I hate to say it, but I am not too happy

[BullDoug]

I don't see it that way at all. How can he know what to do immediately? He needs to evaluate what is going on first and work on those items that need attention first. If he just comes in and starts firing away without rhyme or reason, it could backfire horribly on him.

I'm sure Doug will have around table with Judy & Leroy, the AD staff, marketing and then the coaching staff either together or individually sometime before July 4th to get a good feel for the direction he wants to go 1st, 2nd, 3rd & so on.

BTW Rebe summer is bangin' at the front door.  Not much is gonna happen until after Sept. except the hiring of two bb assistances.  Lookin' for some sweet deals on season bb tix though.  I really wanna buy 'em but can never get myself to open the wallet.

[Guest PDiddyGuest]

Anyone here think we may have hired him WITH THE UNDERSTANDING that he will not mess with Leavitt's plans?  We needed someone good with money that could raise our image going into to BE.  He didn't do too bad considering what SLU is.

I don't think it would kills us to have someone help rebuild basketball and leave football alone, and just manage the business aspect.  He seemed to do that well enough.  Give the guy a break, he beat out some candidates to get here.

Maybe, just maybe, he deserves it?

[The_Reaper]

I agree Mike, But I am sure he already knows the situation here as he is a bright man and has done his homewoek before getting the job. He is a proven idea man and I am hoping he comes out of the box big time. It can only help. Now meaning out hot, getting the community, media, and in general get this community turned around and not thinking of the other schools in this state. USF first and always. GO BULLS!!

[bulls96go]

they've only won CUSA tourney, went to the NCAA's, something we haven't done, and haven't done in ages, respectively.

You don't really need to be around football to be able to understand the business side... Woolard has loads of experience and has been around football prior to SLU.

what team has won the most cusa championships since cusa started?

ans: its not SLU!  it's usf

so here you have a school (USF) that has done better than SLU (a non football, non BCS school) on the field of play measured by CUSA championships yet we hire their

AD to take us to the next level,huh?

i hope he is successful and builds usf...but if 10yrs from now our image has not improved would this hire be at the cornerstone of why?

[Bull Matrix]

I guess my point is that I really wished USF would have hired Oliver for the new AD. He seemed like a better choice, but we will never really know that. All I know is that most of the coaches at USF wanted Oliver for the new AD. I just hope that one coach that wanted Woolard was Coach Jim Leavitt because I dont want any new AD pissing Leavitt off. I just wish USF would have had taken the coaches into consideration when making this hire. For christ sake, at least have a USF athlete have some input on the important hire. Some of you are giving Judy too much credit right now. I feel that is was a good ole boy network on this hire. I dont like it.

[bulls96go]

this was an inside job usf higher ups was comfy with this guy and "offered" him the job and left a good possibly great candidate slip by.

i just hope it works out. i am not as comfy with the backroom dealing as some are. woolard comes in saying usf needs to make it interesting for him he lost me right there.

so where it matters i am less inclined to open up the wallet till i see concrete results. with another hire i would have been more inclined to open the wallet and hope for greatness...that is how i feel personally

[The_Reaper]

After hearing and reading his comments about what he wants for us, IT'S ALL GOOD!!! He has my support. Now go out and kick this community in the butt. Get everyone talking about USF. Get rid of the talk about the school of animal husbandry located just 80 mile north. NO2UF! (sorry T. Had to use it!) ;D   Reaper

[dabull80]

Well it was USFs second choice and the coaches all wanted Oliver but oh well.  

[Guest S.  Bien]

You are making it sound like an AD's job is to coach teams or somehow make them better. Indirectly, he can have that effect if he hires good coaches. But the position is not about being the best sports director-- it's the best sports administrator. If you want to compare what he did at another school all day, be my guest. It has no bearing on the actual job he was hired to do. I suppose that if he came from some perenial cellar dweller team that played in a BCS league that he would be a perfect fit? That line of thinking is pretty **** skewed IMO. Any AD at those big schools is already setup in a nice position. Our job was a great step forward for his career and now he has a platform upon which he can show the rest of the world his talent. He did a pretty good job at SLU all things considered so I can't understand why some use how well their teams have done as some sort of high water mark. We aren't trying to emulate SLU-- we are trying to get someone into the position who can direct us to the promised land athletically. It's a pretty simple situation to understand yet you want to make it an argument that because his former job involved a set of sports teams that you find less than attractive- suddenly HE was the cause of all this. That's highly illogical.

Don't get me wrong-- this guy could fall flat on his face in this position-- there are no guarantees that he is the answer. But he certainly has done nothing to show he cannot handle this position and that he isn't the right fit for USF. Some have eluded to "problems" at SLU or that he will work "cheaply"-- that's pure nonsense. Show me the proof? Have you ever worked anywhere for 10 years? It gets boring after a while. If you want to grow, sometimes you gotta leave-- plain and simple. The exact same reasons you belittle him for this job are the same reasons he is so excited about getting the job in the first place. Some have also said that he wasn't trying to come here (didn't apply on his own)--- so what? So we found a guy who we liked and offered him a job to come work for USF instead. That happens all the time. I would rather hire someone from a situation where they were already happy or entrenched then someone who got booted for something less than desirable.

Let's just give this cat a shot at it-- the same people who are so up in arms over this move may turn out to be his biggest fans in the long run. But you have to make the first move and give the guy the opportunity to show you he can do it.

Ahh, Mike as usual is a man of distinction.... As wordy as I, and as opinionated as I.  The point is people are concentrating on what he didn't have, and not what he does.  Experience with a particular sport is moot considering our AD's job is to lead, and delegate.  

I consider this a good hire, that is very safe.  It has the potential to be an exceptional hire, but things remain to be seen.

Our Athletic Department is like a mom and pop operations that suddenly, and unexpectedly, 5-6 years ago went from small time Athletic Department to big time, elite athletic school.  We had no direction, no plan, no real vision, and no one with experience in that arena.  We then fire Paul Griffin, the only one that had a clue, and suddenly hire LRS.  For as great as LRS has been, he will be the first one to admit his shortcomings, and tell everyone that he was a serious work-in-progress.  Now, we have a proven leader.  An AD with vision, that has taken SLU from the dark-ages to becoming a very competent, and competitive Catholic School Program that is thriving in an urban market.  Be smart and recognize the similarities in situation.  Recognize that Woolard will have more money, and more opportunity to work with then at SLU.  

He has the people in place, but many of these people in our AD were lifetime USF'ers.  Guys that have a ton of knowledge at USF, but nowhere else.  We needed a strong leader, delegator, a man with tons of contacts, and respect in the NCAA world that can help us navigate, and grow this Department.  That man is Woolard, probably one of the more respected AD's in the small school world.

We landed a good one that could become great with the added opportunity at his disposal at USF.

[Bull Matrix]

I just want to give my appologies to Judy Genshaft and the search committee after I read the news. Anyway, I am happy that Woolard is the new AD at USF.  Sorry if I rubbed some people the wrong way.