The growing presence of athletics in university environments means schools are constantly clamoring for leadership, and, as a result, the employment carousel in athletic departments spins quickly. College AD posts dozens of job postings, hirings, and opportunities, and it rarely seems a week goes by without a new athletic director being announced at some university.
Typically, reports follow a hiring that outline the new AD’s stated plans for his/her campus. Often this includes platitudes about fundraising, reengaging the student body, or creating a welcoming community for alumni. While these are likely actual goals a new AD has on his/her docket, they also provide easy talking points at an introductory press conference that don’t create an early tumult in the 24-hour-a-day sports news cycle.
With these as the normal expectations surrounding a recent hire, two new ADs have gone in different directions from the norm. The first, Troy Dannen, (pictured above) who started at Tulane in December of 2015, has made headlines for his willingness to make “sweeping changes” to the school’s athletic department. In his first six months on the job, Dannen has replaced Tulane’s football, basketball, and volleyball coaches, moves some ADs don’t make during an entire tenure.
Looking at Tulane’s athletic history illustrates why this aggressiveness is justified. Known for strong academics but less-than-stellar athletics, the New Orleans school seemed a logical place for an overhaul. Nevertheless, because bad hirings can torpedo an AD’s chances at an institution and create a maelstrom of bad press, this level of action is relatively unprecedented in the overly-cautious, wait-and-see world of athletic administration. Whether Dannen’s approach will reap rewards for Tulane remains to be seen, but at the very least he should be applauded for not taking the “safe route” and simply maintaining the status quo. His coaches notice and appreciate this, as new volleyball coach Jim Barnes stated, “He is eliminating the idea that ‘We’ve always done it this way,’ which had to be removed as this department changed.”
Dannen isn’t the only new AD to diverge from the usual non-committal rhetoric that fills hiring press conferences. At Southern California, recent hire Lynn Swann (pictured above) has also caught people’s attention with plans for his university, although they’re diametrically opposed to Dannen’s. Swann, a Trojan alumnus who had a storied Hall of Fame career in the NFL will return to USC in July to take over the school’s athletic department. He won’t be making waves like Dannen, though, as Swann has said from the outset that he plans on making few-to-no changes to the Trojan athletic department. “I’m not here to clean house or to make overwhelming changes in the coaching staff or the staff here. I think there’s a great team in place and we’re going to move forward,” Swann stated after his hiring announcement.
On the surface, the similarities between the two programs these men have inherited are basically nonexistent, which accounts for their differing planned approaches. Where one took-over a department that has had virtually no athletic success in recent years, the other now leads one of the most storied programs in the nation. However, deciding to adopt inaction is just as measured a choice as Dannen’s shake-up. With the ongoing Steve Sarkisian saga, USC’s flagship football program has had entirely too much change around it over past two years, and the athletic department has taken a bit of a media hit in its handling of the situation. Stability and returning to prior winning traditions should be paramount for the Trojans, and both the hiring of campus-legend Swann and his hold-steady philosophy appear to be attempts at this.
Assessing the needs of an athletic department is only part of the challenge an AD faces when starting at a new school. Establishing a sound plan of action and then having the courage to execute it are substantial obstacles. Coming into very different situations, two new ADs have taken diverse approaches to their nascent positions. Troy Dannen has risked greatly by tying his tenure at Tulane to a new crop of coaches. Stirring things up as much as Dannen has can be a harrowing experience. Lynn Swann, on the other hand, has practiced restraint at USC. Few people take AD jobs to maintain the status quo, but Swann seems to recognize what is needed at his institution right now and has also laid out a relatively-unconventional path for the Trojan athletic department.
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