Search Committee

Footballdad · Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:17 pm

MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois interim director of athletics Matt Tanney announced on Wednesday (Dec. 23) members of the search committee to hire the next Leatherneck Football coach is in place.

The eight person committee includes: John Biernbaum (associate vice president, Student Services), Laurie Black (Registrar's office), Dr. Tom Cody (Faculty Athletic Representative), Cathy Early (WIU Board of Trustees and Athletic Department Hall of Fame member), Dr. Algerian Hart (coordinator of Graduate Program, Kinesiology), Amy Spelman (director of WIU Alumni Association), Brett Taylor (football student-athlete) and Tanney, who will serve as Chair of the committee.

"There's great interest in the position, nationally, and the search committee looks forward to evaluating the applicant pool," said Tanney. "I've thanked the group in advance for their commitment to working through the holiday season so that we can identify the next head coach of Leatherneck football in a thoughtful, but timely, manner."

Western is coming off a 7-6 season (5-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, tied third place) and advanced to the second round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. The Leathernecks played the toughest Division I FCS schedule in the country in 2015.

WIU0812 · Wed Dec 23, 2015 2:52 pm

Having a member of the team on the committee is probably the smartest thing they have done during this whole fiasco. At least it makes the players feel as if they have a say in the future of the team.

Buckingham Palace · Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:53 pm

Not trying to be a scrooge.....But I seriously question the knowledge of some of these individuals on the search committee, when it comes to hiring a Division I football coach. Can someone please explain to me what I am missing...

wiu51 · Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:42 am

I wondered the same thing when I saw the committee.

Necks2003 · Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:43 am

Agreed. I dont think it is a bad idea to have a player involved in the process, but who is going to ask the football related questions from this group. These individuals may be able to help with selling the university and the position overall, but all seem to lack expertise in the football coaching arena. Tanney should remove himself from the group as well. If he really cared he would have started this process 2 weeks ago. His ineptitude as an interim ad over the past 2 weeks should preclude him from being involved in any significant decisions until a real ad is hired (hoping not Tanney).

sealhall74 · Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:19 am

We have three good football minds on the committee. Three is the ideal number for arriving at a good solution and I have complete faith in this triumvirate. In our two-party political system, not so much.

LocalYokelFan · Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:58 am

I think you could have spun a beer bottle at SpoCo and came up with as good of a search committee. Seal... who are these great football minds you speak of and how did they get such distinguished reputation?

vatusay · Thu Dec 24, 2015 11:06 am

LocalYokelFan wrote:I think you could have spun a beer bottle at SpoCo and came up with as good of a search committee. Seal... who are these great football minds you speak of and how did they get such distinguished reputation?

Post of the year.

huskie · Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:08 pm

You people need to give Tanney a chance, he wasn't the one that screwed this all up.

WIU0812 · Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:18 pm

I do not know much about Tanney or the situation other than a coach is gone and it has been some what of a mess. I also do not know what the WIFI situation was on that ship, but I would think he did as much as he could while in the middle of the ocean. Even in optimum situations it is hard to handle a situation of that proportion when not in your work office. For all we know Biller told him to stand aside and that it was not something an Interim AD should be handling. We may never know whole story so I am just gonna let things work out as they do and hopefully we end up with a good fit at AD and Football and they can work together as the new guys to keep the program headed in the right direction. As for the football stadium the only thing that is gonna bring stadium renovations to WIU is a huge corporate sponsor which I could not even imagine how hard it would be to sell that to a company for naming rights to a FCS football stadium in Macomb. ESPN3 will help sell the sponsorship, but we need sustained playoff performances as well to get the money we need on board. Prove that people are watching and that it could benefit their company somehow.