Thread: The 50-year Challenge (FBCB2/FBPB3)
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Old 11-29-2013, 01:19 PM   #17
Young Drachma
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Join Date: Apr 2001
So now that David Harris has retired, HHI has decided to really get serious about its athletic programs. The institution sees itself as a D3 powerhouse in the making (ha) and believes that with the renewed focus from alumni, they can really get to the upper echelons of low-level basketball.

The first thing they've done is to upgrade the head coach position. So the new Head Coach for men's basketball will also serve as athletic director for the entire program. This means they can pay more than they'd ever be able to pay a basketball coach full-time normally.

The salary is up to $85,541 for the new coach. So they're hanging a shingle to see if an experience, veteran coach with a program is looking to relocate. Plus, Hilton Head isn't a bad place to live so that helps too.

Looking at trends in D3 hiring, the situation is that a lot of D2 and D1 assistants (and specifically D2 head coaches in some cases, with a few JUCO outliers) will come to D3 programs. Even a few D1 coaches who can't get jobs elsewhere because of age, infractions (Jim O'Brien) or simply having experience at all three levels will look for a comfortable situation once they've made their money.

For a program like ours, money will talk, coupled with location. I think you could plausibly recruit different kinds of people. The school doesn't want to hire a young head coach though. The preference would be to have an experienced head coach come in and then maybe hire an assistant who can learn under him and become head coach in waiting so whenever the guy retires he can take over.

The thing about a place that sticks with a coach for 25 years no matter how bad the team does, is they don't really like change. So you're simply not going to get a place like this to get a guy who doesn't want to remain for a long, long time unless he dies or something.

So with that in mind, let's take a look at the finalists for the head coaching job at Hilton Head Institute.

Charles Coe
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ELIOT TIDWELL
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CHRIS WOOD
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Coe is the seasoned veteran of the three. I like that he's been a head coach before and that he's coached really good programs as an assistant. He's the sort of dude looking for that last job that he can stay in until retirement and he has the chops to help, regardless of his overall record.

I love Tidwell and wish there was a way to hire him as an assistant to the program, because he'd be a great head coach in waiting situation for us. But he's not going to leave where he is if he can't get the head coaching job and I don't blame him. Plus, Coe is only 9 years older so they'd run parallel to each other, but if it were possible, that'd be a really cool staff.

I like that he's younger and is a strong X's and O's guy.

Wood is a young guy who has never been a head coach, working with a major D3 program after some time in D1. I think he's solid and balanced.

All three of these guys are better than Coach Harris ever was, so no matter what we end up doing, we'll get a huge upgrade at head coach. All of his assistants will also be let go, so there will be an entirely new staff at the helm of this program going into next year, which will be interesting to see how it works but should be good for the bottom line.

Basically if we're looking purely at records, I'd rather have Tidwell. He's shown some potential as a head coach. Coe hasn't. Plus, I think we could entice Coe to come on as an assistant potentially whereas Tidwell is the real talent here.

In any case...we'll need to decide what to do and then get on with it.
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