Akron Names Tom Wistrcill New AD

[gozips19]

here's the link click methoughts?

[ziptrumpet87]

A native of LaCrosse, Wis., Wistrcill has been responsible for managing $8 million in sales and marketing ventures for the Wisconsin athletic department while maintaining a client list of more than 140 sponsors during his time with Badger Sports Properties. He developed and implemented several major first-time sponsorship initiatives at Wisconsin, including the development of the Badger Radio Network through Learfield Communications.sourceMaybe he can develop our media network as well. I'd love to be able to watch the away games (and sell-outs) on regular TV (not cable).

[GP1]

Interesting background.Both real experience in marketing and leadership positions. Sounds good enough to me. Let's see how he does. OK, I can't resist. It appears as if he has extensive experience marketing and leading Dollar General-like organizations. Division III and II are probably worse than Dollar General. Professional volleyball? If he has a track record of success marketing these groups, he can market the MAC. I say good luck Sir!

[Z.I.P.]

He coordinated the operation which brought Tubby Smith from Kentucky to Minnesota as men's BB coach. THAT is a great accomplishment by itself. His background at Wisconsin was in property rights management and marketing. I think at first blush that this is a good pick -- especially his BCS connections. Only small question is how he will handle a national title contender in a non-prime sport. Zips soccer is the engine that could propel the athletic department. Best of luck, Tom!

[MDZip]

Here is our new man. Don't know much about him but the resume looks pretty good for what we think we need. It would be interesting to know who the other potential candidates were but it looks like that will be kept under wraps. I trust Proenza though, he's not going to hire someone who can't carry out his vision. At least he's from a cold weather state.

[ZachTheZip]

Alright Tom, there are two rules here: 1. Don't screw up what's already working. If you so much as hint at replacing Coach Dambrot, Coach Porter, or Coach Mitchell with one of "your guys" at this point in time, I hope that President Proenza threatens to fire you.2. It looks like you're just passing through and that this won't be a long-term relationship with the University. That's fine, but don't make the mistake of trying to ride the success that we're building without doing anything, yourself. It's up to you to engineer a large increase in attendance at our top sports. It's also up to you to find a way to replace what's left of our older athletic facilities like the soccer field and tennis courts, preferably by next season, so I hope you work fast.OK, so there's a third rule, too: When the NCAA inevitably tries to royally screw us over again, you make damned sure that the whole world knows about it and that you're working to make sure it doesn't happen again (even though they'll try)

[UADavid]

It looks like we have 3 years tops with Tom as our AD. Hope he can get a lot done during his time in Akron.

[Zipmeister]

Alright Tom, there are two rules here: 1. Don't screw up what's already working. If you so much as hint at replacing Coach Dambrot, Coach Porter, or Coach Mitchell with one of "your guys" at this point in time, I hope that President Proenza threatens to fire you.2. It looks like you're just passing through and that this won't be a long-term relationship with the University. That's fine, but don't make the mistake of trying to ride the success that we're building without doing anything, yourself. It's up to you to engineer a large increase in attendance at our top sports. It's also up to you to find a way to replace what's left of our older athletic facilities like the soccer field and tennis courts, preferably by next season, so I hope you work fast.OK, so there's a third rule, too: When the NCAA inevitably tries to royally screw us over again, you make damned sure that the whole world knows about it and that you're working to make sure it doesn't happen again (even though they'll try)

I can feel him quaking in his boots now. Way to lay down the law UKid.

[Valpo Zip]

Looks like a great hire. Dr. Proenza keeps topping himself.I don't mind the short term relationship with the ADs as long as we keep this trend of hiring better and better people everytime. Tom has to do a great job during his time here, otherwise he will be here for a long time (God forbid )Also, i am sure he is smart enough not to go near the golden trio (KD, Caleb, and mitchell). I think Kest is very close to joining that group by the way.Welcome on board sir.

[ZachTheZip]

I can feel him quaking in his boots now. Way to lay down the law UKid.

Hey, somebody had to.

[Z.I.P.]

Also, i am sure he is smart enough not to go near the golden trio (KD, Caleb, and mitchell). I think Kest is very close to joining that group by the way.

Interesting statement -- especially since she looks to have hired her replacement already this year. One winning season at Akron, and she'll get her BCS job. Will it be this season or next?

[Zip Watcher]

My first and immediate reaction to this is that it's interesting that we hire a guy away from the only other school also opening a new football stadium this year.

[Blue & Gold]

<br />My first and immediate reaction to this is that it's interesting that we hire a guy away from the only other school also opening a new football stadium this year.<br />

Lol, I had the exact thought. He's gonna be the only person alive who's less-than-blown-away by The Info. Lol.

[zip37]

Well, another stone stepper, so how much longer can we dodge the land mines until we get some clown like Adams, Bobinsky, and that other clown? Hiring a new AD every 3 yrs is getting old to me, and there is an increasing chance that we will eventually hire a DUD, despite the fact that L. P. is the best President this institution has ever had IMHO.

[RACER]

whoever the ad was going to have problems simply because of the mac conference.the a.d. can only do so much.alott of the success in sports has to do with the conference,and mac commish.i have talked about the mac before,and with us in this conference it will be hard to build a winning football program.ohio state football program makes enough $ to pay for all the other sports at o.s.u. we get no tv money,and a conference where you don't even play all the teams in your divison.plus in b-ball we have an unbalanced schedule.no matter what you recored is .the two teams with the best recordsin each divison get seeded # 1 ,and #2. it was ridiculos that akron was seeded 5th last year when the #2 seed was barley over .500. we only get one bid every year to the tourney which means less $ for all the mac teams.my point in my post is to show how many problems the mac has,and one ad is not going to change that.

