I know somebody asked me this question that is buried in one of the threads, so instead of trying to search for it, I thought I'd start a new thread on a very relevant topic.
The optics of this hire, and it's not Rossini's fault, are horrible.
Between the gross mishandling that Michael Crow demonstrated concerning athletics and his stubbornness in not even interviewing excellent candidates such as Rocky Harris and David Benedict, who are extremely familiar with the ASU athletic department and wanted to be here, it's beyond reasonable not to support the direction that Crow did take in this hire.
I definitely don't know for a fact that Rossini was some kind of Ray Anderson "Yes man" who witnessed all of his screwups and was still looking the other way and being silent, but again and not the harp on the optics angle here when you're part of the very top organizational level of an athletic department that even after Rossini's arrival was absolutely abysmal in the the manner it conducted itself, to have the appearance of being rewarded with a massive promotion will naturally rub a lot of people the wrong way.
So, for all those reasons, I mentioned an external hire wasn't only prudent but absolutely vital if you are going to truly take this athletic department in a new and more conducive for success direction.
I get it that Rossini has never been an athletic director or even served in any athletic department capacity in any other school but ASU. That being said I wouldn't completely dismiss his 14 years as an executive with the Diamondbacks as well as what he did accomplish in the short period of time here at ASU. I'm not saying that everything he touched turned to gold, but it's not as if there's a laundry list of bad decisions that he made in the three years he's been part of the athletic department.
Someone pointed out to me that an athletic director is on the same level as the Deans of various colleges which does mean that there is a Provost they report to and that provost does ultimately report to Crow. True, that definitely was not the case with Ray Anderson or even Lisa Love before him since they did report to Crow, but from the various talks I had, I'm getting a strong sense that this is going to be the organizational structure moving forward. So this can negate the whole internal hire=crows puppet equation, which I feel more than anything is the biggest point of contention ASU fans have with the hire of Rossini.
The ASU fan base did give alumni such as Willie Bloomquist and Kenny Dillingham grace for coming into a tough situation and trying to resurrect their respective programs. And both of them, despite reporting to Anderson when they were first hired, still made some headway in their respective jobs. I'm not here to suggest that football this fall or baseball next year is on the cusp of being a national powerhouse, but you are seeing some strides in the right direction.
So hiring an alumnus as an AD for a change, someone who, even though he is going to be a first-time athletic director, isn't exactly void of various accomplishments working for ASU as well as for an MLB club. I know this is not going to be comforting to say, but Crow could probably screw up this hire that much more with an unqualified individual, either through an internal or an external hire. So, if he was going to go in-house, Graham Rossini was the correct hire, in my opinion.
There is a 100-ton burden of proof that does lie on both Rossini and Crow, for that matter, demonstrating that this was the correct hire. I think it's hard right here right now to put a probability percentage on Rossini succeeding. I can't say I'm leaning optimistic or pessimistic.
What I do know is it's a damn shame that Crow just went out of his way to create horrible optics with this very important hire. At the same time I don't know if the hire that he made is a guarantee for a failure.
Ultimately, I just have a lot of mixed feelings about the Graham Rossini hire.
The optics of this hire, and it's not Rossini's fault, are horrible.
Between the gross mishandling that Michael Crow demonstrated concerning athletics and his stubbornness in not even interviewing excellent candidates such as Rocky Harris and David Benedict, who are extremely familiar with the ASU athletic department and wanted to be here, it's beyond reasonable not to support the direction that Crow did take in this hire.
I definitely don't know for a fact that Rossini was some kind of Ray Anderson "Yes man" who witnessed all of his screwups and was still looking the other way and being silent, but again and not the harp on the optics angle here when you're part of the very top organizational level of an athletic department that even after Rossini's arrival was absolutely abysmal in the the manner it conducted itself, to have the appearance of being rewarded with a massive promotion will naturally rub a lot of people the wrong way.
So, for all those reasons, I mentioned an external hire wasn't only prudent but absolutely vital if you are going to truly take this athletic department in a new and more conducive for success direction.
I get it that Rossini has never been an athletic director or even served in any athletic department capacity in any other school but ASU. That being said I wouldn't completely dismiss his 14 years as an executive with the Diamondbacks as well as what he did accomplish in the short period of time here at ASU. I'm not saying that everything he touched turned to gold, but it's not as if there's a laundry list of bad decisions that he made in the three years he's been part of the athletic department.
Someone pointed out to me that an athletic director is on the same level as the Deans of various colleges which does mean that there is a Provost they report to and that provost does ultimately report to Crow. True, that definitely was not the case with Ray Anderson or even Lisa Love before him since they did report to Crow, but from the various talks I had, I'm getting a strong sense that this is going to be the organizational structure moving forward. So this can negate the whole internal hire=crows puppet equation, which I feel more than anything is the biggest point of contention ASU fans have with the hire of Rossini.
The ASU fan base did give alumni such as Willie Bloomquist and Kenny Dillingham grace for coming into a tough situation and trying to resurrect their respective programs. And both of them, despite reporting to Anderson when they were first hired, still made some headway in their respective jobs. I'm not here to suggest that football this fall or baseball next year is on the cusp of being a national powerhouse, but you are seeing some strides in the right direction.
So hiring an alumnus as an AD for a change, someone who, even though he is going to be a first-time athletic director, isn't exactly void of various accomplishments working for ASU as well as for an MLB club. I know this is not going to be comforting to say, but Crow could probably screw up this hire that much more with an unqualified individual, either through an internal or an external hire. So, if he was going to go in-house, Graham Rossini was the correct hire, in my opinion.
There is a 100-ton burden of proof that does lie on both Rossini and Crow, for that matter, demonstrating that this was the correct hire. I think it's hard right here right now to put a probability percentage on Rossini succeeding. I can't say I'm leaning optimistic or pessimistic.
What I do know is it's a damn shame that Crow just went out of his way to create horrible optics with this very important hire. At the same time I don't know if the hire that he made is a guarantee for a failure.
Ultimately, I just have a lot of mixed feelings about the Graham Rossini hire.
