Torbern “Swede” Olaffson, AD for Eastern Washington University: After years and years of basketball mediocrity at Eastern Washington University, it's time for our school to stop residing at or near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference standings. I arrived here in Cheney, Washington 3 years ago. While there isn’t much pressure on me from the university’s administration, I’d like to move up to a more prestigious college and if I don’t turn things around here, that desire is unlikely to come to fruition. Therefore, immediately after the end of the 2013 season, I fired head coach Dawes Johnson who stumbled along to a 54-89 record during his 5 years of collecting a check without doing a lot of work. The finances for Washington state colleges (other than for the University of Washington and Washington State University) are miniscule, which certainly partially accounts for our long pattern of losing records. But that just means I have more of a challenge in finding a coach who I can hire at a bare minimum salary for Division I but who will be hungry and innovative enough to turn things around for us. I spend March researching coaches as various levels and get in touch with many of them for initial phone interviews, but eventually narrow down my search to 4 viable candidates who I interview in April: (1) Turner Covington has been an assistant coach at Oregon State, so he has some good experience helping to make one of the Pac-12’s schools with lower budgets at least competitive. But when he visits Cheney, Washington and our college, he’s not impressed by our facilities or what we can offer for a salary. Erase one candidate. (2) Robinson Williams has been a head coach at Johnson C. Smith College in Charlotte, NC. While his record at that Division II school has been hot and cold, his experience at a historically black college could help us get access to a wider cross-section of players. We have a couple of very good meetings and I think we have a chance, but ultimately he feels won’t fit in well in Cheney, a small town in a very rural area of eastern Washington State. Two down, two to go. (3) Tony Carpelli has regularly had one of the best high school teams in Washington state. His teams have always been at or near the top of their league and he’s had excellent results in state basketball tournaments, winning two state championships. I’ve got no doubt he could recruit well within the state of Washington, but he wants complete independence with no interference from me, the athletic department, or the administration. Reluctantly I pass on him since that seems like a recipe for ultimate disaster. Things are getting tense. (4) Bret Vandergard was a great player at Lyndon High School in northwest Washington State and at Pacific Lutheran University, an NAIA school in a suburb of Tacoma, Washington. After graduation, Vandergard immediately went into coaching, serving as an assistant coach at Portland State University for 2 years, at the University of Idaho for 3 years, and then the University of California San Diego for the past 2 years. He’s gained extensive experience from several very good head coaches, but has yet to prove himself on his own. Ultimately, he’s probably the least well-prepared of any of my final candidates. But Brett is ready to take on a challenge and should fit in well at the school and the community…and…he’s willing to accept a 3-year contract for an $80,000 annual salary. I hire him in late April 2013 and set 2 goals for the 2013-2014 season (finish in the Top 3 in the conference, win at least 10 games). Since we’ve already filled all of our scholarships, he just needs to become familiar with his players. Brett tells me he wants to clean house, so he fires all assistant coaches and hires 3 new ones. All three are relatively young, but he’s familiar with all three. Since their salaries are very low, the remaining budget for recruiting is $82,000. [Aside—Background on Bret Vandergard: 28 yr old; Annual Salary $80,000 (3 year contract); Ambition: Avg; Academics: High; Discipline: High; Temper: Low; Integrity: High; Offense-26; Defense-27; Recruiting-35; Scouting-28; Player Development-34; Reputation-10.]
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Torbern “Swede” Olaffson, AD for Eastern Washington University: After years and years of basketball mediocrity at Eastern Washington University, it's time for our school to stop residing at or near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference standings. I arrived here in Cheney, Washington 3 years ago. While there isn’t much pressure on me from the university’s administration, I’d like to move up to a more prestigious college and if I don’t turn things around here, that desire is unlikely to come to fruition. Therefore, immediately after the end of the 2013 season, I fired head coach Dawes Johnson who stumbled along to a 54-89 record during his 5 years of collecting a check without doing a lot of work. The finances for Washington state colleges (other than for the University of Washington and Washington State University) are miniscule, which certainly partially accounts for our long pattern of losing records. But that just means I have more of a challenge in finding a coach who I can hire at a bare minimum salary for Division I but who will be hungry and innovative enough to turn things around for us. I spend March researching coaches as various levels and get in touch with many of them for initial phone interviews, but eventually narrow down my search to 4 viable candidates who I interview in April: (1) Turner Covington has been an assistant coach at Oregon State, so he has some good experience helping to make one of the Pac-12’s schools with lower budgets at least competitive. But when he visits Cheney, Washington and our college, he’s not impressed by our facilities or what we can offer for a salary. Erase one candidate. (2) Robinson Williams has been a head coach at Johnson C. Smith College in Charlotte, NC. While his record at that Division II school has been hot and cold, his experience at a historically black college could help us get access to a wider cross-section of players. We have a couple of very good meetings and I think we have a chance, but ultimately he feels won’t fit in well in Cheney, a small town in a very rural area of eastern Washington State. Two down, two to go. (3) Tony Carpelli has regularly had one of the best high school teams in Washington state. His teams have always been at or near the top of their league and he’s had excellent results in state basketball tournaments, winning two state championships. I’ve got no doubt he could recruit well within the state of Washington, but he wants complete independence with no interference from me, the athletic department, or the administration. Reluctantly I pass on him since that seems like a recipe for ultimate disaster. Things are getting tense. (4) Bret Vandergard was a great player at Lyndon High School in northwest Washington State and at Pacific Lutheran University, an NAIA school in a suburb of Tacoma, Washington. After graduation, Vandergard immediately went into coaching, serving as an assistant coach at Portland State University for 2 years, at the University of Idaho for 3 years, and then the University of California San Diego for the past 2 years. He’s gained extensive experience from several very good head coaches, but has yet to prove himself on his own. Ultimately, he’s probably the least well-prepared of any of my final candidates. But Brett is ready to take on a challenge and should fit in well at the school and the community…and…he’s willing to accept a 3-year contract for an $80,000 annual salary. I hire him in late April 2013 and set 2 goals for the 2013-2014 season (finish in the Top 3 in the conference, win at least 10 games). Since we’ve already filled all of our scholarships, he just needs to become familiar with his players. Brett tells me he wants to clean house, so he fires all assistant coaches and hires 3 new ones. All three are relatively young, but he’s familiar with all three. Since their salaries are very low, the remaining budget for recruiting is $82,000. [Aside—Background on Bret Vandergard: 28 yr old; Annual Salary $80,000 (3 year contract); Ambition: Avg; Academics: High; Discipline: High; Temper: Low; Integrity: High; Offense-26; Defense-27; Recruiting-35; Scouting-28; Player Development-34; Reputation-10.].png)