Wanna know how our AD hired twice before?

[Guest BasketBull.]

[highlight]Pay attention to the dates. They might tell us how long before we get a coach. [/highlight] 

SLU HAS SOME HURDLES TO OVERCOME IN HIRING NEW COACH

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[highlight]March 14, 1999[/highlight]

Author: Bernie Miklasz

Image problems

"I look at St. Louis like a lot of guys look at St. Louis. It's not that good a job."

-- New Mexico athletic director Rudy Davalos

Ouch. The disparaging quote, which appeared in Saturday's Post-Dispatch, must have jumped off the page to smack St. Louis University athletic director Doug Woolard in the nose.

Davalos obviously does not fear losing New Mexico basketball coach Dave Bliss -- who is on Woolard's list of candidates -- to St. Louis. At least Davalos was candid. He didn't hesitate to voice what college coaches are whispering privately about the coaching vacancy at SLU: beware.

I can only guess that the SLU administration would dispute that evaluation. (Woolard couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.) But the Davalos jab is helpful because it squarely puts SLU on notice. If the Billikens hope to attract a prominent replacement for the retired Charlie Spoonhour, the university administration must overcome this so-so reputation among coaches.

Woolard and SLU president Rev. Lawrence Biondi have an excellent opportunity to erase those concerns and land the kind of coach who will take the Billikens forward. This a pivotal stage for the basketball program.

Woolard has made some outstanding coaching hires at SLU. And he has many friends in basketball's coaching fraternity, so he should be able to get some top candidates to listen. This is Woolard's chance to make a convincing sales pitch and prove that SLU can be a consistent major player in college basketball.

Why do coaches wonder about this job? SLU resides in a good conference, plays in a fashionable arena, draws huge crowds, has a strong homecourt advantage.

So what's the problem?

* Some members of Conference USA have a crooked reputation in recruiting. Some of the stories out on the street are incredible. SLU plays by the rules. So unless the NCAA investigators initiate a clean-up, why would a coach come to St. Louis, knowing that he'll face a tremendous disadvantage in recruiting? SLU needn't corrupt itself. But to quote from an old Bruce Springsteen song: it's hard to be a saint in the city.

* Coaches have concerns about SLU's admission guidelines. Yes, it's true that the NCAA has set the standards that all schools must obey. But SLU's competitors find a way to get kids into school. SLU apparently isn't as savvy. (The curriculum may be easier at other C-USA schools, too.) Spoonhour was so shrewd with Xs and Os that he could use superior strategy to compensate for inferior playing talent. But why should the SLU coach be forced to make do with lesser talent?

* SLU has a reputation for nit-picking coaches. Let's put it this way: while other schools are hustling to make the coach's job easier, SLU is hassling a coach over a receipt for ice cream. (True story. And the next coach may want to ask about a parking spot outside West Pine Gym.) This pettiness is a detriment. No big-time coach wants to be burdened by small-time headaches.

I want to make one thing clear: I'm not saying SLU should hire a cheater. But SLU does need a relentless, maniacal recruiter who can play the angles. This coach will need freedom and cooperation from the administration. And if you expect him to beat the big dogs of Conference USA, you need to give him a reasonable chance to get the best players.

SLU doesn't have to sell its soul. But it does have to sell a prospective coach on the belief that he'll be given what he needs to succe ed. To find the right coach, SLU must become more flexible. If not, then it could be time to find another, less challenging conference that is more compatible with SLU's ideals.

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Saint Louis set to hire Pepperdine coach

Jefferson City News-Tribune (MO)

[highlight]March 26, 1999[/highlight]

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Saint Louis University will hire Pepperdine's Lorenzo Romar as its new men's basketball coach.

Romar was to be named coach at a news conference scheduled for today. He will replace Charlie Spoonhour, who retired March 5.

Romar, 40, has been head coach at Pepperdine for three years, with an overall record of 42-44. He produced a 19-13 record and a NIT berth this season. He was the top assistant at UCLA from 1992-96, helping put together the Bruins' national championship team in 1995.

Romar, whose strength is recruiting, also played four years in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors.

Saint Louis athletic director Doug Woolard cultivated a friendship with Romar several years ago because of their mutual relationships with Jim Harrick. Woolard was an associate athletics director at Washington State and during that time became close friends with Harrick, then the basketball coach at UCLA.

At UCLA, Romar worked with Woolard's son Chris, who was a graduate assistant coach under Harrick for two seasons.

