AD search’s depth disappoints group

As always, Floyd Keith took an interest in the latest moves being made at USC.

The executive director of the Indianapolis-based Black Coaches and Administrators organization said he was disappointed the school didn’t conduct a true search for a successor to outgoing athletics director Eric Hyman.

“A (search) process is always good and I think the benefit of a process and a search is that it’s going to do one of two things,” Keith said. “It’s going to validate your internal candidate or it’s possibly going to open an opportunity to enhance the position itself by offering viable candidates for it.”

USC has ended up on the wrong side of the BCA’s annual minority hiring report card in the past, in particular with the hiring of Steve Spurrier. The BCA has since been impressed with the school’s basketball search processes, which led to the hiring of Dawn Staley, who is African-American, and Frank Martin, who is of Cuban descent.

The BCA’s main goal when issuing its report card is not to question a school’s ultimate hire, but to urge institutions to provide interview opportunities for rising minority talents.

Keith said despite the USC’s decision to apparently forego a national search when choosing Ray Tanner to succeed Hyman, he was happy to see the school did speak with — and promote — Charles Waddell, an African-American, to deputy athletics director.

“I know Charles well,” Keith said. “Charles is a very talented administrator.”

When a school has had a sustained run of success, Keith said promoting from within makes sense. Under Hyman, USC indeed has experienced prosperity on and off the field.

“What I do know is that if you have somebody in waiting, when they take over, it better be a good program,” Keith said. “Then there are no concerns. If it’s a program headed south and somebody’s in waiting, you wonder how much impact that person had on that.”

As for Chad Holbrook’s subsequent hiring to succeed Tanner as baseball coach, Keith said it made sense not to rock that boat, either.

“They’ve managed to get to the College World Series how many times?” Keith said with a laugh. “That’s pretty good.”

This story was originally published July 16, 2012 at 5:00 AM.