An ideal AD for C of C

The search continues inside and outside the friendly confines of College of Charleston headquarters for a new athletic director, just the right man or woman to lead Cougar Nation to glory and black ink, not necessarily in that order.

Conveniently, the perfect candidate is right beside us.

Someone who fits all the ideal criteria.

Willing.

Available.

Inexpensive.

No skeletons in the closet, no DUIs, doesn't smoke.

Guaranteed to get along with boosters.

Likely, in fact, to make better decisions than the average athletic director.

No one.

That's right, the best athletic director hire is no hire at all. The College of Charleston should take a page from the Vanderbilt playbook and try life in 2007 A.D. without an AD.

Vanderbilt in September of 2003 got rid of its athletic department and critics thought it was the nuttiest move in college sports since the invention of the forward pass.

Turns out that having coaches answer directly to university administrators without going through a mini-bureaucracy of middle people has worked out swell in Nashville.

The Vanderbilt baseball team was ranked No. 1 most of the 2007 season, and baseball coach Tim Corbin has praised a management concept that uses money saved on salaries for facility improvements.

The basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Most of the non-revenue programs are in great shape.

Dandy at Vandy

No, the Vandy football program isn't about to out-recruit Texas.

But if Vanderbilt can prosper without an entire athletic department, surely the College of Charleston can slide by without one person.

More than most schools, the College of Charleston is positioned for success in a post-AD era.

The Cougars do not have a football team. Ask an AD at a football school how much time is spent on football.

But The Athletic Department That John Kresse Built does have a reputable brain trust, including legendary former head basketball coach John Kresse in a fundraising job, interim athletic director and former head basketball

coach Fred Daniels in the administration building, smart and capable associate athletic directors Jonathan Evans and Tony Ciuffo, veteran women's basketball coach Nancy Wilson and a pair of marquee coaches in Bobby Cremins and John Pawlowski.

Sure. Some people wonder how an athletic department will schedule, make recruiting budgets and hire assistant coaches without an athletic director.

Well, here's a peak inside baseball (or basketball) at a Division I university.

Head coach: 'Hey, Bob, I'd kind of like to play East Carolina and we have an opening.'

AD: 'Uh, OK.'

Each program has a recruiting budget. The head coach should prioritize spending.

Hiring almost always is left up to the given head coach. If not, the AD is intrusive and counter-productive.

And so on.

150,000 reasons

Vanderbilt officials recently theorized that the school saves $1.5 million per year not having an athletic department. You can bet that money goes a long way, buckaroo, even on the rhinestone-paved streets of Music City.

Just think of the cash the College of Charleston will save not having to pay for an athletic director's Blackberry, office furniture and road trip per diem. Athletic directors are very expensive to feed.

Better yet, consider what the Lowcountry's flagship state university can do with the $150,000 or so it would annually save on athletic director salary.

A $1,000 bonus for the top 150 professors?

A $5,000 tuition discount for 30 winners of a 'What I Commit To Do To Make The World Better' essay contest?

Free pizza on the quad every Friday afternoon?

A few new aluminum baseball bats?

Some of the above?

It all comes down to the College of Charleston wising up and realizing the best thing the search committee can do is come up empty.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com