Sunday, May 23, 2004
Standard Operating Procedure?
Auburn will pay John Mengelt, an executive recruiter with Breckenridge Partners and an alumnus of the university, $100,000 to find new head basketball coaches for the school's men's and women's basketball programs.At first, I was a little surprised by the arrangement. I'd never heard of such an agreement and thought the school could save a little dough - and do a better job - by conducting the search itself.
But it turns out colleges occasionally bring in executive search firms to help with new hires in their athletic departments. For example, Georgia hired Baker & Parker before handing Dennis Felton the reins and Kansas employed Heidrick & Struggles (to the tune of $75,000) before bringing Al Bohl on as athletic director several years back.
Of course, just because other schools have hired executive recruiters in the past doesn't mean Auburn made a wise decision for its future. But it did help me get over my initial shock.
