No other group of people in the world of college football — aside from head coaches and coordinators — are under more inherent pressure and scrutiny than university athletic directors.
The equivalent of a professional sports league general manager has several responsibilities respective to their roles. They help fundraise. They manage multimillion-dollar facilities. But nothing seemingly is more important than hiring a coach, mainly for football.
Whether it is fair or not, the tenure of an athletic director — how successful that person is — will ultimately be defined by that one hire.
That’s because at many schools, especially in the football-crazed southern part of the United States, the football team is the billboard for the school. And the football coach is its face.
Since the end of the 2023 season, four Division I HBCUs hired a new coach: Alcorn State, Grambling State, South Carolina State, and Southern. Some were internal promotions like Terrence Graves and Cedric Thomas for the Jaguars and Braves, respectively. Others were courted from outside the program, such as Chennis Berry and Mickey Joseph leading the Bulldogs and Tigers.
But what goes into those decisions? What do HBCU athletic directors value? What are their priorities, and how much collaboration — internal or outside the chain of command — do they desire in this pressure-packed effort?
HBCU Sports spoke with Alabama State Athletic Director Jason Cable and Bethune-Cookman Athletic Director Reggie Theus to dive into the many layers of the public and secretive process.
Looking for a type
Alabama State football is on an upward trajectory after two seasons under former NFL player and Hornets star linebacker Eddie Robinson Jr. after the team completed a 7-4 campaign — its best performance since 2014.
Hiring Robinson, who lacked college coaching experience, was risky after the school fired Donald Hill-Eley. For Cable, who began his tenure in 2021, he didn’t hold himself to a specific blueprint upon making his first big hire.
“The (hiring) process varies per institution. There isn’t one unified process,” he said. “You want to keep your core principles that you have for the (coach) position. That was our foundation for starting our search.”
And that sometimes begins with identifying potential candidates before a decision is made to remove the current coach. During a press conference after he fired then-coach Eric Dooley in November, Southern Athletic Director Roman Banks said he usually keeps a list of candidates in mind for the job “in case of emergency.”
Cable indicated that while he and other athletic directors might have specific names in mind for the job, searches rarely ever focus on a singular candidate from the outset.
“For us, it was a type (of coach), not a name,” he said. “We wanted a particular fit for our program.”
Robinson eventually emerged as the school’s top choice because he possessed college and professional playing, extensive football knowledge, and the potential ability to galvanize the school’s alumni base with connections to the institution overrode experience shortcomings, said Cable.
‘Trying to hire the best person for the job’
At Bethune-Cookman, Reggie Theus — the former NBA player turned men’s basketball coach and athletic director — cautioned making a hire “to win the press conference” and risk compromising the direction of the football program.
“That’s how you hire the wrong guy,” said Theus, who previously was head coach of the Sacramento Kings and had collegiate stints at New Mexico State and California State University at Northridge. “There are guys who can win you the press conference, but they’re not going to get the job done.
“No matter what you’re trying to do, you’re trying to hire the best person for the job.”
Named B-CU athletic director in 2021, Theus’ most notable hire was taking a chance on Pro Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed after moving on from Terry Sims in a bold move. The partnership dissolved before it could begin when Theus and the school decided to part ways with Reed after he publicly criticized administrators for the condition of on-campus facilities.
Theus, who said what “I was trying to accomplish was right,” explained he learned from the experience that the next football coach would need to be connected to Bethune-Cookman and possessed all the characteristics to spur buy-in within the university and outside of it, too.
Raymond Woodie, a former B-CU football player who coached at several FBS schools, was hired last February. Theus beamed about the traits that made him the guy for the job.
“So, now I’m looking for someone who is really connected to the school and someone who is going to be a great partner,” said Theus. “(We wanted) somebody who has great integrity, is a family man, and someone who can pull our people together after what we went through was very important.
“We are very lucky because Coach Woodie is all of those things.”
‘On an island by yourself’
Having the leverage to make a recommendation and have it supported up the chain of command and by university stakeholders is an aspect of the coaching search that both Cable and Theus appreciate.
Though the process functionally involves varying levels of collaboration and input among administrators and third parties such as the Board of Regents, athletes, and alumni groups, the power dynamic must be established and reinforced.
After all, the athletic director is in that position for a reason.
But that hasn’t been the case recently, where it appears the authority and decisions of Texas Southern Athletic Director Kevin Granger and Tiffani-DawnSykes, the now-embattled athletic director at Florida A&M, have been questioned by either alums or boards associated with the school.
“I haven’t been a part of a process where the recommendation has not been accepted because often when you get to that point in the process, everyone seems to be on the same page,” Cable said. “I haven’t experienced the contrary.”
For Theus, he understands there is a protocol to follow, and assessments will be made collectively before a coach is hired. He would prefer to be transparent with all parties involved while limiting influences that could compromise his ability to perform the task with conviction.
“If hiring a coach doesn’t go right, it’s all going to be on the AD’s shoulders,” he said. “I think it is smart to keep the administration abreast of what you’re thinking, and if they want to chime in, of course, they could chime in.
“I don’t think that’s unusual or out of line at all. … But if it (the hire) goes south, you are on an island by yourself.”
Said Cable about athletic directors working with various groups associated with the school on a hire: “I don’t think one individual makes that decision by him or herself. “They (alumni and boosters) are involved in the process whether you want them to be or not; they have affiliations with the institution and strong connections and support.”
Cable, Theus, and every other athletic director who holds the job title recognize there is no more important decision they will make than selecting a football coach. Not only are potential wins, losses, future recruiting classes, and economic impact on the line, but so are reputations and legacies.
Approaching the operation can be a lonely emotional roller coaster that takes a particular mental makeup to endure. Getting this right means more than anything else.
“It’s an enormous amount of pressure,” said Cable. “The tenure of the athletic director is going to be judged by that hire. The ability to move the program forward is largely dependent on the football coach.”
