Bubb out as AD

[wiu712]

WIU replaces Athletic Director.
From Tri-States Public Radio, WIUM-FM:
https://www.tspr.org/tspr-local-news/20 ... c-director
 
 

[LeatherCy]

Considering Paul got the job at the end of the Thomas debacle that had to steer the trip into the Portal waters with absolutely no funds to even compete in the Portal wars I thought Paul did a good job. The move to the OVC was much needed and seems to be working out well. 

From a personal standpoint Paul drove an hour to my mother's visitation in Mendon a year ago this week. I thought that was a very nice gesture. 

[leatherneckcountry]

Ive always thought he was kind of a bully the move to the OVC was supposed to be a league we could compete in yet there has been little to no improvement. He Hired a baseball coach who hadn't coached baseball in a couple years. Hired an assistant girls coach who's team couldn't get out of there own way to be our mens soccer coach. I'll give him coach davis as the team does seem to be improving. 

[ST_Lawson]

Ive always thought he was kind of a bully the move to the OVC was supposed to be a league we could compete in yet there has been little to no improvement. He Hired a baseball coach who hadn't coached baseball in a couple years. Hired an assistant girls coach who's team couldn't get out of there own way to be our mens soccer coach. I'll give him coach davis as the team does seem to be improving. 

 

Until I know who the other candidates for those positions were, I'm not going to judge Bubb for them too much. Unfortunately, WIU just doesn't pay enough and Macomb isn't enticing enough to bring in quality candidates for many jobs. It's not athletics, but we ran into that same issue when hiring for our area over the last year. Everyone applying was pretty much only applying to get a work visa...our first round we literally had nobody who was legally able to work in the US. We were finally able to get someone to come back part-time who had already retired from Western.

Occasionally you'll luck into a good coach...JD, Davis might be (too early to tell for sure), our previous track coach was good. But for the majority of the positions, you're just not getting a lot (or any?) good candidates applying.

Matt Brown (of the Extra Points newsletter) just posted something this morning about our AD position. He had just written something the other day about jokingly applying for the Wisconsin AD position: https://www.extrapointsmb.com/p/wiscons ... c-director
Then our job opened up (he lives in Chicago), and posted this:

Predictably, most of the follow-up comments were variations on: "but then you'd have to live in Macomb." I'd bet there are a lot of up-and-coming coaches that are like "there are open jobs at Northern Arizona, William & Mary, and Western Illinois...NAU is Flagstaff, beautiful scenery, vibrant town; W&M is Williamsburg, beautiful historical area, not far from the ocean and plenty to do in Norfolk/VA Beach area, Western Illinois is Macomb...yeah, so...."

If the coaches we are hiring are the best of the people applying...what does that say about the pool of applicants?

[sealhall74]

Looking from a distance (Quad Cities), I thought he did very well given the limited resources he had to work with.  I did not attend that many events but those I did were pleasant experiences for me and the wife.  Deserves a lot of credit for making the move to the OVC.  I guess time will tell if we can compete for more championships there.  I went to WIU in the 70s and early 80s when we were D2 and had reasonable successes in most sports programs.  My gut says that is really where we need to be given locale, facilities, budget constraints, etc.

[Necks2003]

Looking from a distance (Quad Cities), I thought he did very well given the limited resources he had to work with.  I did not attend that many events but those I did were pleasant experiences for me and the wife.  Deserves a lot of credit for making the move to the OVC.  I guess time will tell if we can compete for more championships there.  I went to WIU in the 70s and early 80s when we were D2 and had reasonable successes in most sports programs.  My gut says that is really where we need to be given locale, facilities, budget constraints, etc.

 

If we drop down to D2 we will lose all money games for all sports. Football and Basketball obviously make the most. However, most other sports get out of conference games against bigger schools that at least cover travel expenses to make it worthwhile. D2 will only lose additional money and make all programs less enticing. D1 is the only way the athletics programs can survive and dropping a level would lose more money and we may as well just drop athletics altogether. Additionally, nobody cares about D2 or NAIA athletics. Our small but somewhat loyal fan base would literally go to virtually zero, and the minimal amounts of fundraising we do get will go to zero as well. Football and Basketball attendance will likely amount to 10s and maybe a few hundred with no sports being on ESPN+ for recruiting purposes. 
 

[sealhall74]

Looking from a distance (Quad Cities), I thought he did very well given the limited resources he had to work with.  I did not attend that many events but those I did were pleasant experiences for me and the wife.  Deserves a lot of credit for making the move to the OVC.  I guess time will tell if we can compete for more championships there.  I went to WIU in the 70s and early 80s when we were D2 and had reasonable successes in most sports programs.  My gut says that is really where we need to be given locale, facilities, budget constraints, etc.



