White uneasy about Tulane; also compression state economics

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Robert1969
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Two decades ago, White led Tulane's athletic department – where I had the privilege of being part of his administrative team – before moving on to positions at Arizona State, Notre Dame and now in Durham.

Since he departed Tulane in 1996, his current employer has not faced the Green Wave in a major competition. That changes on Saturday, when the Blue Devils welcome Tulane to Wallace-Wade Stadium.

"I'm very uneasy about it, to say the least," White said earlier this week. "It's awkward, uncomfortable. I have a duty and supreme loyalty to Duke University, but I feel like I continue to be an extended member of the Tulane University family."

Also, he talks realignment:
"I've never seen the kind of the change we're experiencing at this time," White said. "It's rapid change, and I'm not sure there is a significant slowdown in sight."

Throughout his career, White – who has a Ph.D. in education – has continued to stay near his roots. He teaches a sports business class as part of Duke's MBA program in the university's Fuqua School of Business.

"In my class, we talk a lot about compression state economics," White said. "That's what is happening right now (in college athletics)."

Compression state economics has already hit our economy, most notably in the banking and airline industries. Mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, takeovers. The industries still exist, but with fewer players.

The "players" in college athletics are the major conferences, and to a degree, the BCS. At the end of the day, there will likely be fewer players at the table.

If you didn't know it before, college athletics really is big business.

"You have these wanna-be profit centers," White said of college athletic departments, "and they're encapsulated within this not-for-profit, large academy. There's enormous pressure for college athletics to be as reliant on the smallest (university) subsidy possible. That's kind of put college athletics into this free enterprise game.

"I don't know if I've got it figured it out, but it looks like we're headed to four or five consortiums – you might call them mega-conferences."
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RobertM320
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Man, we would be in so much better shape if Kevin White were still the AD. We didn't win much when he was here either, but at least you get the impression he'd have some sort of plan to get us better positioned.
"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
DrBox
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Under Kevin White, we had the best basketball (men and women) programs we've ever had. Further, the seeds for our world-class baseball program were planted and were flowering.
We didn't win much in football because of his man Teevens. But Teevens knew how to recruit - he spent the first 2 years recruiting in the wrong places, but once he figured out to concentrate on La and the southeast, he did well.
Kevin White hired excellent assistants (three are now BCS athletic directors). We just picked the wrong one to succeed him. Barbour wasn't ready...McCaw was. Bad choice.
And then, of course, we hired a man who couldn't coach Lassie to sit, to replace Bowden.
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JTLiuzza
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And as the article mentions, White hired both Coach Jones and Coach Stockton.
The second commandment has not been abrogated.
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RobertM320
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DrBox wrote:Under Kevin White, we had the best basketball (men and women) programs we've ever had. Further, the seeds for our world-class baseball program were planted and were flowering.
We didn't win much in football because of his man Teevens. But Teevens knew how to recruit - he spent the first 2 years recruiting in the wrong places, but once he figured out to concentrate on La and the southeast, he did well.
Kevin White hired excellent assistants (three are now BCS athletic directors). We just picked the wrong one to succeed him. Barbour wasn't ready...McCaw was. Bad choice.
And then, of course, we hired a man who couldn't coach Lassie to sit, to replace Bowden.

+1
+1
+1
+1

You are correct on all counts, sir. But here's the $64,000 question....Why does it seem we ALWAYS make the wrong choice? I mean, shouldn't the law of averages catch up at some point?

Football:
Replaced Larry Smith with Vince Gibson
Replaced Mack Brown with Greg Davis
Replaced Tommy Bowden with Chris Scelfo

And other than Kevin White, who was the last decent AD we had? One that didn't make any major blunders?
"That mantra is the only consistent thing that never needs to ever change for the rest of this program’s existence because that is all that matters & as long as that keeps occurring, everything will handle itself" -- Nick Anderson
DrBox
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Honestly, we had solid ADs UNTIL Dickson. Gladchuk was a solid AD , Hindman Wall was a good AD (he was caught because Smith left really late, Infante kept waffling; Gibson wasn't a great coach, but he was no Scelfo either). We made a mistake in hiring Barbour over McCaw, but, honestly, we corrected that quickly...;.errr, we tried to correct it.

The big head coaching gaffes were made by Presidents: Cowen hired Scelfo, Eamon Kelly hired Davis. Now White did hire Teevens (and he was a lousy coach). And Dickson has no skill in coach hiring at all, so really Toledo is probably is shining star.
JerseyWave
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White was also one of the major architects for the formation of Conference USA. Teevens was his only blunder during his five years at Tulane. He held onto Perry Clark when Clark's star was shining bright. If Tulane had an AD of his caliber today you would have to think we would be a serious player in this conference realignment.
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JTLiuzza
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The only difference being that White had Eamon Kelley to deal with, not Scott Cowen.
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sader24
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I feel like under this administration we are always more likely to hire guys that the President and by way of him, the AD can control. They don't want problems or people who have different ideas. When they look at a coach or an employee the 1st thing they want to know is if they will "get with the program" coaching comes 2nd.
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tpstulane
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sader24 wrote:I feel like under this administration we are always more likely to hire guys that the President and by way of him, the AD can control. They don't want problems or people who have different ideas. When they look at a coach or an employee the 1st thing they want to know is if they will "get with the program" coaching comes 2nd.
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Robert1969
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sader24 wrote:I feel like under this administration we are always more likely to hire guys that the President and by way of him, the AD can control. They don't want problems or people who have different ideas. When they look at a coach or an employee the 1st thing they want to know is if they will "get with the program" coaching comes 2nd.

I think that is sad but true. It's like everyone else hires for success, Tulane hires for fealty to Cowen and his way of doing things, which is losing. Losing is what Cowen wants so that he has an excuse to revisit 2003 all over again. He learned his lesson then: you can't kill a team that wins.
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