Hiring Alums: Does It Help or Hurt?

D3Playbook SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 | written by Steve Ulrich your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III

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1. It Doesn't Hurt to Hire Alumni as Head Coaches. But It Doesn't Help Either. "Hiring an alumnus1 has been a marketable, low-risk, high-reward strategy for athletic departments for almost a half-century. Unless a splashy move is feasible, if an athletic director seeks to turn around a program — or merely wants to sell more tickets — there are far worse blueprints to follow than returning someone to their roots. Which is perhaps why alumni have permeated the market for much of the modern era. Since 1975, 38 FBS football programs2 hired more than one alumnus as head coach.3 Over that period, there was only one season in which alumni didn’t hold at least 10 percent of the available head coaching gigs. In addition to recent success, there are several qualities that make the alumni coaches unique. Alumni traditionally begin their college head coaching careers where they suited up. Of the 146 alumni head coaches from 1975 to 2018, only 26 (17.8 percent) had previous Division I head coaching experience. That has continued to be the norm. Since 2000, of the 53 alumni head coaches who were hired, all but eight were becoming first-time head coaches. But is hiring an alumnus predictive in any significant way? Not especially." >> The Pull of Alma Mater: In 1957, Paul "Bear" Bryant left a winning program at Texas A&M to return to Tuscaloosa where the Alabama Crimson Tide had endured a fourth consecutive losing season. Why? "I've heard mama calling." >> Be Smart: This season, alumni will command 18 programs, or 13.8 percent of the FBS market. >> Rocky Top: Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer is the last coach to win a national title at his alma mater. >> Go Deeper: Read More from FiveThirtyEight

2. Engineering a Sports Turnaround "Over the past 12 years, various teams at MIT have won 110 NEWMAC championships - more than twice the number the Engineers had ever won before that period. On top of that, MIT athletes in the last dozen years have captured 15 individual NCAA championships and 993 were named All-Americans. The recent success in athletics at a school known mostly for its science and engineering prowess has been shaped in large part by one woman, Julie Soriero. the director of athletics since 2007, who is retiring at the end of this semester." >> Quotable: When approached by MIT about their search for an AD, she asked the question that everybody asked, "Does MIT have athletics?" >> Quotable II: "We will not apologize for winning." >> DYK: Soriero played basketball, field hockey and lacrosse at Penn State before coaching women's basketball. >> Go Deeper courtesy of WGBH-FM

3. Fireworks at Kent State The match between Maine and Temple - which began at 9 a.m. - was scoreless after the first overtime period on a field next to Dix Stadium, where the Kent State football team plays. At 10:45, the players were asked to leave the field in preparation for the noon time launch of pre-game fireworks for the Kent State football game. >> Quotable: "Prior to the contest we were made aware of timing issues regarding pre-game football activities. While we would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to play the final 10 minutes of our contest, the KSU administration made the decision they felt was most appropriate." - Ken Ralph, U. of Maine athletics director   >> Quotable II: "As a member of not one but four of Kent State's most successful teams in school history, I am EMBARRASSED and DISGUSTED with the lack of respect shown to our sport." - Madison Thompson   >> Go Deeper courtesy of the Bangor Daily News

4. Weekend Top-25 Review Soccer (M) (3) Chicago d. (21) North Park, 3-1 (22) Johns Hopkins d. (6) Montclair State, 2-0 (8) Luther d. (12) St. Thomas, 3-2 (OT) Soccer (W) (1) Williams d. (22) Tufts, 2-1 (19) St. Thomas d. (3) Washington-St. Louis, 1-0 (5) William Smith d. (7) Messiah, 2-0 (21) Farmingdale State d. (6) Misericordia, 1-0 (18) Trinity, Texas d. (10) Hardin-Simmons, 3-1 (16) Johns Hopkins tied (24) Stevens, 2-2 (OT) Field Hockey (2) Tufts d. (11) Williams, 2-1 (7) Salisbury d. (4) Messiah, 2-1 (16) Christopher Newport d. (5) Johns Hopkins, 2-1 (15) Bowdoin d. (20) Amherst, 2-1 Volleyball (1) Emory d. (14) Christopher Newport, 3-0 (1) Emory d. (9) Berry, 3-2 (2) Calvin d. (8) Wittenberg, 3-0 (3) Juniata d. (15) Ithaca, 3-0 (23) Pacific Lutheran d. (7) Trinity, Texas, 3-2 (17) Hope d. (8) Wittenberg, 3-0 (9) Berry d. (20) Mary Hardin-Baylor, 3-2 (9) Berry d. (14) Christopher Newport, 3-1 (25) Washington-St. Louis d. (11) Gustavus Adolphus, 3-0 (20) Mary Hardin-Baylor d. (14) Christopher Newport, 3-1 Football (21) Washington & Jefferson d. (18) Wittenberg, 16-8

5. Polling D3Football.com Mary Hardin-Baylor Mount Union UW-Whitewater Saint John's North Central St. Thomas Johns Hopkins Muhlenberg Hardin-Simmons Bethel 11. Whitworth, 12. Linfield, 13. Delaware Valley, 14.Illinois Wesleyan, 15. Washington & Jefferson, 16. Berry, 17. John Carroll, 18. Centre, 19. Rensselaer, 20. Wheaton, Ill., 21. Wabash, 22. Wesley, 23. UW-La Crosse, 24. Ithaca, 25. Wittenberg. >> Big Movers: Washington & Jefferson (+6), Centre (+2), Wheaton, Ill. (+2), Wabash (+2). >> Big Drops: Wittenberg (-7) >> Hello: Wesley, UW-La Crosse, Ithaca. >> Bye-Bye: Brockport, Randolph-Macon, St. Norbert.

6.  Comings ...    Margaret Alaimo named athletic director at St. Joseph's (Brooklyn). Patrick Murphy named athletic director at Marywood. Mark Krzykowski promoted to assistant athletic director at Carroll. He will step down as head football coach at the end of the season. Patrick Davis named assistant wrestling coach at Averett. ... and Goings Dr. Elizabeth Paul announced that she is concluding her service as president at Capital University at the end of the academic year.

7.  Nigel Chatman 1998-2019 Our sincerest condolences go out to the Otterbein University football team and community after the passing of sophomore defensive tackle Nigel Chatman on Friday morning.  >> Quotable: "There was never a day that he didn't have a smile on his face."