Wright State's AD position

[Sixth Man]

I've included a poll for everyone to vote on if they think Wright State should replace Bob Grant as AD. I hope everyone that votes in this poll also leaves a post explaining their reasoning. I also hope people can remain civil in this debate.

[wsu97]

I think most people that vote yes in this poll are going to do so because they liked Donlon and don't like that Grant fired him. I voted yes but it is for the same reason why I supported the removal of Donlon as our coach. Donlon wasn't meeting expectations here at Wright State. He inherited a consistent top 100 RPI program and in 6 years never met that level of success again and was barely above .500 overall and in the HL. Even though he was a likable guy and I believe he truly cared about Wright State I think he should have been replaced. The same can be said for Grant. He is a likable guy who is passionate about Wright State. His job is to lead the athletic department and be a fund raiser. We are never anywhere near the top of the Horizon League for the McCafferty Trophy. Our athletic department budget has shrunk since he took over. As Big D pointed out most of that is due to athletics getting less funding from Wright State due to state budget cuts. As an AD that just means Bob needs to get his butt out in the community more and raise more funds. Men's basketball success is based in a large part on recruiting. If you don't have the players you can only be so successful no matter how much you coach them up. When it comes to athletics it is all about fund raising. The more money you have the better your chances of being successful are. You get to hire better coaches and assistants. You get to spend more on strength and conditioning. You get to spend more on recruiting. You get to spend more on advertising. You get to spend more on facilities. Bob Grant spends too much time on twitter with his idiotic "Uh Yeah" campaign and not enough time bringing in more donations. I think it is time we pulled the plug on him. Uh Yeah!

[Retired Coach]

Mar 20, 2016 10:42:46 GMT -5 wsu97 said:

I think most people that vote yes in this poll are going to do so because they liked Donlon and don't like that Grant fired him. I voted yes but it is for the same reason why I supported the removal of Donlon as our coach. Donlon wasn't meeting expectations here at Wright State. He inherited a consistent top 100 RPI program and in 6 years never met that level of success again and was barely above .500 overall and in the HL. Even though he was a likable guy and I believe he truly cared about Wright State I think he should have been replaced. The same can be said for Grant. He is a likable guy who is passionate about Wright State. His job is to lead the athletic department and be a fund raiser. We are never anywhere near the top of the Horizon League for the McCafferty Trophy. Our athletic department budget has shrunk since he took over. As Big D pointed out most of that is due to athletics getting less funding from Wright State due to state budget cuts. As an AD that just means Bob needs to get his butt out in the community more and raise more funds. Men's basketball success is based in a large part on recruiting. If you don't have the players you can only be so successful no matter how much you coach them up. When it comes to athletics it is all about fund raising. The more money you have the better your chances of being successful are. You get to hire better coaches and assistants. You get to spend more on strength and conditioning. You get to spend more on recruiting. You get to spend more on advertising. You get to spend more on facilities. Bob Grant spends too much time on twitter with his idiotic "Uh Yeah" campaign and not enough time bringing in more donations. I think it is time we pulled the plug on him. Uh Yeah!

+1

[Raidermania]

I don't think he should be let go now. Wright State is in a position where we might be replacing our president sooner rather than later. I want our next president to be the one that makes our next AD hire. Based on who Grant hires as our next basketball coach, I could see his tenure ending in the near future.

[paulkris]

I voted no. Bob Grant is the guy who raised the money that funded a lot of the success that the program had all the way back to the PE Building. He's an excellent fund raiser and administrator. He's also knowledgable about how NCAA D1 athletics work and the intricacies involved. His weakness to me, and this is something that he and I disagree on, is that he does not micro manage his coaches. I think there is a fine line between enough and not enough and he doesn't do enough management to suit me.

A coach has 15 or so players that he has to prepare to succeed. An AD has nearly that many head coaches plus all of the assistants and other staff that he has to do the same with. It's a job that very few guys Bob's age have been able to do on this level.

[wolf41]

I can understand both sides on this question, but I voted No. First, you have to look at all sports, and I think we are doing pretty well in women's basketball, softball/baseball, men and women's soccer. I think we have a good swimming program. I don't know how we stack up in golf, tennis, cross country, or track, but while we may not win the number one ranking in those sports, I am pretty sure we have individual athletes in those sports that do very well.

But I agree that Bob needs to domore fund raising. The program needs more money to have more success. The University has been making cuts, but that can be laid at the door of the Gov. and Legislature. I suspect that today less than half of WSU's funding comes from the state. So in that respect we, and others, are no longer State schools, but rather state assisted schools. We are long removed from the days of John Millet who supported the idea of funding higher education with 67%coming from the state and the balance from the student/family.


The first step Bob can take is to be more involved in building the men's schedule. I would start by doing away with road games at OSU and KY and go with home and away games against good mid-majors. Also try with other schools to improve the HL. I remember when we were 12th or 13th in the rankings, now we are 18th. So getting 20 wins isn't the same as it was in the past.

