Texas Tech On Cutting Edge
December 17, 1999 | Football
Dec. 17, 1999
LUBBOCK, Texas - On the way to hiring Mike Leach as its head football coach, Texas Tech University became the first institution in the history of college football to conduct an executive search for a coach with a firm designed exclusively for finding football coaches.
In an effort to be on the cutting edge of big-time collegiate athletics, Texas Tech contracted the services of American Football Coach Professional Services Group to assist in the national search, paying the firm $180,000 to assist in the venture.
The payment was broken down as $130,000 in fees and $50,000 in expenses and will be paid through private funds, according to Texas Tech Chancellor John Montford.
?I discussed this with the chairman of the Board of Regents, and under the circumstances, we believe this was the right way to go,? Montford said. ?We had an extremely narrow window because of recruiting.
?We checked out what kind of consulting firms were available and believed this was our best bet. Frankly, I believe they did us an excellent job and I am pleased with the outcome,? Montford said. ?They were able to assist us with some background checks in a very short period of time that we would have had to bring in a third party to do anyway.?
The Palm Beach, Fla. based firm conducted an extensive search to present the Texas Tech search committee with an initial list of 32 candidates. Then based on criteria the search committee outlined, AFCPSG helped narrow the initial list and conducted exhaustive background checks on a smaller focus group of prospective coaches.
With AFCPSG?s assistance, the Tech committee was able to communicate with numerous coaches, athletic directors and even former players of candidates. The firm was also able to run reference checks on each viable candidate that included criminal background checks and even college transcript checks.
Shrugging off the fact that Texas Tech was breaking new ground in collegiate athletics, Red Raider athletic director Gerald Myers compared the athletic department to any other corporation which would contract a professional service for assistance in securing a top-level administrator.
?When we started this process we said we wanted the best possible coach we could find for Texas Tech,? Myers said. ?Given the time frame we were working under, and in an effort to meet recruiting needs, we believed this was the best way to go.
?We said from the very beginning that the next head coach at Texas Tech would be beyond reproach as a coach, as a person and could have no history at all with NCAA infractions,? Myers said. ?To conduct that extensive of a search in the given time frame required the assistance of a third party.?
The firm took the committee?s narrow list and conducted additional interviews with candidates on film, as well as soliciting footage from coaches? shows and television appearances when available to show how candidates presented themselves in front of the camera and in front of groups of people.
?We are the only firm in the nation offering this kind of service and I believe we have unparalleled access to coaches at all levels of the game,? said Barry Terranova, executive director of AFCPSG. ?We are in contact with the best minds in the game on a daily basis and we know who enjoys the highest level of peer respect, which is important when conducting a search of this caliber.
?We have an extensive reference library and unlimited research ability to discover all the factors which are necessary for making the most informed hire in a college football coach,? Terranova said. ?Texas Tech wants to be competitive at the very highest levels of college football and their commitment to the best possible coaching hire proves that.?
Terranova, whose company also publishes American Football Coach magazine, said he was impressed from the very beginning of the process by the vision of Myers, Montford and the search committee.
?The landscape in college football is constantly changing and evolving toward a bigger picture of `haves? and `have nots?,? Terranova said. ?It was made very clear to me from the start that Texas Tech intends to be included in the `haves.? In my opinion Texas Tech is a program to be admired and copied.?