I understand the attraction that poster would have toward Fiore as our next AD, but I don't think there's any shot in the world that he'd come to Fordham. His next stop is likely to be a high major / BCS type school, and with Stony Brook now playing in Omaha in the College World Series, his stock continues to rise.
However, a guy to look at IMO would be his long time right hand man, and current Athletic Director at Central Conn. State University, Paul Schlickmann. He worked for 7 years under Fiore at SB and for a period of time was in charge of the daily operations of the department.
Prior to that he was Asst. AD at Yale. The SB website (sorry I'm bad at providing links) indicates that during his tenure at Yale he was in charge of football game day operations and coordinated a game day staff of 150 and that Yale games drew 23K on average under his watch. I know that is one of the more mundane duties of the AD, but we've all lamented about the sorry game day experiences as RHG and JCF. The experiences at a places like Yale and SB seem compatible to me with the challenges at Fordham. In particular, the fact that he was so involved with the ascent of athletics at SB which 10 years ago was in the athletic Siberia is a huge plus IMHO. I'd be concerned about bringing in an Asst. AD from a BCS/high major type of school because its so apples and oranges.
I hear Central Conn State and I cringe.....memories of Gray and our last football coach. Dont go there. Yale doesnt get me excited either. Yes, I see the game day stuff...we need that. No question. But we also need a massive restructuring and rebuilding of our entire Athletic Dept (assuming the recent coaching hires are here to stay.) So I dunno.
I agree Fiore may be looking up the ladder, not down the ladder. Don't know him from Adam and what he is thinking about "his next challenge." I assume he wont stay at Stony Brook for much longer.
We need a professional consultant. Badly. But we have Gray and the college CFO doing this...and that is the blind leading the blind in a square dance. Which is why I am so pessimistic we get this right.
Fr. McShane has his good points, his skillset and his good intentions. But he has glaring omissions and errors. He doesnt get Athletics, he doesnt care about Athletics and he delegates everything he can to underlings and then hides under his desk and hopes for the best.