[paulkris]

The first step Bob can take is to be more involved in building the men's schedule. I would start by doing away with road games at OSU and KY and go with home and away games against good mid-majors. Also try with other schools to improve the HL. I remember when we were 12th or 13th in the rankings, now we are 18th. So getting 20 wins isn't the same as it was in the past.[/quote]

Coaches make schedules. That isn't the role of an AD. I completely agree with what you're saying except the OSU and KY games PROBABLY help you with recruiting as well as get you a good payday as a buy game. I'd like to see a loose organization of other mid-majors who agree to play home-away series with each other every year. This would help to eliminate the DII games. This is something that the AD's at the comparable mid-major schools good develop among themselves and let the coaches schedule them.

[OldSchoolHensley]

I voted no...but that could change with this hire. With a lot of uncertainity from the WSU Pres. on down I would think this could be a career defining hire by Grant. Proof will be in the pudding. Go Raiders!

[Jazzfan]

Mar 20, 2016 11:43:24 GMT -5 paulkris said:

I voted no. Bob Grant is the guy who raised the money that funded a lot of the success that the program had all the way back to the PE Building. He's an excellent fund raiser and administrator. He's also knowledgable about how NCAA D1 athletics work and the intricacies involved. His weakness to me, and this is something that he and I disagree on, is that he does not micro manage his coaches. I think there is a fine line between enough and not enough and he doesn't do enough management to suit me.

A coach has 15 or so players that he has to prepare to succeed. An AD has nearly that many head coaches plus all of the assistants and other staff that he has to do the same with. It's a job that very few guys Bob's age have been able to do on this level.

I voted no for the same reason as you but I think Bob needs to be more involved with scheduling, improve the staffing at our events and improve our fundraising. He wants us to be a top 100 program but he allowed Donlon to put together a crap schedule year after year. He should have stepped in and got more involved with the schedule. Scheduling more appealing mid-majors to home/home schedules is going to bring in more revenue than playing a buy game on the road at OSU and balancing that with a home buy game vs a D2 cupcake. It also gets you closer to that top 100 RPI he wants. Making sure the Nutter Center is properly staffed for all games (and always expecting big crowds) is going to improve the game day experience for casual fans and will increase the chance that they will want to come back to future games. Grant was involved in the fundraising for all our current facilities. That is great, but he can do better. Having a consistent top 100 program is going to come down to having a good head coach with good assistant coaches with a good recruiting budget so that they can put a good roster together. I don't want to do more with less. I want a well funded program and we cannot achieve that if Grant doesn't do more to bring in the money.

[wolf41]

I agree. This hiring will/can help define Bob Grant. I certainly wish him success in this search and hiring.

I also agree that coaches make the schedules, but that has been such a bone of contention ever since Brownell and Donlon were hired that I think that every school gives the AD some say in general as to who we view as teams as reasonabl adds to our schedule. I think having a number of good mid-majors home and away could generate pretty good revenue in a 10,000 seat arena. It could also increase our visibility on national TV and exposure to other leagues that could prove to be beneficial to us in the long run in regards to rebuilding the HL or maybe show casing WSU as a possible team to consider when leagues begin looking at expansion. I really like the HL, and I'd like to see it enhance itself in the years to come, but I also think we need to showcase ourself in case an other offer comes our way. We have to be open to any possibility that may come our way.

I have argued in the past to drop games versus non-DI schools. I still see that as essential to our efforts in the future. I don't care how many schools do it, I still feel that it degrades our program.

[raiders93]

Not yet, because I wouldn't trust the hire to Mr. Hopkins. Also want to see how the current coach search goes.

[raiderrunt]

I voted NO. I understand the reasoning why the AD made a change with the basketball program. I think Grant has done a good job with facilities and he seems to have a plan he is following. That could change, but for now, Grant is the man for the job.

[wsuraider09]

I voted no...But with little confidence. He needs to deliver on this home run coach he's talked up so well.

[Big D]

Mar 20, 2016 11:53:50 GMT -5 paulkris said:

Coaches make schedules. That isn't the role of an AD. I completely agree with what you're saying except the OSU and KY games PROBABLY help you with recruiting as well as get you a good payday as a buy game.

UD''s AD is very much involved in their scheduling. The coaches make most of the contact with other schools but he has the final say in things. Grant has been involved with scheduling twice in recent memory. He arranged our home/home schedule with Air Force a few years back and our 2 for 1 with UC. Good things tend to happen when he is involved. I would like to see more of his input rather than less. In regards to some of our recent buy games, I don't think scheduling top 10 programs and getting our ass kicked helps with recruiting or helps build interest with our fan base. Scheduling select buy games with BCS schools (i.e. beatable lower level BCS schools) is a smart idea. If you cannot do that just schedule other mid-majors. I'd rather play 1/2 the MAC in our OOC schedule than our recent combo of high level BCS and D2 cupcake. 2 competitive games that prep us for the HL is better than getting our ass kicked and beating up on a cupcake.