Saint Louis had planned to pay a base salary of about $150,000 for a new coach, about the same as what Spoonhour was earning, with perks such as a weekly television show, a weekly radio show, a shoe contract with Nike as well as assorted others bringing in as much as $275,000 more, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in its Friday editions.

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PROVEN SEARCH PROCESS LED SLU TO ROMAR QUICKLY

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[highlight]March 27, 1999[/highlight]

Author: Jason Stallman

Of The Post-Dispatch

The initial list of candidates for the men's basketball coaching job at St. Louis University was 70 names long, athletic director Doug Woolard said. Less than three weeks later, the list was pared to one: Lorenzo Romar of Pepperdine.

Woolard said he used the same process to find Romar as he had in hiring men's soccer coach Bob Warming from Old Dominion in January 1997 and women's basketball coach Jill Pizzotti from Indiana in August 1995.

Warming took over for Joe Clarke, who in 1996 had suffered the first losing season in the program's 38-year history. SLU advanced to the NCAA national semifinals in Warming's first season. In her fourth season, Pizzotti guided the Billikens to their first winning season in a decade.

Soon after Charlie Spoonhour resigned March 5, SLU president Lawrence Biondi appointed Woolard chairman of a 10-member committee made up of faculty, administrators and one player, Troy Robertson. Also on the committee were Pizzotti; Kim Tucci, a member of the SLU board of trustees; and SLU basketball hall of famer Joe Wiley.

The group devised a profile of a coach it would like to hire, and Woolard subsequently went on the road to meet with about 15 candidates. Then a handful visited SLU to be interviewed by the committee and explore the facilities.

"Having the profile sheet is helpful because it identified what kind of person, what kind of coach we thought was the best fit for St. Louis University," Woolard said. "From there, the candidates are very, very close."

Originally, perhaps the profile of the desired candidate resembled Spoonhour: "The best person to coach at St. Louis University is Charlie Spoonhour," Woolard said early in the search.

However, the end result was quite different. Romar, 40, is a Compton, Calif., native whose reputation was etched as a recruiting specialist on the West Coast.

"We looked at seven candidates total, and they were all really impressive," Robertson said. "Lorenzo's attitude was a little better, his recruiting is a little better. Everyone on the committee considered him `desirable' on their sheets, not just `acceptable.' So he impressed everyone.

"As far as how he's different than Coach Spoon, he's more an equal, more on our level," Robertson said. "There were times when you could be re ally intimidated by Coach Spoon. It's just a case of `old school' vs. `new school' coaching styles."

Robertson said he was surprised with how swift the process was; he didn't expect to have a new coach until after this weekend's Final Four.

"This process is one that I've used because it seems to flush out the very best candidates very quickly," Woolard said. "Now we'll try not to use it for a long time."

The committee will not be involved with appointing Romar's assistants. As of Friday afternoon, the new coach had no plan for filling out his staff.

"I need to sit down with the current assistant coaches (Greg Lackey and Derek Thomas) and talk about the area," Romar said. "It's important to have consistency, someone familiar with the area."

Romar's top assistants at Pepperdine, Randy Bennett and Darwin Cook, are applying for the vacant Waves job.

Cook said: "I can only speak for myself - I'm not going to go to St. Louis with Lorenzo. I'm a West Coast guy, a West Coast coach. But if I were a head coach, I know I'd be trying to get Randy Bennett to join me."

Bennett was an assistant at San Diego State for eight seasons before joining Pepperdine in 1996.

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SLU JOB ISN'T THAT BAD, BUT IT'S NOT THAT GOOD, EITHER

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

[highlight]April 4, 2002[/highlight]

Author: Tom Timmermann

Of The Post-Dispatch

The problem SLU athletics director Doug Woolard will face as he tries to hire a high-quality coach to succeed Lorenzo Romar is the same one Romar and his assistants have in trying to attract top-notch talent: Overcoming the school's reputation or, more exactly, its perception.

The SLU program has had success, but not consistently enough to keep the school's name in people's minds. The Billikens have made the NCAA Tournament four times in the past nine years, but just six times in the past 50. Despite the progress Charlie Spoonhour and Romar have made, the school has not established a lasting reputation for basketball excellence, even within the limited world of Conference USA. In 1999, when Woolard was interested in then-New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, that school's AD, Rudy Davalos, famously said, "I look at St. Louis like a lot of guys look at St. Louis. It's not that good a job."

Actually, it's not that bad a job, but the school's lack of high-level success has created the perception to many that the job has little potential and, in the world of college sports, perceptions can be hard to overcome. The school's salary structure, which pales in comparison to some of the schools in its conference, will probably never be enough to keep a successful coach forever.

