Man, Chun knows what the hell he is doing

[Cougsocal]

This post has zero to do with whether Rolo will ultimately be successful. At a school like WSU, it is a bit of a crap shoot, breaks have to go your way (Leach needed a "walk on" QB to step up big time, and he did). Try to ignore Rolo and personal preference, and just consider how well Chun handled the hiring process as an administrator: the speed, the media control, the roll out and our budget, politically. He handled it like a true pro. No Arkansas, no Tennessee, no leaks, great fan control, zero political back lash and while engaging in excellent promotion of the university.

While this guy is clearly a Rolo fan, the gist of this article rings true, and shows that we have a gem of an AD.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01...ich-the-cougars-got-it-right-every-bit-of-it/

 

[chugspig]

He did a great job. The only issue are places like UCLA who are itching for a new AD. But the benefit is we get great results along the way.

 

[95coug]

Don’t forget how he handled the players. Keeping them up to date and in the loop was important, as was getting them in a room with the new coach ahead of the official announcement.

I really can’t object to anything in his handling of it.

 

[Cougsocal]

Don’t forget how he handled the players. Keeping them up to date and in the loop was important, as was getting them in a room with the new coach ahead of the official announcement.

I really can’t object to anything in his handling of it.

Excellent point

 

[Cougsocal]

He did a great job. The only issue are places like UCLA who are itching for a new AD. But the benefit is we get great results along the way.

Far better that, than having a guy who is unimpressive and is chronically looking for next job as a safe place to land, like Dickson and Sterk, or bails just before you are truly needed to address head on and to rectify bad financials and audit problems.

 

[CougPatrol]

Chun appears to be doing a good job, but keep an eye on him. Dude is dangerous.

 

[Observer11]

Far better that, than having a guy who is unimpressive and is chronically looking for next job as a safe place to land, like Dickson and Sterk, or bails just before you are truly needed to address head on and to rectify bad financials and audit problems.

There's a difference between confident and arrogant.

I truly hope Pat Chun sticks around Pullman for a long, long time.

 

[dgibbons]

Chun appears to be doing a good job, but keep an eye on him. Dude is dangerous.

I’m sure we all just misinterpreted that. Maybe he meant a danger to the rest of the Pac-12? Yeah, that must be it.

 

[CougPatrol]

I’m sure we all just misinterpreted that. Maybe he meant a danger to the rest of the Pac-12? Yeah, that must be it.

I don’t know, it seems like he’s deliberately trying to improve the program, which upsets certain posers...I mean, posters.

 

[sellas]

and how about that Kyle Smith hire too. woah

 

[Coug1990]

There's a difference between confident and arrogant.

I truly hope Pat Chun sticks around Pullman for a long, long time.

I think he is eventually aiming for the Ohio State job. Chun is from Ohio, graduated from Ohio State and spent 15 years working there.

Gene Smith, the current AD, is around 64-65. If he retires and OSU comes calling, he is likely gone. Let's hope he isn't ready to retire anytime soon.

 

[Cougsocal]

I think he is eventually aiming for the Ohio State job. Chun is from Ohio, graduated from Ohio State and spent 15 years working there.

Gene Smith, the current AD, is around 64-65. If he retires and OSU comes calling, he is likely gone. Let's hope he isn't ready to retire anytime soon.

What we all want is a man who is so good that everyone wants, who realizes that true happiness is far more complicated than a bigger paycheck. That doesn't generally happen until someone has some gray hairs. Sam, the best ever, left for Miami in 1983, so we will just have to wait and see.

 

[Cougsocal]

I don’t know, it seems like he’s deliberately trying to improve the program, which upsets certain posers...I mean, posters.

In a sly way, unlike Moos who thought 2 dimensionally. What was the Klay promotion worth?

 

[Observer11]

In a sly way, unlike Moos who thought 2 dimensionally. What was the Klay promotion worth?

It probably meant some financial contribution down the line but I think that was secondary.

