Hammon stays with Spurs
Colorado State and Becky Hammon engaged in discussions about the men’s basketball coaching job with the Rams, but she has decided to remain an assistant coach with the NBA’S San Antonio Spurs, a source close to the CSU program confirmed Saturday to The Denver Post.
Hammon, a former CSU All-america guard in women’s basketball, was considered a legitimate candidate to become Larry Eustachy’s successor as coach of the CSU men’s team.
Hired by San Antonio in August 2014 after a long career as a WNBA player, Hammon coached the Spurs’ Las Vegas summer league team to a championship in 2015.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich told WOAI-TV, San Antonio’s NBC affiliate: “She’s an impressive person. She knows her stuff. She has a great basketball mind. She’s wonderful with people. She’s confident. She’s fun to be around. She’s comfortable in her own skin, so there’s no gender when she walks on the court.” Hammon, 41, turned down an offer last spring to coach the University of Florida women’s team, according to Yahoo Sports.
Hammon’s decision to withdraw from CSU consideration was first reported Friday night by the Loveland Reporter-herald.
Now the Rams will shift their focus to the remaining candidates after the resignation of Eustachy. Those candidates include former Georgia and Nevada coach Mark Fox, who has been in discussions with CSU.
When Colorado State fired Steve Fairchild in December 2011, the Rams’ quest for a new head football coach came with a big price tag. Beyond Fairchild’s buyout was the cost of CSU hiring a search firm to identify the best candidates to replace Fairchild. Spencer Stuart, a global consulting group, was glad to help — for $250,000.
But was it really worth it?
CSU once again is relying on the services of external advisers to help select a new head coach, this time for men’s basketball to replace Larry Eustachy, and it prompts an examination of their role in a school’s success in hiring the right candidate.
CSU’S 2011 search led to the hiring of Jim Mcelwain. The Rams improved from four wins in 2012 to eight wins in 2013 — and they haven’t missed a bowl game since, even after Mcelwain’s departure to Florida. How much credit Spencer Stuart deserves in kickstarting it all is debatable. Mcelwain already had established himself as a major-college head coaching candidate through his rise as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, with his name on media shortlists for several job opportunities that winter. You didn’t need a quartermillion dollars to figure that out.
To assist in its search for a men’s basketball coach, CSU hired Fogler Consulting for a $25,000 fee. Led by Eddie Fogler, a former Division I head coach, the firm has led men’s basketball coaching searches for Massachusetts (2017), Ohio State (2017), Vanderbilt (2016), Oklahoma State (2016), Boston College (2014) and Texas Tech (2013), among others, in the last five years. CSU athletic director Joe Parker formerly worked with Fogler in administrative roles when Fogler helped land John Beilein at Michigan in 2007 and Tubby Smith at Texas Tech in 2013 — hirings that led to NCAA Tournament berths.
If you’re wondering what CSU’S $25,000 will go toward, here is how Fogler Consulting describes its services on the firm’s website: accurate recruitment information and statistics, a powerful list of contacts and resources, valuable advice for men’s basketball coaching searches, a unique perspective that is sure to help find our next basketball coach and customized consultation to meet the needs of each college or university.
The confidentiality that a search firm provides can be as important as delivering the right coach. CSU’S payment to Fogler Consulting ultimately serves as a nondisclosure agreement that allows the Mountain West school to vet candidates without either side acknowledging that it’s happening.
“Confidentiality is an important part of every search,” Parker said March 2. “If you breach confidentiality, I think it begins to limit your pool.”
But not all universities rely on search firms to hire head coaches. Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock hired football coach Justin Fuente from Memphis in 2015 without spending five figures to do it, and the Hokies played in a bowl game in each of Fuente’s first two seasons with them.
It appears Parker will take no chances to ensure the next CSU men’s basketball coach fits the Rams’ desired culture that eroded on Eustachy’s watch. If that means spending $25,000, chalk it up to the ongoing financial arms race of major-college sports. Parker’s desired 30day search for Eustachy’s successor closes around the end of March.
“What I’m encouraged by is the outreach that we’ve seen and the number of people that have expressed interest in this job,” Parker said. “It’s not overwhelming, but it really illustrates to me that we’ve got a really good opportunity here.”