The Ways in Which Eric Sexton has failed

[ABC]

Let us list the ways. Plesae help Sub and Shockfever.

1. In-game basketball production

2. Clevin Hannah transcript snafu causing us to lose to Pitt.

3. Bad nachos at Koch

4. Allowed softball coach to bolt to Florida

5. Indoor baseball practice facility is wrong color

6. MVC tournament not moved to KC

7. Lost the all-sports trophy one year

8. Football still not back at Wazoo

9. Jim Thomas still an asst. baseball coach

10. Can't remember Shock Ref's name

[SpanglerFan316]

11. Doesn't post on SN.

12. Nice guy (always finish last)

13. Can't dunk.

14. Coaches like him.

:smile-new:

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

15. His name is not Jim Schaus

16. He hasn't banged Megan Fox (yet)

17. He hasn't asked Gene to retire (yet)

18. He can't pat his head and rub his belly at the same time

...OK, so I'm not sure about the last one.

[1972Shocker]

Let us list the ways. Plesae help Sub and Shockfever.

4. Allowed softball coach to bolt to Florida

I think this was his most egregious faus pax and to compound that he made a poor hire with Mike Perniciaro (although it looked good on paper I suppose).

I will give Eric some well-deserved credit on this one though since he made this happen 3-years before he replaced Jim Schaus. That at least shows some serious ingenuity.

[AndShock]

19. Thought this was a good call. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI2pTi-sZWk

[wsushockerdude]

20. Obviously hasn't paid off Elgin enough to have us win in St. Louis

[jocoshock]

21. Let a 60 year home and home series with KU expire. oh... wait.....

[1972Shocker]

Seriously, I think the issues with Eric are:

1. He was hired by Don Beggs. There are some who don't care for Dr. Beggs because they believe he has been against reinstating football at WSU during his tenure here and they, rightly or wrongly, believe Eric was hired with the understanding that that would be the status quo for him as well during his time as AD.

2. Eric clearly was not experienced in athletic administration. Whether that caused some of the turnover in the athletic department or whether it was just normal turnover you see in a change at the top I can't say. However, there are those that are no doubt convinced Eric is a fault.

3. Initial impressions can be tough to overcome if they are unfavorable. That is probably amplified with sports fanatics. Eric really has not done anything real splashy to overcome these initial impressions and, even though he has not had any major screw ups either (AFAIK) the longer he goes without making a big impression move those that disklike him seem to become even less-enamored with him. Some folks simply are not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I actually feel a little better about Eric now that he has had 4-years on the job. From the very outside looking in he appears to have done a good job with taking care of Coach Marshall. He probably does not deserve all the credit but I think he deserves some credit. Whether or not this becomes an annual ritual with Coach Marshall remains to be seen.
I hope it is a long, long time before Eric is tested with hiring a new head basketball coach.

From my perspective keeping Coach Lambo in the fold and also Coach Rainbolt are worthy goals and so far so good on that front. You say who cares about track and field (and cross country) but just check out the contriubution of those programs have made towards the All-Sports Trophy. Some may think winning the AST is not a worthy goal, but I will point out that it was Jim Schaus who made that a priority and I'm glad he did. And if you like a lot of local and Kansas flavor on your college teams the track and field program has got it.

Eric did hire a Women's tennis coach and that seems to have worked out well so far although the women's tennis program was in very good shape at that point.

I think the only coaching change Eric instigated is this past year in the softball program. Way too early to evaluate that change although I think he made the correct decision in making a change in that program.

Assuming we can keep Coach Marshall around long-term it looks like Eric's big issues that will be on the table in the next couple of years are what to do with the leadership of the Shocker baseball program and how to deal with conference realignment issues. Both of which could be pretty challenging issues (or maybe they will just resolve themselves, but life is never that easy). How Eric deals with those issues may go a long way towards how he is viewed as a leader.

[shoxlax]

I thought he was a bit of a door mat on the 1.9 second issue but given his short tenure at the time, I guess it was somewhat understandable.

On the other hand, the apology that he let 3G send out to the league was a classic and showed me a lot about their relationship.

I think our marketing department, pep band, and Shockervision all have been subject to valid criticism, but those aren't deal breakers when putting a pass/fail on an athletic department.

[SPEShockAlum]

I think this was his most egregious faus pax and to compound that he made a poor hire with Mike Perniciaro (although it looked good on paper I suppose).