What the recognition meant was that Chun isn’t a one trick pony and getting Beasley rocking again is damned near as important as football. It was way easier to write checks and run smack in Spokane when the Bennett’s went toe to toe vs Gonzaga.

 

[FnuLnu]

What we all want is a man who is so good that everyone wants, who realizes that true happiness is far more complicated than a bigger paycheck. That doesn't generally happen until someone has some gray hairs. Sam, the best ever, left for Miami in 1983, so we will just have to wait and see.

Chun might be the best or perhaps nature of the AD gig has changed (and the people they put in the job)
The job has become "professionalized" - no longer getting ex-coaches into the gig. (Marv Harshman was PISSED he didn't get the WSU AD gig when Ray Nagel got it ) Price was also AD at Weber State for a time when he coached there.

Higher salary also weeding out some obvious incompetents - USC and any school still employing Jim Sterk being the exceptions.

Don't think Sam's tenure at WSU was the greatest ever - his hires weren't that good. (His Miami time was great. New England Pats he failed big time.) Good media presence though.

Sam's only hire for basketball was Len Stevens which killed the basketball program. Didn't do a search. $48k a year - holy crap - Idaho hired Bill Trumbo to replace Don Monson a month later at $41k.

Only football coaches Sam hired were Warren Powers over Mal Moore & Monte Kiffin (yes that Kiffin - inventor of Cover Two & is still coaching) & Jim Walden over Mike Price and Dick Beechner (all 3 on Powers staff - Price just 31). Got the first buyout ever installed for CFB for Powers (kudos). Didn't spend buyout that dough on a new coach.

According to Walden's book, by 1980 Sam was quietly looking into firing Walden.

The Spokane football games were still being played when Sam Jankovich left. Shift in academic calendar from a late September start to a late August start by the Board of Regents is what killed the Spokane games.

(Academic calendar shift should have happened two decades earlier. Fall semester ending in late January wasn't very good at all.)

Stadium expansion? Gets a B+/A- for north side. Gets a D- for donor side - permanent seats are garbage, leg room is garbage, no aisle ways added in (perhaps to keep seat count close to 40k - which it probably never held? Yeah, an AD lying to donors. The nerve.) Going to cost a pretty penny to fix that in the future - those seats are undervalued but excess/egress is garbage. (Pretty typical thinking for 1970s - stadium seating seen as cattle holding cells - see Kingdome)

 

[kougkurt]

Who is producing these new videos. ROLO and Klay. etc. Really good stuff.

 

[metprof]

They entire process of retiring Klay's number was first-class all the way. Pat's the man. My hats off to him for a great job honoring a great Coug.

 

[32eekortS]

Stadium expansion? Gets a B+/A- for north side. Gets a D- for donor side - permanent seats are garbage, leg room is garbage, no aisle ways added in (perhaps to keep seat count close to 40k - which it probably never held? Yeah, an AD lying to donors. The nerve.) Going to cost a pretty penny to fix that in the future - those seats are undervalued but excess/egress is garbage. (Pretty typical thinking for 1970s - stadium seating seen as cattle holding cells - see Kingdome)

The entire Martin Stadium seating bowl will need replacement sooner than people think. The concrete is crumbling and being patched together and the bleachers need replacement.

Expensive.

 

[Cougatron]

Chun has done a terrific job as AD and he gets a lot of credit for how our major events like the one for Klay and Gameday were magical moments.

But I will add that it's not just Chun. The other major contributing factor to having these special moments can be attributed to the rise in our athletic budget the past 8 years.

In 2010-2011 do you want to know what our entire athletic budget was?

40.6 million. That's it. That's all we had total for everything in athletics.

Last year it was 73 million. Yes we have some debt because of our spending, but it's moments like Gameday, and Klay's jersey retirement that illustrate WHY we are spending that kind of money.

The difference in 8 years is 33 million dollars. 33 million bucks is a lot of money, and with that money we are able to hire great people like Chun, and Leach, and the people that Chun has hired, and have these incredible moments.

