committee named 3 finalists and sent to Chancellor Khator…All very qualified candidates but apparently lacking “fire in the belly” bc she rejected all 3! she then asked the committee to interview one more person… a referral of sorts.
That person was Richard Walker out of Miami. He killed the interview and was hired on the spot. 5 years later he had student affairs completely transformed . And now president of UHCL
@CougarGuardian, you have a perspective and depth of understanding that has not been voiced on this board. Excellent post.
Yeah, what’s up with THAT?!!!
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