The pluses and minuses of the SLU job are in the eye of the beholder. The school is based in a major metropolitan area and plays in one of the most modern facilities in C-USA, the Savvis Center. The arena, which opened in 1994, seats 20,000 and the Billikens have taken advantage of their status as the only basketball game in town - which is a major plus - to be among the national top 25 in attendance the past seven years. The amenities of Savvis impressed Romar when he first visited SLU.

The facility, however, is not on campus, and even though it isn't very far away, that mile or so creates a major impediment for student attendance. The arena is so large that small crowds are lost in the vast reaches of the facility and it's very difficult to get a sellout. The school has talked occasionally of building a smaller on-campus facility, but that remains well in the future. Because SLU doesn't control the building, the team seldom practices there, which detracts from the home-court advantage. Instead, SLU trains in antiquated West Pine Gym, which has gotten upgrades to its locker rooms and weight rooms over the years. But the building is old enough that you can do only so much.

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SLU HAS A COACH -

NOW IT NEEDS TO HAVE ITSELF REPROGRAMMED<

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

[highlight]April 14, 2002[/highlight]

Author: Bernie Miklasz

Brad Soderberg is a nice guy. He'll work hard. Everyone who knows him seems to like him. He certainly has the credentials to take over the St. Louis University basketball program.

And he might turn out to be the right choice, even if the SLU president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi, introduced his new coach by the wrong name -- "Soderberger" -- at Friday's news conference.

This was a safe, comfortable hire. And that seems to be what the administration wants. This is not a cutting-edge program, and SLU took the predictable route.

Debbie Yow wasn't the most popular athletics director that SLU ever had, but she was the best AD in school history. She constantly hounded Biondi with requests made to upgrade Billikens sports. And Biondi didn't exactly weep when Yow departed for Maryland, where she's been a resounding success.

SLU replaced Yow with the conservative Doug Woolard. Woolard is an effective, professional AD. But he doesn't challenge Biondi. And Woolard, in turn, has hired two basketball coaches, Lorenzo Romar and Soderberg, that he knew on a personal basis. Both coaches have non-threatening personalities.

Rather than take a bold chance on an ambitious stranger, as Mike Alden did when he hired Quin Snyder as Missouri's coach, Woolard went with a friend both times. And that's fine, as long as the buddy system wins. But SLU settled into mediocrity under Romar, and now one of Romar's aides has been bumped into the top job. We're guessing that plenty of good seats will be available for SLU home games next season. I don't think Cincinnati's Bob Huggins lost any sleep Friday night.

SLU apparently doesn't believe in the concept of creative tension. Will Woolard push Biondi to build an on-campus arena and a new practice facility, increase the recruiting budget, and give larger salaries to assistant coaches? Will Soderberg push Woolard to go nudge Biondi?

I'm skeptical, but at least Biondi is warming to the idea of a SLU arena, and speculation persists that he will announce his support for such a project when SLU's board of trustees meets next month. More than any SLU figure, the powerful Biondi can energize and elevate SLU basketball.

Now that they've given Soderberg the job, Biondi and Woolard should make the job a better one. Hiring him to fail doesn't make much sense; if Soderberg flunks, the criticism of Biondi and Woolard will only intensify.

This wasn't a national coaching search, because SLU wasn't in a position to land a big fish. The SLU job doesn't have broad appeal, and we know that by looking at the three finalists: a low-key assistant (Soderberg), a promising Michigan State assistant (Brian Gregory) and a nondescript head coach at Ball State (Tim Buckley). SLU got a polite brush-off from SIU-Carbondale coach Bruce Weber, and Woolard's voice-mail box wasn't flooded with calls from glamorous candidates.

Soderberg may have been the best man for the job. Or at least the best that SLU could do. Soderberg was an assistant on Wisconsin's Final Four team in 2000. As an interim head coach, he led Wisconsin to the NCAA Tournament in 2001. Soderberg has a winning background.

Then again, Wisconsin passed on Soderberg instead of making him the permanent coach. We don't know what kind of recruiter he is, and we'll soon find out. Woolard insists that there's some sizzle to Soderberg's personality.

"The more Brad gets out there, the more that people can see him, the more they'll see his charisma," Woolard said. "In the interview process, we got caught up in his enthusiasm and passion. He just won us over."

And now Soderberg needs to win over the recruits. And he'll need help from his bosses. Biondi and Woolard hired Soderberg, and now comes the real test. Will they support him to the max?

