FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

I assume Tanney was well liked at Wabash?  The Denison job would certainly be enticing given the state of their athletic department and financial resources.  Other than possibly CWRU it may be the best D3 job in the region at the moment. 

[maripp2002]

I assume Tanney was well liked at Wabash?

Maybe today, but as someone who was at Wabash with both Mitch and Matt Tanney, they were big ol' try-hard wet blankets of zero fun and even less chill. That's to say nothing of their professional careers, or Mitch's success at Monmouth after transferring. But as far as people go, I'd rather hang out with almost anyone than the Tanneys.

With that said, congrats to him, and hopefully 'Bash will find someone great to step-in.

[Whitecarrera]

Yeah - this is an interesting move, and the timing puts Wabash in an interesting spot.  Dr.A, I was asked a similar question on a lacrosse specific board yesterday, and this was my response:

Ned, you're right -- I've never complained about him in the past, but neither have I ever praised him. In my book the jury was still out, but opinions range from negative to middle of the road.

He is a Wabash alum, and was the AD at Western Illinois prior to Wabash. He's a JD and I think very intelligent/qualified, but aloof and withdrawn. He likes to run things from behind his desk, insulated by senior associate directors of this and operational coordinators of that. He's from a football/coaching family, but to my knowledge he's never coached anything. He also looks a little like Waldo, but that's not why you can't find him in the crowd -- it's because he's probably not there.

I guess in short, Wabash is one of those places that's pretty tough to screw up (kinda like being Indiana's Governor). If you've got a personality and some vision, then you'll do great. If you can't get out of your own way, then you're going to get exposed pretty quickly (or maybe elected Vice President). But if you're competent and a good person, then you'll do fine, and this is where Matt fits. He does fine. But if you told me he's going to be the AD for the next 20 years, I'd rather that happen in Granville than Crawfordsville.

In one way or another, I've experienced six Wabash ADs over the last, eh ... long time. Two great, two bad, and two fine. I certainly wish Matt and Denison well, but I think Wabash has the opportunity now to do better, and my guess is that this administration has the wherewithal to take advantage of that.

[Dr. Acula]

Very interesting.  Thanks for the input.

I'm not familiar enough with Denison's inner workings to know what type of candidate fits their mold.  As a know-nothing my initial thought was that Wabash has good athletics and on paper his resume and educational background are impressive.  Having read Whitecarrera's comments I do recall an Assoc. AD being on the search committee so Denison definitely has at least one.

I would think Wabash would be an attractive job.  From the outside it seems like they have good institutional support for athletics and an engaged alumni base.  You combine those things with already competitive athletic programs and that feels like it would check a lot of boxes for an AD.