What grade would you give the Norwood Teague hire?

What grade would you give the Norwood Teague hire?

  • A

    Votes: 64 44.1%

  • B

    Votes: 64 44.1%

  • C

    Votes: 10 6.9%

  • D

    Votes: 3 2.1%

  • F

    Votes: 4 2.8%
  • Total voters
    145
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What grade would you give the Norwood Teague hire?
 

I said A because even though we really can't 'judge' the hire yet, his impression, the lack of rhetoric and the anti-Badger press conference left me feeling like he absolutely has 'it'.
 

Without any results at Minnesota, I give it a B, above average, because of the respect he appears to have in athletic circles (which I've inferred from reading quotes). An "A" would've been an AD from a successful BCS school, but that almost certainly wasn't happening.
 

I give it a B, but ask me again in ten years.

Honestly, it would probably be an A, but look at that chrome dome. When he and Kill stand side by side they're gonna look like tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.

(I am losing my hair too, so I get to make bald jokes.)
 

everybody knows my name said:
I give it a B, but ask me again in ten years.

Honestly, it would probably be an A, but look at that chrome dome. When he and Kill stand side by side they're gonna look like tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.

(I am losing my hair too, so I get to make bald jokes.)
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I wonder if this was why he was hired today vs a week ago? Totally a hangup, and probably a strong factor in the negotiation process for salary.
 





I will give it an A-. Will be changed to an A for on the job performance. A- since all info points to it being a great hire.
 



C+ would have liked to see another Wisconsin guy in there. Sorry Wren - you know he's still reading!!
 

What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
 

DocfromDarwin said:
What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
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Maturi had football experience at Miami University, that sure worked out.

I'm all for getting somebody NOT from Minnesota. We need a cultural shake up in our Athletic Dept.
 

DocfromDarwin said:
What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
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Stick to Wisconsin Bucky fan!
 



DocfromDarwin said:
What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
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Citing Maturi to strengthen your argument is never a good idea.
 

Doc from Darwin...there is always one more horse's ass than there are horses when you are around.
 

DocfromDarwin said:
What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
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Damn right!
Grade = A
 

I wanted an AD who had successfully managed an athletic program for a major school located in a pro sport dominated market. Having grown up in NC, Teague will be shocked when he gets here and finds that UM football is the sixth most followed sport in town and basketball behind that. Having lived in both college and pro sports-dominated towns during my work career, I can testify that there is no comparison in zeal for college sports between the two. Imagine if all the attention that we put on the Vikings, Twins, Wild, and Timberwolves went instead to our university football team -- that's what it's like in Lincoln. Or if that following went to our basketball team -- Lawrence. I hope he stays enthusiastic once he sees how different it is here.
 

Hopefully he can translate some of his experience from Tempe to us when dealing with a pro sports market
 

I don't know why or how anyone would rate him an F or even a D at this point. I voted A.
 

RoyalGopher said:
I don't know why or how anyone would rate him an F or even a D at this point. I voted A.
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Those were the people that were expecting a successful AD from a BCS program in a major metro area to be hired. So basically, idiots.
 

Need Fresh Perspective

DocfromDarwin said:
What's with you guys???? Another no name, from nowhere... there has to be a U of M alum out there that would have taken the job!!! No football experience..at least maturi was FROM minn. Another great leap forward for the U.......... next we will resign Tubby for 5 more years of lower division Bball Grade = F
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That he's from neither the U nor Minnesota is a big plus for me. I'm a lifelong Minnesotan and U alum, but I spend a lot of time outside the state and country for business. Once you leave the state, you quickly realize that Minnesota is a profoundly insular place. The U should benefit greatly from a fresh perspective. From everything I've read about Teague, he sounds like a good hire. Hopefully the results will match the praise. Although I know grade inflation is rampant at the U, I'll give the hire a provisional B. We really won't know for several years.
 

Way to early to even think in those terms...most people can win their press conference...don't see Michigan or tOSU concerned over this hire and at the end of the day - that's who we need to overcome to win the B10 title.
 

Big Ten Mind said:
don't see Michigan or tOSU concerned over this hire and at the end of the day - that's who we need to overcome to win the B10 title.
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NO ONE we could hire for an AD role would concern Michigan or OSU. That's a false standard by which to judge the hire. Nice job conflating the AD hire with the results on the field to boot (overcoming both of them on the field in the near term will be influenced very little by Teague).
 

Big Ten Mind said:
Way to early to even think in those terms...most people can win their press conference...don't see Michigan or tOSU concerned over this hire and at the end of the day - that's who we need to overcome to win the B10 title.
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Michigan or tOSU would not be concerned if we hired freakin' zombie Pete Rozelle. They are in a different stratosphere because of their football programs, and an AD hire, regardless of how good, will not turn a program around. It takes a lot more pieces - fans, donors, coaches, players, administrators - to turn it around.
 

