Eastern Michigan and Minn.-Duluth Athletic Programs -- America East Forum

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Date Posted: 04:23:49 05/03/03 Sat
Author: Go Cats Go
Subject: Eastern Michigan and Minn.-Duluth Athletic Programs
In reply to: Go Cats Go 's message, "UVM AD Finalists have names..." on 14:26:35 05/02/03 Fri

I decided that one of the better ways to judge these candidates is to look at the programs they run, and teams in them. So...

Eastern Michigan has 19 sports (18 represented in the MAC, plus a women's rowing program). How do they stack up in the MAC? Well...
-Baseball: Currently tied for 5th of 13 teams (season in progress).
-Men's Hoops: Tied for 8th of 13.**
-Women's Hoops: Tied for 6th of 13.
-Men's X-C: 2nd of 13 (NCAA 3rd Place).**
-Women's X-C: 7th of 13.
-Football: Tied for 12th of 14.**
-Men's Golf: Currently in 6th place of 10 at MAC Championships.
-Women's Golf: 2nd of 9.**
-Women's Gymnastics: 3rd of 7.
-Women's Rowing: Results N/A.**
-Women's Soccer: 5th of 13.**
-Softball: 11th of 13 (season in progress).**
-Men's Swimming: 1st of 6.
-Women's Swimming: 3rd of 9.**
-Women's Tennis: 2nd of 10.**
-Men's Track: INDOOR, 1st of 10. OUTDOOR is in a couple weeks.**
-Women's Track: INDOOR: 4th of 12.**
-Volleyball: 4th of 13.
-Wrestling: 6th of 6.**

Asteriks denotes teams where the coach was most likely hired by Diles (judging by info on the EMU web site).

A fairly balanced department compared to the rest of the MAC. Good performances in Olympic sports (MAC Champs in Men's Swimming and Men's Indoor Track). However, in the money sports (Football, Men's and Women's Hoops), some lower-tier performances. Also, while it appears Diles has experience hiring many coaches (12 of 19), the success has been mixed. Sports like Track, Men's X-C, Women's Tennis, and Women's Golf have been success...while hirings in Football and Men's Basketball have led to 12th and 8th place finishes respectively. Looks like he's 0-2 in major hires. Meanwhile...

Minnesota-Duluth has 14 sports (12 represented in D-2's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, plus Men's and Women's Hockey, which play in the elite WCHA). To put it loosely, UMD is a NSIC juggernaut...
-Baseball: Tied for 1st of 9 (season in progress).
-Men's Hoops: Tied for 3rd of 10.**
-Women's Hoops: 1st of 10.
-Men's X-C: 1st of 5.
-Women's X-C: 1st of 8.
-Football: 1st of 10.**
-Men's Hockey: 5th of 10 in WCHA.**
-Women's Hockey: 1st of 7 in WCHA. 3-time National Champs.**
-Women's Soccer: 1st of 10.
-Softball: Tied for 1st of 10 (tournament this weekend).
-Women's Tennis: Tied for 1st of 6.**
-Men's Track: INDOOR, 1st of 7. OUTDOOR still to come.
-Women's Track: INDOOR, 1st of 8.**
-Volleyball: 1st of 10.**

Again, asteriks denote coaches I presume Corran hired.

Plain and simple, UMD is a winning athletic program. Only Men's Hoops failed to come in 1st in NSIC competition (but, they won the NSIC Tourney). Also, this is a school that has won big in all the money sports (Football, Men's and Women's Hoops, Women's Hockey). Even the Men's Hockey program was a respectable 5th (wouldn't UVM fans like to see a 5th place hockey team for once). If there is a qualifier, it's that Corran only hired half of these coaches. However, he made important hires in Men's Hoops, Men's and Women's Hockey, and Football, and they've all been successful. Also, he's been smart enough to keep winning coaches already on the staff.

So...what do I think? I'll admit, Diles' experience in the MAC intrigues me. Across the board, the MAC is a more high-profile conference than the AE, and he's got a fairly successful program. I appreciate the focus on Olympic sports. Also, he's a little younger (though age shouldn't be a factor with either of these guys). However, EMU's major programs have been mid-to-low range teams in the MAC, and with UVM in need of a new Women's Hoops Coach right now, and probably a new Hockey Coach in the next couple seasons (Gilligan's on fumes), so there will be important hires to be made that will affect the future of the UVM athletic department.

So, my pick is Corran. Yes, he's coming from D-2, which is a different ballgame. But, considering this is the AE, that doesn't concern me too much. Corran also has experience with Hockey at the top level of D-1 (higher than UVM currently), and with Hockey being UVM's Football, that's very important. Plus, it's hard to argue with wins. UMD had conference champs in Men's and Women's Hoops and Football, without sacrificing success in Olympic sports...which leads me to believe UVM could have conference champs in Men's and Women's Hoops and Men's Hockey, and still maintain committment to Men's Soccer, Baseball, Skiing, etc.

So, my pick is Corran. Just my two cents. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

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Replies:

[> [> Re: Eastern Michigan and Minn.-Duluth Athletic Programs -- Josh, 09:24:54 05/03/03 Sat

>I decided that one of the better ways to judge these
>candidates is to look at the programs they run, and
>teams in them. So...

One area that needs to be considered in evaluating how succesful a program is under any AD's administration is the level of funding he or she is provided with. It's hard to be successful when you are underfunded and your competition has more scholarships, better paid coaches, etc. I'm not suggesting that this is the case here. Just something else to consider other than wins and losses.

Another factor to look at is how much money did the AD raise via development efforts, capital campaigns, marketing, promotions, etc.

Finally, how clean a program did he/she run? NCAA violations, personal comportment of coaching staff and athletes, etc.

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[> [> [> I totally agree... -- Go Cats Go, 12:29:23 05/03/03 Sat

Certainly, wins and losses is not the only way to measure the success of an AD. Fund-raising is very important, something that the BFP article implied Corran was very successful at at UMD.

I wish I had a record of coaching salaries at these schools. I'm sure this info is available somewhere (they're both public universities, so they're state employees). It would be interesting to see what coaches at these schools make in comparison to UVM, and what the ADs had to work with.

As far as running clean programs, from what I understand both EMU and UMD have nothing to worry about.

But, kinda what the original intent of my post was was to make the most tangible comparison to the two guys possible. There might be some external factors that may skew the comparison, but I still think Corran has the better record of success and sound decision-making.

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[> [> [> [> Re: I totally agree... -- Josh, 18:20:22 05/03/03 Sat

I agree with all of your points. As for salaries, my understanding is that UVM is at the bottom of the AE in virtually every category. Must be a lot cheaper to live in Burlington than on Long Island.

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