There are two individuals at the University of Minnesota who should have the most say in who becomes the next athletic director—president Eric Kaler and Gophers football coach Jerry Kill.
Kaler and a few others hired Norwood Teague for the job three years ago. Teague was a poor choice and his flaws were seen long before he became a national news story because of sexual harassment. A trusted source told Sports Headliners that no one in the small group who finalized the hire of Teague was a University of Minnesota coach.
That is an error in judgment which can’t be repeated in hiring Teague’s successor. Kaler and other academics need a small number of administrators and coaches from the athletic department’s 25 sports to lend expertise and balance to the vetting process. A couple of the best and brightest from the athletic department should be part of the inner circle making the final selection. An extraordinary business person with expertise in athletics, hiring, fundraising and marketing is a must-have member, too.
Could you imagine a search committee comprised only of Gophers coaches and athletic administrators selecting the school’s next president? With no representatives from the academic world, the makeup of such a group would make no sense.
Kill can be invaluable to Kaler. The two are men of high character and they have a relationship of trust. They care deeply about the University, and it’s been generations since the school had such a supportive president for athletics.
Kaler is a career academic with a doctorate degree in chemical engineering. He is also an accomplished administrator, and sports fan, but he can’t match Kill’s longevity, experience and success in athletics. Kill, 53, has been coaching football since 1985 and starting in 1994 has been a head coach at five different schools.
Kill has seen the inside workings of athletic departments and the management style of athletic directors. As a head football coach, his responsibilities have mirrored many of those required of an athletic director including hiring and managing personnel, running a department, setting proper direction in the classroom and community for student-athletes, working with the media and school faculty, and fundraising.
In five seasons as Gophers football coach Kill has proven worthy of Kaler’s trust and has more than earned a preferred seat next to Kaler in choosing the next athletic director. Kill has turned around a football program that creaked and cracked on the inside and outside. His football team collectively had a 3.04 GPA last spring semester and his players are earning their degrees after he inherited a program where players were on academic probation and not attending classes. Also, ask the University police and Minneapolis police if there hasn’t been a dramatic change in off-field behavior.
On the field the Gophers have gone from being a joke to commanding respect. Minnesota’s consecutive 8-5 records are the school’s best two-year run since 2002-2003. The 5-3 conference record a year ago was tops since 2003. Last season’s team played in the school’s first New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962 and Minnesota came within one win of advancing to the Big Ten Football Championship game.
Kill, a cancer survivor who works to control his epilepsy everyday, has won the respect of Minnesotans and many others beyond the state’s borders. His tireless willingness to speak around the state and assist charitable organizations says volumes about his character. The fact a national poll of college football coaches last year placed him near the top as a coach his peers would want their sons to play for is the highest of praise.
Kill has become the face of the athletic department. School administrators sometimes talk about sports being the “front porch” the public sees first when looking at a university. If so, at Minnesota a big part of that picture is Kill—maybe sitting there on the front porch humbly dispensing wisdom and life lessons to all who listen.
Kaler needs to listen to Kill who is popular with Gophers fans and big time donors. Those who are influential contributors found Kill to be much more likeable than Teague who could come across as aloof and arrogant. Kill has been and will continue to be heavily involved in the Gophers $190 million project to upgrade athletics facilities including a new football complex and indoor practice building that still looks on schedule for this fall despite Teague’s departure.
Kill isn’t ready to step down as Gophers football coach but otherwise would be a top-shelf choice as athletic director. Some have suggested that at least for awhile he could lead the athletic department and be the football coach. This would be an enormous workload and seems impractical even with the best surrounding administrative support staff.
Dan O’Brien is likely to receive Kill’s support for athletic director. O’Brien was already on the Gophers football staff when Kill was hired in late 2010 from Northern Illinois. O’Brien started at Minnesota as director of football operations and has been promoted a couple of times since with his most recent title being senior associate athletic director. He was one of Teague’s top assistants.
O’Brien was athletic director at Concordia-St. Paul from 1999-2002 and Hamline from 2002-2007. He didn’t come to the Gophers from glamorous programs but neither did Kill whose coaching stops before Northern Illinois included Emporia State and Saginaw Valley State.
All you need to know about O’Brien regarding Kill’s feelings is this: “I’d jump off a bridge for Dan O’Brien,” Kill said last week.
Kaler needs to decide what qualities and characteristics he wants and values in his next athletic director. The advice from here is that a big time athletic director needs the skill to identify and hire the right coaches and other staff, know how to fundraise and have the acumen to run a $100 million, 25-sports department. He or she needs to be an authentic person who treats everyone with respect and dignity—even those who offer no direct benefit to Gophers athletics.
An athletic director’s staff can provide the expertise and sweat to help make the department successful and avoid problems with the NCAA, media and other potential critics. Being the AD at Minnesota is a huge challenge but the requirements of the job to be successful are simple. It’s critical to hire top performing coaches because those who win and demand excellence on and off the field will be the bedrock of a successful athletic department. Winning generates the most money possible and those revenues will fund competitive salaries and facilities. But it takes more than gate receipts, broadcast revenues, stadium revenues and such to stay relevant in the arms race of college athletic departments. It takes aggressive fundraising and the next Gophers athletic director will pick up at midstream where about $70 to $80 million has already been secured. That’s a long way to $190 million and a stark reminder why the Gophers athletic director needs to be an accomplished fundraiser.
Teague was an outsider who didn’t have relationships in Minneapolis when he was hired from VCU. His successor might well have ties to the state and the Gophers. Names that could draw public speculation and social media endorsement include interim athletic director Beth Goetz, former Gophers football coach Glen Mason, ex-Gophers quarterback and Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy, and Phil Esten and Tom Wistrcill, both former associate athletic directors at Minnesota.
Goetz won’t be the only woman considered and she shouldn’t be. She seems approachable and sincere, and has a quiet leadership style that is authentic. Her career experiences include five years as associate athletics director at Butler and since March of 2013 with the Gophers where she has been Deputy Athletics Director and senior woman administrator.
Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips might be a long shot for Minnesota but why not knock on his door? He is one of the country’s most respected athletic directors who has reportedly turned down opportunity to work elsewhere. He was also Kill’s boss at Northern Illinois. He’s a man the Gophers coach admires.
Whatever Kill says to Kaler about candidates should carry a lot of weight.