We all knew WSU was a special place with unfortunately a more modest budget than other schools, but now the budget is matching the heart of the program and place.

And when that happens we all get to enjoy these incredible moments with all the grandeur and spectacle that we all felt WSU deserved.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

They entire process of retiring Klay's number was first-class all the way. Pat's the man. My hats off to him for a great job honoring a great Coug.

Agree 100%. I was lucky enough to be at the game yesterday (daughter is visiting WSU to decide if she wants to ba a Coug). The way that WSU handled that event was amazing and far better than I had envisioned.

The only tiny quibble that I had was that Glenn Johnson said that Klay’s number would permanently hang next to Steve Puduikas number,,,,,,only Steve’s number wasn’t there. As he said that, everyone noticed it was missing. I know that was probably a logistical thing where they couldn’t highlight Klay and still have the number up there to raise Klay’s next to it, but that felt odd.

Outside of that tiny quibble, it was great. They let Klay wing it, they gave him the mic back when he asked for it, they brought a bunch of Klay’s teammates back to hang with him, Steph Curry’s presence was awesome but he let Klay have his day with just the right amount of recognition. Spending the first half timeouts showing former coaches and players praising Klay was terrific. Just incredibly well done.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Agree 100%. I was lucky enough to be at the game yesterday (daughter is visiting WSU to decide if she wants to ba a Coug). The way that WSU handled that event was amazing and far better than I had envisioned.

The only tiny quibble that I had was that Glenn Johnson said that Klay’s number would permanently hang next to Steve Puduikas number,,,,,,only Steve’s number wasn’t there. As he said that, everyone noticed it was missing. I know that was probably a logistical thing where they couldn’t highlight Klay and still have the number up there to raise Klay’s next to it, but that felt odd.

Outside of that tiny quibble, it was great. They let Klay wing it, they gave him the mic back when he asked for it, they brought a bunch of Klay’s teammates back to hang with him, Steph Curry’s presence was awesome but he let Klay have his day with just the right amount of recognition. Spending the first half timeouts showing former coaches and players praising Klay was terrific. Just incredibly well done.

Congrats to your daughter wherever she decides to go. Must be a fun process to go through with her.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Agree 100%. I was lucky enough to be at the game yesterday (daughter is visiting WSU to decide if she wants to ba a Coug). The way that WSU handled that event was amazing and far better than I had envisioned.

The only tiny quibble that I had was that Glenn Johnson said that Klay’s number would permanently hang next to Steve Puduikas number,,,,,,only Steve’s number wasn’t there. As he said that, everyone noticed it was missing. I know that was probably a logistical thing where they couldn’t highlight Klay and still have the number up there to raise Klay’s next to it, but that felt odd.

Outside of that tiny quibble, it was great. They let Klay wing it, they gave him the mic back when he asked for it, they brought a bunch of Klay’s teammates back to hang with him, Steph Curry’s presence was awesome but he let Klay have his day with just the right amount of recognition. Spending the first half timeouts showing former coaches and players praising Klay was terrific. Just incredibly well done.

Steve Puduikas number was on the other side with the NCAA appearance banners. There is a spot next to #55 they will slide Klay's # next to. Not sure if they are doing that soon or waiting until the season is over.

Agree, everything from the tshirts on the seats to the premade videos etc. were 1st class. Chun is a gem.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Steve Puduikas number was on the other side with the NCAA appearance banners. There is a spot next to #55 they will slide Klay's # next to. Not sure if they are doing that soon or waiting until the season is over.

Agree, everything from the tshirts on the seats to the premade videos etc. were 1st class. Chun is a gem.

None of us in the area where we were sitting could see the other jersey because of the center court Jumbotron so that makes sense.

I’m sure that they will move them together now that the ceremony is done. I’ve liked Chun from the beginning and I’m glad that he’s exceeding expectations.