I will give Eric some well-deserved credit on this one though since he made this happen 3-years before he replaced Jim Schaus. That at least shows some serious ingenuity.

Are you sure Walton's departure and the follow up hire were on Sexton's watch? I distinctly remember being at an event my senior year (Spring '07) where I was visiting with Brooke Usher (softball player), her mother and Coach Perniciaro. Schaus left, if I recall, Spring '08.

[1972Shocker]

I think our marketing department, pep band, and Shockervision all have been subject to valid criticism, but those aren't deal breakers when putting a pass/fail on an athletic department.

And those are things that should be fixable. However, I doubt you will ever have full agreement among fans on what is good enough.

Fans generally only focus only the benefit side of the equation. The athletic department has to weigh costs vs benefits and they also have limited resources that must be allocated. If resources were unlimited I think just about anyone could do a great job. I would love to have the job in an unlimited resourse environment.

[1972Shocker]

Are you sure Walton's departure and the follow up hire were on Sexton's watch? I distinctly remember being at an event my senior year (Spring '07) where I was visiting with Brooke Usher (softball player), her mother and Coach Perniciaro. Schaus left, if I recall, Spring '08.

I think you may have misread/misinterpreted my post. I was pointing out that the Walton/Perniciaro move was 3 years before Eric replaced Jim Schaus. I probably tried to get a little too cute with my post though. I thought I had my tongue well planted against my cheek, but apparently not well enough.

BTW, I am not blaming Jim Schaus for Tim Walton leaving for Florida. That was a no-brainer for Tim and not a damn thing Jim could do about it.

I think Jim is very good at hiring coaches. But he is isn't perfect, nor will Eric be or most any other athletic director for that matter. Jim missed on Pooch and Jane Albright. But hindsight is 20-20 and both of those hires looked decent on paper at the time they were made.

[jocoshock]

On the other hand, the apology that he let 3G send out to the league was a classic and showed me a lot about their relationship.

I thought the same thing at the time.. He had the coaches back and did it quite professionally..

[pogo]

I think you may have misread/misinterpreted my post. I was pointing out that the Walton/Perniciaro move was 3 years before Eric replaced Jim Schaus. I probably tried to get a little too cute with my post though. I thought I had my tongue well planted against my cheek, but apparently not well enough.

BTW, I am not blaming Jim Schaus for Tim Walton leaving for Florida. That was a no-brainer for Tim and not a damn thing Jim could do about it.

I think Jim is very good at hiring coaches. But he is isn't perfect, nor will Eric be or most any other athletic director for that matter. Jim missed on Pooch and Jane Albright. But hindsight is 20-20 and both of those hires looked decent on paper at the time they were made.

Your wry sense of humor was a little hard to follow but it was apparent if you read it carefully. On your post listing #1 where you said ES was hired by Dr Beggs with the understanding that the status quo would be maintained about no football if I read this right you seem to think Dr Beggs is against football at WSU. I can state with great certainty that Dr Beggs is not against the return of football at WSU. He told me he would love to have football at WSU if for no other reason than to get Shirley off his back because she loves football. But until someone can balance the expenditures that football would create with revenue to cover them then football will remain where it is. So I guess if being fiscally responsible is maintaining the status quo then ES is guilty as charged.

[1972Shocker]

Your wry sense of humor was a little hard to follow but it was apparent if you read it carefully. On your post listing #1 where you said ES was hired by Dr Beggs with the understanding that the status quo would be maintained about no football if I read this right you seem to think Dr Beggs is against football at WSU. I can state with great certainty that Dr Beggs is not against the return of football at WSU. He told me he would love to have football at WSU if for no other reason than to get Shirley off his back because she loves football. But until someone can balance the expenditures that football would create with revenue to cover them then football will remain where it is. So I guess if being fiscally responsible is maintaining the status quo then ES is guilty as charged.

pogo, I did not say that I think Dr. Beggs is against football. However, based on some things I have read in the past I do think that there are some people who do believe that is the case. Something about that was a conditon of his hiring imposed by the KU dominated board of regents. Personally, I have no reason to believe that Dr. Beggs was opposed to bringing football back. I was just pointing out some reasons why I think some folks are anti-ADES. Of course, I could be all wet with my observations in that regard. Personally, I am not anti-ADES and I do not believe he his fundamentally opposed to bringing football back to WSU if it can be done in a fiscally responsible manner and at a level where we can ber competitive.