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SLU HANDS COACHING REINS TO SODERBERG

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

[highlight]April 13, 2002[/highlight]

Author: The Associated Press

* "My face actually hurts I've been smiling so much," Romar's replacement says.

A year after an interim stint as Wisconsin's head men's basketball coach wasn't enough to earn the permanent job, Brad Soderberg on Friday took over the top spot at St. Louis University.

"There are no surprises anymore, because you never know from year to year what's going to happen. You never know from day to day," Soderberg said. "I had no way to know if I'd get another chance in a year."

Soderberg, 39, spent the past year as Lorenzo Romar's top assistant at SLU. He was chosen over two other 30-something coaches - Ball State coach Tim Buckley and Michigan State assistant Brian Gregory.

Soderberg, a native of Stevens Point, Wis., also was a finalist for the vacancy at Wisconsin-Green Bay, but was the favorite to replace Romar, at least in the minds of the Billikens players, who lobbied publicly for his hire.

"We knew that he's a good coach and we know that he can read teams and take us places, reach the conference championship, reach the Top 25 and reach the tournament," guard Marque Perry said.

Romar resigned last week to take the coaching job at the University of Washington, his alma mater.

Soderberg said he debated joining Romar at Washington, but he said he and his family have grown to love the university and the city.

"My face actually hurts I've been smiling so much," he said at a news conference introducing him as head coach.

Soderberg was Wisconsin coach **** Bennett's assistant for five years and became interim coach after Bennett abruptly retired three games into the 2000-2001 season.

Soderberg led the Badgers to a 16-10 mark and a bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the first round. After that season, Wisconsin chose Bo Ryan instead of Soderberg as Bennett's replacement. Soon thereafter, Romar hired Soderberg.

"This coach is a relentless recruiter with numerous Midwest ties," SLU athletics director Doug Woolard said.

Soderberg said he has three goals: 100 percent graduation rate for players; to win Conference USA. He admitted the third might seem, to some, far-fetched for a relatively small Jesuit school with tougher-than-usual admissions standards for its athletes.

"I want to win a national championship," he said. "Why not here? Why not here? I don't believe Gonzaga feels they can't do it. I know when I was at Wisconsin they all said we couldn't do it, and we were this far away." Wisconsin reached the Final Four in the 1999-2000 season.

Woolard said Soderberg's character was as important as his coaching skills and experience.

"We believe Brad Soderberg brings the right combination of experience, enthusiasm and integrity to keep the Billiken basketball program moving forward," Woolard said.

Woolard's nine-day search focused on young coaches. In addition to Soderberg, Buckley is 38 and Gregory 35.

Buckley's Cardinals beat Kansas and UCLA early last season on the way to a 23-12 record. Ball State did not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament but won three games in the National Invitational Tournament, losing to South Carolina in the quarterfinals.

Gregory is from the Chicago area and is a finalist at DePaul. He was attractive for Saint Louis because he is considered a strong recruiter, and Saint Louis has struggled to secure top-quality recruits. Also, several former Michigan State assistants are now among the most successful coaches in college basketball, including Spartans coach Tom Izzo, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson and Marquette's Tom Crean.

"I was excited about the opportunity there and came away with the feeling that it is just a first-class program," Gregory said. "I believe they could really become a special program and I'm excited and very pleased for Brad. He's bringing them the kind of continuity they decided was important to them."

SLU is coming off a 15-16 season. The Billikens were 9-7 in Conference USA.

[Brad]

Soderberg is still there..

This seems to be familiar ground for Woolard..

[Held_AccountaBull]

well if he hires that quickly then we should have our new coach near the end of next week

[JoeBulls]

I hope he hires someone decent.

Please hire a good coach doug.  Please.

[Triple B]

Saint Louis athletic director Doug Woolard cultivated a friendship with Romar several years ago because of their mutual relationships with Jim Harrick. [highlight]Woolard [/highlight]was an associate athletics director at Washington State and during that time [highlight]became close friends with Harrick[/highlight], then the basketball coach at UCLA.

[Guest BasketBull.]

He's proven that he can hire well; he's not going to bring us some magic beans or somebody's cousin...

Plus, St. Louis turns a profit with basketball. That experience is very important for the success of our to-be program. We can't just hire a coach and then let support go to hell and expect to win in the B.E.

My only thing is that the search may go into April, and by then I'm going to be pretty bad off from all of this speculating.

