Tom Osborne may be convinced that Nebraska's next football coach will come from a pool of "four or five" candidates that he'd like to talk to in the next few days.
CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, November 23, 2007 6:00 pm
Tom Osborne may be convinced that Nebraska’s next football coach will come from a pool of “four or five” candidates that he’d like to talk to in the next few days.
But just in case there might be someone else who’s not on that list, or someone he should cross off, Osborne is seeking the assistance of a private search firm.
Saturday, after Osborne announced he’d fired Bill Callahan, three sources told the Journal Star that Nebraska's interim athletic director is working with Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search in his quest to find the person who best fits the Huskers' needs.
It's a step in the process that former AD Steve Pederson skipped when he wound up hiring Bill Callahan on Jan. 9, 2004.
It's one, though, that more and more schools are utilizing in their high-staked hunts.
Michigan is working with a private firm in its search to find a replacement for its soon-to-be-retired football coach Lloyd Carr.
In April, Arkansas went to Parker Executive for help after Creighton's Dana Altman had accepted the Razorbacks' men's basketball coaching job and then changed his mind.
Iowa State got help last November when establishing a connection with Gene Chizik before hiring the former Texas assistant to lead its football program.
Baylor used a search firm to land men's basketball coach Scott Drew and athletic director Ian McCaw, who now is relying on the same company's assistance as he goes about hiring a football coach.
Osborne declined comment when asked if Nebraska had hooked up with a search firm, but there are numerous reasons why a school would want to.
First and foremost, "You want to make an educated, strategic decision," Northern Illinois AD Jim Phillips recently told The Chicago Tribune in regard to using Parker Executive, who helped steer him to hire former Colorado men's basketball coach Ricardo Patton to lead the Huskies' program. "These are multimillion-dollar decisions."
With a school's wish list in hand, search firms can establish whether a targeted candidate has an interest in being pursued. It also might be able to do a better job of protecting the confidentiality of both parties.
If there is a positive response to an inquiry, then the firm is able to immediately inform the school about pertinent issues like what it would cost to buy out a contract or whether the candidate has anything in his background that would raise a red flag. Firms also handle the details of setting up interviews.
In the end, they can expedite the process and lessen the chance of a late surprise that could create a major embarrassment — like the one that happened to Notre Dame in 2001 after it hired George O'Leary as its football coach. Five days later, O'Leary resigned, admitting he had lied about his academic and athletic background.
"I'd like to move it along as fast as I can," Osborne said of his great task.
Then, he noted how he'd told the "guy" he was working with that "whoever wants to talk to me, I'll be glad to visit with them."
Osborne aims to wind up with a coach who's trustworthy, hard working and can motivate.
Utilizing a search firm may improve his odds of striking a deal with such a person.
"People came through in the process that I didn't even know were available," Phillips told The Tribune. "You look at pro, college. I looked at Division I, II and III coaches. It's quite an extensive menu."
Parker Executive, he said, helped him narrow his search to around 50 possibilities, and then he interviewed 10 candidates before hiring Patton.
"It's the wave of the current landscape," Phillips said. "As you look around, more and more of those search firms are involved. We were really fortunate to have hired coach Patton.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.