What’s the best way to hire our next AD?

When Danny White decided to move to Central Florida there was an obvious replacement ready within the department. Some very smart site actually wrote about it.

Greene and White shared a vision, both worked together at their previous job, in the SEC. Both had also previously been college athletes at big schools. They also had both worked in the UB Athletic Department for several years.

Allen Green was a no brainer. We didn’t need change of direction, and he represented a continuation of a successful era.

When Warde Manuel left there was no obvious replacement in house. I can think of one or two guys that were close, but nobody filled the role of what UB needed. UB needed to work on not being perceived a small “meh” school and instead be seen as a great school whose athletic department SHOULD be striving for more.

Warde Manuel had done all the internal work necessary to stabilize the department as a respectable MAC department. Then, someone needed to sell it as something that could be more.

That was Danny White’s job.

Thanks to UB’s last three Athletic Directors the school is in a decent position. The only real bloody nose it has taken, recently, was four sports being cut. Those cuts were brought on by a budget reduction foisted on Greene by the University.

Greene was the guy who pulled the trigger, but there was no other move to make.

Despite it all UB is looking like a good job to land right now. The last three AD’s have all landed in good places, the school is seeing some real success in hoops and the football program is showing some promise.

Now there are a few ways you can go with this hire

Shop Local

Is there someone in the department who could be the right person for the job? Is there someone at a local college who’s not affiliated with UB that could move us up?

The problem here is that the other D1 programs in our area are much smaller schools and all private. Same with most of the lower division programs. So whoever you bring in will have a lot of new things to deal with.

Shake the UB Tree

It’s always good to grow your coaching and directing trees so that at some point you can eat of its fruit.

UB now has about 15 years of good management in the rearview mirror. Manuel, White, and Green not only moved UB forward but some other careers were launched under their watch.

So is there someone out there who used to work for UB that is now ready to come back and lead the department?

Directing Is Directing

Do you go to Division II or Division III to find a head man? Do you look for a lower tier Division I conference?

You can find people who won’t be completely bushwhacked by the responsibilities of sitting in the big chair. On the flip side as we have seen, there is sometimes a learning curve.

Bring in the ringer

White, Manuel, and to a lesser extent, Greene were all hired guns. They were middlemen, or upper middlemen, for power conference programs.

They have no real connection to Buffalo but they have connections with other division one schools that can help with hires, promotion, and schedules.