 

If we drop down to D2 we will lose all money games for all sports. Football and Basketball obviously make the most. However, most other sports get out of conference games against bigger schools that at least cover travel expenses to make it worthwhile. D2 will only lose additional money and make all programs less enticing. D1 is the only way the athletics programs can survive and dropping a level would lose more money and we may as well just drop athletics altogether. Additionally, nobody cares about D2 or NAIA athletics. Our small but somewhat loyal fan base would literally go to virtually zero, and the minimal amounts of fundraising we do get will go to zero as well. Football and Basketball attendance will likely amount to 10s and maybe a few hundred with no sports being on ESPN+ for recruiting purposes. 
 


 

Obviously, you value the almighty dollar more than I.  To me, it is all about competing for conference and even national championships year in and year out in all programs.  I can watch D3 broadcasts on the internet these days that are top notch productions so you dont need ESPN.  I dont expect it to ever happen again, but I attended WIU/EIU basketball games in my college days when it was standing room only (7K in the stands sitting on bleacher seats). The D2 NCAA Regional Championship in Macomb is one of my fondest memories of going to WIU.  It was truly an electric atmosphere.

As for recruiting, take a look at what Chad Boudreau's wife has done at the D3 level.  18 NCAA appearances in 19 seasons.  Her program has a fail-proof recruiting strategy.  She just wins year in and year out and kids hunt her down.

https://uwwsports.com/staff-directory/stacy-boudreau/52
 

[Wiufan87]

I am happy he is gone, I think it is the right move.  Every new Coach he hired is presently losing.  Hope we get a seasoned AD who has run a successful athletic dept preferably Div 2 or above.  Just got email from Pres Mindrup told her of my support for her.  Go, Go fight win!

[meganeck]

Ive always thought he was kind of a bully the move to the OVC was supposed to be a league we could compete in yet there has been little to no improvement. He Hired a baseball coach who hadn't coached baseball in a couple years. Hired an assistant girls coach who's team couldn't get out of there own way to be our mens soccer coach. I'll give him coach davis as the team does seem to be improving. 


 

Until I know who the other candidates for those positions were, I'm not going to judge Bubb for them too much. Unfortunately, WIU just doesn't pay enough and Macomb isn't enticing enough to bring in quality candidates for many jobs. It's not athletics, but we ran into that same issue when hiring for our area over the last year. Everyone applying was pretty much only applying to get a work visa...our first round we literally had nobody who was legally able to work in the US. We were finally able to get someone to come back part-time who had already retired from Western.

Occasionally you'll luck into a good coach...JD, Davis might be (too early to tell for sure), our previous track coach was good. But for the majority of the positions, you're just not getting a lot (or any?) good candidates applying.

Matt Brown (of the Extra Points newsletter) just posted something this morning about our AD position. He had just written something the other day about jokingly applying for the Wisconsin AD position: https://www.extrapointsmb.com/p/wiscons ... c-director
Then our job opened up (he lives in Chicago), and posted this:

Predictably, most of the follow-up comments were variations on: "but then you'd have to live in Macomb." I'd bet there are a lot of up-and-coming coaches that are like "there are open jobs at Northern Arizona, William & Mary, and Western Illinois...NAU is Flagstaff, beautiful scenery, vibrant town; W&M is Williamsburg, beautiful historical area, not far from the ocean and plenty to do in Norfolk/VA Beach area, Western Illinois is Macomb...yeah, so...."

If the coaches we are hiring are the best of the people applying...what does that say about the pool of applicants?

 

I was underwhelmed on who they hired as the new volleyball coach, but like Scott said i doubt the candidate pool was very appealing, so I too give him a pass on his coaching hires. If we do luck into a good hire they won't be here long due to the money constraints and Macomb being Macomb. 
 

[NewNeck]

I am happy he is gone, I think it is the right move.  Every new Coach he hired is presently losing.  Hope we get a seasoned AD who has run a successful athletic dept preferably Div 2 or above.  Just got email from Pres Mindrup told her of my support for her.  Go, Go fight win!

 

Wasn't that was Bubb was? 

I agree the coaching hires minus J. Davis have been underwhelming but I wonder what's first the chicken or the egg?  For WIU to be competitive in sports and create a high level student (not just athlete) experience there has to be investment in facilities, staffing and NIL/Rev Share.  I remember bringing my friends from other schools to WIU sporting events 20+ years ago and they were like WTF....not much has changed...It seems that although the move to the OVC could be a positive, we still rank at or near the bottom in these areas.  Look at the state of Missouri D2 facilities...I don't think we want to drop down and compete with those schools.