[UADavid]

http://www.ohio.com/news/54640832.htmlMore detail.

[Dr Z]

My first and immediate reaction to this is that it's interesting that we hire a guy away from the only other school also opening a new football stadium this year.

I think that is a great point. He may be bringing "the next step" with him. I'm sure he laid that plan out in his interview.''My background is in sales and marketing,'' Wistrcill said Since Marshall & Akron used the same company to search for an AD, I was interested if the list was going to be the same. Tom was NOT on Marshall's list.

[skip-zip]

Two things really caught my attention...1) We hired someone with experience working within a couple of HUGE athletic departments.2) He is not only an athletic administrator, but someone with a business background. I think that will be a big plus.

[zipper]

You gotta love Elton. Mr. Positive:http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...inhouse_fa.htmlI remember hearing the same kinds of reports of internal angst when Akron passed on two prior interim ADs: Mike Rodriguez (Mike Thomas) and Mike Waddel (Mack). People initially don't like change, even if down the road it's all okay. I'm sure this guy is going to be very solid and it looks like an impressive hire.Plus he appears to have a great mentor in the AD at Minnesota, who presided over a what was a very successful era at Miami of Ohio. Hopefully he'll pick up the phone and call Maturi when questions arise.Welcome, Tom!

[g-mann17]

You gotta love Elton. Mr. Positive:http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...inhouse_fa.htmlI remember hearing the same kinds of reports of internal angst when Akron passed on two prior interim ADs: Mike Rodriguez (Mike Thomas) and Mike Waddel (Mack). People initially don't like change, even if down the road it's all okay. I'm sure this guy is going to be very solid and it looks like an impressive hire.Plus he appears to have a great mentor in the AD at Minnesota, who presided over a what was a very successful era at Miami of Ohio. Hopefully he'll pick up the phone and call Maturi when questions arise.Welcome, Tom!

How do you skip this

who some believe was sabotaged by an Internet rumor of Yurachek's pending hire last week.

Some people in the building think it's Rasor's fault Yurachek didn't get it?

[zipper]

Yeah, that is just stupid: stupid for "some" to believe, and stupid for Elton to report it. If HY was going to get the job he'd have gotten the job. That was just internet rumor and shouldn't have been published in the first place, but it had no bearing on the outcome, I'm sure. Do we really think Dr. P would NOT hire someone he thought was best for the job just because something leaked a couple of days early? Seriously? Now that would be extremely "stupid" too. Elton's journalistic capabilities are amateur.

[g-mann17]

Yeah, that is just stupid: stupid for "some" to believe, and stupid for Elton to report it. If HY was going to get the job he'd have gotten the job. That was just internet rumor and shouldn't have been published in the first place, but it had no bearing on the outcome, I'm sure. Do we really think Dr. P would NOT hire someone he thought was best for the job just because something leaked a couple of days early? Seriously? Now that would be extremely "stupid" too. Elton's journalistic capabilities are amateur.

See in my mind it came down to this... "The last time you two were up for a job, the Big 10 program felt Tom was more qualified. We really need to sell all of our programs, he just sold out a brand new stadium for a team that will probably finish middle of the pack in the Big 10 if they are lucky. You gave me 6000 season tickets... how much have you improved over the last 3 years?"Now I liked Hunter, nice guy, and I'm positive there were certain ideas he had that Mack had to slow down or stop because the funding just wasn't available or because he wanted to go a different direction. But it is clear that Tom had huge interest in our school from the get go. And it was the whole point of doing a National Search. (find the best available)Let's just see what his plans for the athletic department are and where it takes us. 3 years or 10 years who cares as long as we are farther along (more successful) than we are right now.

[Dr Z]

The in-house favorite for the job was interim AD Hunter Yurachek, who some believe was sabotaged by an Internet rumor of Yurachek's pending hire last week.One of the dumbest things Ellen has ever wrote. So he figures it went down like this?Dr P "did you guys read Rasor's blog today, he says we are going to hire Hunter?" Board "OMG, if he says that, then we can't really hire him can we? We better take the second best guy instead of the best guy for the job" Dr P "I think your right, go ahead hire Tom, that is our best move"Idiot. Where is that photo of Ellen in his Halloween costume?Edit: Found it

[g-mann17]

A blog entry talking about our new AD and some of the dealings Minnesota had with his former employer. It spins it as huge corruption potential. But the way I see it is "taking advantage of connections". Plus everything any athletic department does has to go through a board of trustees and is subject to State oversight committees. The blog really appears to be from the perspective of someone who thinks very low of athletics. Learfield and Wistrcill

[zipper]

A blog entry talking about our new AD and some of the dealings Minnesota had with his former employer. It spins it as huge corruption potential. But the way I see it is "taking advantage of connections". Plus everything any athletic department does has to go through a board of trustees and is subject to State oversight committees. The blog really appears to be from the perspective of someone who thinks very low of athletics. Learfield and Wistrcill

I guess I don't completely understand the point. Was Minnesota supposed to NOT do business with Learfield just because they had a former employee of Learfield on staff? Duh. If anything it probably hurt Learfield to have a former employee in Minnesota's ear during negotiations. This blog entry is proof positive that you can make something out of nothing if you try hard enough.