[Jamie]

Romar didn't exactly set the world on fire at Saint Louis, but Washington hired him away and he's done very well for himself there. Fortunately in this conference, there wouldn't be too many schools that could come along and poach the HC if they had some success.

[Guest BasketBull.]

LINK

AD's second language: coachspeak.

Woolard background aids USF's search.

By GREG AUMAN

Published March 14, 2007

TAMPA - It has been 19 years since USF athletic director Doug Woolard last called a timeout, last drew up a play on a clipboard.

And yet when former Saint Louis basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour speaks of Woolard, he still addresses him not as Doug but rather as "Coach Woolard."

"He knows the game. He played it, he coached it," Spoonhour said. "He's very astute, very perceptive, always got along well with coaches on a friendly level. He's someone coaches think very much of."

Spoonhour recalls attending Conference USA league meetings with Woolard, who he said was as eager to talk with the basketball coaches as he was the athletic directors. That familiarity, with the experience of being a high school coach in Carbondale, Ill., for 13 years, will help as Woolard searches for a coach to make USF competitive in the Big East.

"He's got a good handle on basketball, and he's in tune with what's going on," said Spoonhour, now a TV analyst for Oklahoma basketball. "He knows a number of coaches, enough that he'll make a hiring situation as good as possible."

Such a coaching background in an athletic director is becoming increasingly uncommon. Chuck Neinas, a Colorado-based consultant whose search firm helped match Woolard with USF three years ago, often is hired by athletic directors who aren't as well-connected with prospective coaches.

When Neinas was named commissioner of the Big 8 conference in 1971, he said three of the league's athletic directors were also football coaches, two more former football coaches and two former basketball coaches, with just one from the administrative ranks. Today?

He said only two of the Big 12's athletic directors are former coaches.

"The situations have changed considerably," Neinas said. "I think Doug Woolard has many good contacts. He's certainly well-known in the coaching ranks."

His personal ties include Indiana's Kelvin Sampson, who coached at Washington State when Woolard first got into college administration, and Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, who played two seasons for Woolard at Carbondale and has stayed in touch with his coach.

"He's a great friend, and I learned a lot of basketball from Doug," Gottfried said Monday. "Over the years, I've relied on him as someone I'd call when I needed advice on career moves. As an athletic director, he's one of the best guys in the country, a visionary."

Woolard has been tight-lipped about his priorities in seeking USF's next coach. But a glimpse at his two basketball hires as athletic director at Saint Louis shows an ability to identify and place trust in young, up-and-coming coaches.

Woolard's first hire at Saint Louis was Lorenzo Romar, then 40, a former UCLA assistant who had a 42-44 record at Pepperdine.

Woolard had interviewed him when he was an associate athletic director at Washington State and got him the second time around.

Romar won a C-USA championship his first season, leaving two years later for his alma mater, Washington, where his career record is now 196-142.

In replacing Romar, Woolard turned to his top assistant, Brad Soderberg, then 39, who had less than one season as a Division I head coach.

He led Saint Louis to the NIT in his first two seasons and went 20-13 this year, giving him an 80-74 record with the Billikens.

Woolard, inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last year, downplays his coaching background, reminding that he has been an athletic administrator since he became Carbondale's athletic director at age 28.

"I think it's a benefit to have been an athlete and a coach," said Woolard, who had a 265-93 record at Carbondale. "It helps people relate better with coaches, but I think most athletic directors can grasp that quickly."

Robert McCullum, fired Friday after four losing seasons, was entering the second year of a six-year contract when Woolard came to USF, so this hire represents his first opportunity to put his mark on a key position in any Big East program.

Woolard has never had a job to fill as attractive as this, though the team's 4-28 record in two years in the league and the challenge of building a winner in such a tough league are hurdles.

"I think his track record shows he's made some pretty good choices," said Mike Lewis, a former USF assistant coach and the outgoing executive director of the Bulls Club. "Anytime you've been a coach and an administrator, you understand what coaches go through, but also what makes a good coach. It's a good balance."

Greg Auman can be reached at 813 226-3346 or auman@sptimes.com.

[Joe]

He's proven that he can hire well; he's not going to bring us some magic beans or somebody's cousin...

Plus, St. Louis turns a profit with basketball. That experience is very important for the success of our to-be program. We can't just hire a coach and then let support go to hell and expect to win in the B.E.

My only thing is that the search may go into April, and by then I'm going to be pretty bad off from all of this speculating.

SLU also doesn't have football.

[smazza]

he needs to do a good hire while at usf