Thursday, April 03, 2008

Duke AD Alleva – LSU Update

At 2 pm Central on Apr. 3 the New Orleans Times Picayune reports:

LSU interim Chancellor William Jenkins and President John Lombardi likely will not choose a new athletic director before tomorrow.

"Dr. Lombardi has been calling around the country talking to different people about the candidates so it's unlikely anything will be done today," said Charles Zewe, LSU system vice president for communications. "More than likely there will be an announcement tomorrow."

LSU is choosing from a pool of four candidates recommended by the athletic director search committee. The candidates are LSU associate ADs Verge Ausberry and Herb Vincent; Duke AD Joe Alleva; and Kentucky deputy AD Rob Mullens.

Lombardi has said, however, he would not rule out selecting someone else or reopening the search.
Selecting someone else is just what Glenn Guilbeau at Lafayette’s Daily Advertiser wants to happen:
It is unlikely, but LSU president John Lombardi and/or interim chancellor William Jenkins could reject some or all of the four finalists given to them Wednesday by the Parker "search" firm and LSU search committee.

For the good of LSU, those recommendations should be rejected, and this search needs a timeout.

One would think that a school like LSU, which has had an elite, monster, money-printing football program for most of this decade and has made major strides in other more important areas, could hire a sitting athletic director from a reputable school.

Instead, of the final four finalists for the job, only one is a sitting athletic director, and he has a checkered past. Plus he is at a place where football is merely a distraction before basketball season.
The fact that Duke athletic director Joe Alleva is the only sitting athletic director on LSU's final four is a complete embarrassment to LSU, its administration, its fans, its alumni and the Southeastern Conference. …
Guilbeau has much more to say. His post is followed by citizen journalist Walter Abbott’s assessment of AD Alleva.

Guilbeau and Abbott are both worth reading here.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

My first reaction to reading that Alleva was being considered was exactly what was mentioned in the linked story -- LSU is a football school. Duke is a laughingstock in football. Yes, Duke has had a premier basketball program, but that predates Alleva. It is the result of Coach K; certainly nothing Alleva had anything to do with.

Last time I checked, Alleva's picture was in the dictionary under "crapweasel." LSU is nuts to even consider hiring this loser.