Gopher Placenta said:
That he's from neither the U nor Minnesota is a big plus for me. I'm a lifelong Minnesotan and U alum, but I spend a lot of time outside the state and country for business. Once you leave the state, you quickly realize that Minnesota is a profoundly insular place. The U should benefit greatly from a fresh perspective. From everything I've read about Teague, he sounds like a good hire. Hopefully the results will match the praise. Although I know grade inflation is rampant at the U, I'll give the hire a provisional B. We really won't know for several years.
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I've lived here my entire life and agree with you 100%.
 

RoyalGopher said:
I don't know why or how anyone would rate him an F or even a D at this point. I voted A.
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(I didn't vote in the poll in this thread, but...) I read the question as "what grade would you give the U for the hiring of an AD?"... Did the school get someone with the background they wanted? I think some people are reading it as "what is your impression of Teague?". Teague may wind up being an A, an F or somewhere in between - that's all an incomplete for me.

If the U had come out and said up front, "hey, we're looking for a guy that has been an AD at only one school. Ideally this would have been at a school that has no football program. Hopefully it's a person who is making roughly half of what Maturi makes, and we'll bump him up to roughly what Maturi makes. Also, we'd prefer the guy to have no real ties to the state of Minnesota or the Midwest in general. Obviously to find someone like this, we need a lot of help.. to that end, we'll pay a firm $100k to assist us in identify candidates that fit this description and we're forming a twenty-some person committee to make sure we get this right."... if that's what the goal was, then yes - put me down for an A.

Seems like a great guy and I hope he does very well.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
(I didn't vote in the poll in this thread, but...) I read the question as "what grade would you give the U for the hiring of an AD?"... Did the school get someone with the background they wanted? I think some people are reading it as "what is your impression of Teague?". Teague may wind up being an A, an F or somewhere in between - that's all an incomplete for me.

If the U had come out and said up front, "hey, we're looking for a guy that has been an AD at only one school. Ideally this would have been at a school that has no football program. Hopefully it's a person who is making roughly half of what Maturi makes, and we'll bump him up to roughly what Maturi makes. Also, we'd prefer the guy to have no real ties to the state of Minnesota or the Midwest in general. Obviously to find someone like this, we need a lot of help.. to that end, we'll pay a firm $100k to assist us in identify candidates that fit this description and we're forming a twenty-some person committee to make sure we get this right."... if that's what the goal was, then yes - put me down for an A.

Seems like a great guy and I hope he does very well.
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What did the U say their parameters for hiring were? I don't recall reading anything that outlined specifically what they were looking for. If they didn't outline it, I'm not sure how you can critique how well the hire fits their criteria. Sounds to me like you're grading the hire based on your criteria for success at Minnesota (which, really, is all the rest of us are doing).
 

Gopher Warrior said:
(I didn't vote in the poll in this thread, but...) I read the question as "what grade would you give the U for the hiring of an AD?"... Did the school get someone with the background they wanted? I think some people are reading it as "what is your impression of Teague?". Teague may wind up being an A, an F or somewhere in between - that's all an incomplete for me.

If the U had come out and said up front, "hey, we're looking for a guy that has been an AD at only one school. Ideally this would have been at a school that has no football program. Hopefully it's a person who is making roughly half of what Maturi makes, and we'll bump him up to roughly what Maturi makes. Also, we'd prefer the guy to have no real ties to the state of Minnesota or the Midwest in general. Obviously to find someone like this, we need a lot of help.. to that end, we'll pay a firm $100k to assist us in identify candidates that fit this description and we're forming a twenty-some person committee to make sure we get this right."... if that's what the goal was, then yes - put me down for an A.

Seems like a great guy and I hope he does very well.
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So you're saying you could have gone with "Incomplete" (a perfectly valid stance BTW) and instead chose to be long winded and nitpicky about what the exact parameters of the question were and how unreasonably specific the U would have to be in the publicizing of their search order to justify a high grade? Got it.
 

I have listened to three of four interviews with Teague and he seems like a great hire. I think he totally gets what needs to be done to be successful at a major University. It kind of pisses me off, to be honest, I think they got it right in a big way.:)

You can learn a lot by listening to how someone handles being brought into a new situation. With Teague, I think it clear he has a plan, he is used to getting things done and he is going to get it done here.

Ultimately the proof will be in the pudding, but I think your head is buried in the sand if you don't like this hire as a Gophers fan.
 

I give the hiring a B. He has a great resume and comes across as a big picture guy who has successfully performed at VCU what we need him to at the U. I can't give it an "A" because VCU doesn't have a football program, which will need to be his #1 priority here, and that VCU is a smaller market and it might take some time for him to get acclimated to the Twin Cities environment, which is drastically different from a typical college town. The breadth of sports teams and competing in a conference like the B1G is also a step up from what he's accomplished at VCU. I'm not saying these can't be overcome, but are some challenges he'll need to step up to meet. The important grade will come 5-10 years from now, which hopefully will be an "A."
 

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