What does the AD actually do?....

[UACFlyer]

Poor TK is being crucified over the accomplishements, or lack thereof, of the men's basketball program. But, as regards the BB team, what does the AD, i.e., TK, actually do?

One might ask the same question about the impact of the ND AD on the Irish performance on the gridiron. Talk about pressure;....ND football performance is pressure.

But, whether it's the Flyers or the Irish, the AD does not shoot three pointers or foul shots, he does not throw passes or make tackles. Essentially, what the AD does is hire the best coach he can find;...then he steps back and watches like the rest of us.

Of course, the AD is responsible things like recruiting budgets, ensuring compliance, establishing overall policy, Title IX, scheduling, etc. But the AD has essentially no influence over team performance on the court or field. I'll bet it's a rare occurence when the AD shows up at a practice.

What the AD does is choose a coach; and decides whether or not the coach is performing up to expectataions;....somethimes making the very difficult decision to change coaches.

TK is not responsible for the performance of Flyer basketball; Brian Gregory is. TK selected BG and is the one that will decide when BG has had enough time to achieve Univerity goals for men's BB. Two years in not enough time, five may not be enough time. But, for certainm ten years is more than enough time.

Clearly, we are approaching crunch time.

	Brian Gregory BRIAN GREGORY UD Men's Basketball Head Coach since 2004. Groomed by the likes of Judd Heathcoate and Tom Izzo at Michigan State, as well as Kevin O'Neill and others, Gregory's defensive-minded leadership has led Dayton to NCAA and multiple NIT appearances. A good recruiter, BG has elevated the athleticism of the squad in recent years and kept top area talent at home. Still looking for that breakthrough season with his own players that catapult him to the NCAA tourney. Graduated from Oakland University.

[Jack D]

increase ticket prices and impose seat licenses....

[longtimefan]

Good post. I had been thinking about posting something similar but figured tman wouldn't understand it. I think everyone would agree OP was a very good hire. Score one for TK. I think the vast majority thought BG was a very good hire at the time he was hired. He has certainly upgraded our recruiting, particularly in the local area, but perhaps the jury is still out on his overall coaching ability. He did coach us to our highest ranking (14th) in 40 years last season and would definitely have made the NCAA if not for the injuries. tman does not want BG fired, so I don't know what TK is supposed to do. I do agree we should have had one or two more "name" teams on the schedule, but that isn't going to make or break the program. What we need to do is win most of those non-conference games, win 11 games in the A-10, and finish no worse than fourth. That is out of TK's hands, as were last season's injuries. He has been to the NCAA at a rate similar to the previous AD, but I don't see tman crucifying him. We went to two NCAA's in 15 years from 1975 to 1989. TK has been to three in the past 9 years. And the previous AD made two serious mistakes, not getting in on the Eddie Einhorn TV package, and not getting into a conference soon enough.

[Furio]

Longtime, click on tman. He appears to have joined his "son" BB in the banned box.

[Avid Flyer]

tman and bb33 in the band box together....maybe they can make sweet music together.

[longtimefan]

Nice!

[Chris R]

ADs job is difficult but pretty straightforward: give his staff a chance to succeed. Make sure they are adequately compensated compared to other coaches at similar schools, they have a full staff equally paid and equally talented, first-rate facilities to conduct business, an audience to play for, and a schedule/conference that allows for the pursuit of success.

I see all of those needs being met. Could Ted do better? Sure. Shoot, he'd admit that even before you asked the question. But that doesn't mean adequate tools are not already in place.

The AD is like the Manager of the hardware store. He can give you the finest hammers and most delicious cuts of grain, but its ultimately up to you to take those tools and build the house. If you don't build an adequate dwelling given those tools, that burden falls squarely on the carpenter's shoulders.

An athletic diretor can only do so much from the 8th row of the lower section once the ball is tipped. The remaining issues must be answered by the folks standing between the baselines.

[Bill McPeek]

Many posts have been very well composed and thought out. Much has been said about a number of things. What it all comes down to is WINNING. Everyone's goals will be met by just winning. It's real simple.