Hugh McCutcheon to start in a new Assistant AD / Sport Development Coach role Jan. 2023.

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Happy he’s staying in Minnesota! curious what is a Sports development Coach?
 

I'm assuming he will have great influence in the new volleyball coach hire, as he is well connected to that community.
 

Out of curiosity, I checked out Coyle's staffing. I had no idea the size and scope of his administration - I am all for a strong athletic department, and realize that it takes personnel to run a big time collegiate athletic program (with a budget of $110 mil), but this seems a bit excessive to me - is this common in the Big Ten?
- 2 Deputy Athletic Directors (1 for women, 1 for men)
- 1 Executive Associate AD
- 6 Sr. Associate ADs
- 2 Associate ADs
- 2 Assistant ADs
- 3 Directors (HR, Compliance, Academic Center)

The above are listed under Coyle's "Admininstration." There are many more Associate and Assistant ADs, plus numerous directors under headings such as Communications, Budget, etc. Hugh's new title of "Assistant AD/Sports Development Coach" is not quite as impressive to me after looking at this list.
 



Glad he is staying in the department and I assume that his new role will have something to do with his passion for valuing the overall student-athlete experience and living a balanced life.

The fact that he's taking a position like this does make me wonder even more why they handled this the way they did. Why not just make this announcement of his new role at the same time they said he'd be stepping down rather than refusing to discuss what was next for him and fostering a couple weeks of uncertainty and speculation?
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Glad he is staying in the department and I assume that his new role will have something to do with his passion for valuing the overall student-athlete experience and living a balanced life.

The fact that he's taking a position like this does make me wonder even more why they handled this the way they did. Why not just make this announcement of his new role at the same time they said he'd be stepping down rather than refusing to discuss what was next for him and fostering a couple weeks of uncertainty and speculation?
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If Hugh was "kicked up a notch" to relieve him of the HC position, which is pure speculation and the key word is "if", it would make sense only if the AD is going for an equally bigger-name HC hire, not putting an assistant coach in the HC spot. Moving an assistant up to HC would maybe result in lots of transfers out and season-ticket defections? Please correct me if this is wrong-headed of me.
 

Gophers_4life said:
What in the hell is a "sport development assistant athletic director" ???

Sounds like something Mark Coyle made up out of thin air. But why??
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I would say that feels right. As to "why" I would say you have a world class coach who has coached men/women, pros/college, and internationally/domestically. At some point he could provide a ton of expertise to coaches. Will he get us recruits in every sport or take all our sports to the pinnacles, no, but he knows what it takes to win in a variety of roles. That is only beneficial to all. Maybe Ben could go to him hey we are looking at a kid from Italy, what do you know about the area, what do those kids look for, how can we help him become a pro overseas etc. Or maybe he can talk to Ritter and say hey here is how we handled transfers.

In my opinion it is a no-brainer if he was going to leave volleyball to try and keep him around the U as much as possible.
 

I wonder if the delay was waiting to get administration or maybe Regents approval to create a new position. The original annoucement never said he was leaving the University employment.
 



Hrothgar said:
If Hugh was "kicked up a notch" to relieve him of the HC position, which is pure speculation and the key word is "if", it would make sense only if the AD is going for an equally bigger-name HC hire, not putting an assistant coach in the HC spot. Moving an assistant up to HC would maybe result in lots of transfers out and season-ticket defections? Please correct me if this is wrong-headed of me.
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I wouldn't say "wrong-headed," but I don't think this timing impacts players transferring for next year or season ticket holders for next year in any significant way. He's finishing the season. The players and fans are committed for the remainder of the season and will be free to make their decisions for next year once a new coach is hired.

(I'm no volleyball expert, but I can't imagine that there are more than a handful of coaches who would qualify as "equally bigger-name.")
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I wouldn't say "wrong-headed," but I don't think this timing impacts players transferring for next year or season ticket holders for next year in any significant way. He's finishing the season. The players and fans are committed for the remainder of the season and will be free to make their decisions for next year once a new coach is hired.

(I'm no volleyball expert, but I can't imagine that there are more than a handful of coaches who would qualify as "equally bigger-name.")
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Sorry if I didn't explain myself well. I didn't mean defections or transfers during the 2022 season, but players transferring out and season ticket holders not renewing after the current season is over and a new HC is announced, in the case that new HC decision is generally perceived to be of a lesser quality than expected. IMO the best way to put the uncertainty to rest would be for the present team under Hugh to make a spectacular end of the season run and continue it into the NCAAs.
 

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