AD sets Dec. 15 deadline for decision on new coach

Eleven days ago, the Columbia athletic department announced the firing of six-year head coach Norries Wilson. It immediately began a nationwide search for a replacement.

Athletic Director Dr. M. Dianne Murphy and associate athletic director Ray Tellier—with the help of football alumni, current players and other members of the sports industry—will lead the search process. Prior to becoming an associate athletic director, Tellier was the head football coach at Columbia from 1989-2002. Murphy and Tellier have been hard at work since that time trying to find the best candidate to transform a program which has had just one winning season since 1961.

“Do you see these raccoon eyes?” Murphy said in an interview. “I haven’t slept for days. This is what I’m focused on because Columbia deserves a winning football program.”

Three former members of the football team—Kevin Ward, CC ’74, Ted Gregory, CC ’74, and Don Jackson, CC ’73—will serve in the role of a special football advisory committee. Ward will serve as the chair of this committee.

“We have been working on this since the morning that I informed Coach Wilson that he would not be returning,” Murphy said. “I met with those three gentlemen Monday night,” Nov. 21.

“We asked them to be involved in the search. They wholeheartedly agreed. They helped us identify the things that we were most interested in and the qualities we are looking for in our next head football coach at Columbia.”

As the process goes along, this committee will help Murphy and Tellier screen potential candidates.

The athletic department has already generated a large and diverse pool of candidates for the coaching vacancy.

“We have generated tremendous interest in this position,” Murphy said. “We have already received, unsolicited, close to over a hundred applications in less than a week. With the number of applications we have received I can tell you [the candidates] are so diverse.”

Throughout her seven years as athletic director, Murphy has kept a list of potential candidates for the coach of the football team. This is a standard practice for athletic directors in all sports.
Murphy has also reached out to her own network, seeking advice and names of potential candidates.

“We have actively recruited names. I’ve been on the phone with tons of ADs, conference commissioners, and other football coaches that I know to get names of potential candidates. And of course I’ve already screened, on the phone, over 20 potential candidates,” she said.

In order to protect the confidentiality of people interested in the position, the athletic department would not release any names of potential candidates.

Players and other prominent alumni within the sports industry will be brought in to offer their advice and opinions later in the process.

“The president [Lee Bollinger] will be involved, of course,” Murphy said. “As we get more involved in the decision I will be asking others in the industry, such as Robert Kraft and Bill Campbell, for their advice and counsel.”

Three current players who will be involved are senior cornerback Ross Morand, junior quarterback Sean Brackett, and sophomore running back Marcorus Garrett.

While some of Wilson’s assistant coaches may be actively seeking other jobs, they will continue to work for Columbia until the next head coach is hired. It will be up to the next head coach to determine whether or not those assistant coaches will remain with the program. They are currently on the road recruiting and completing their administrative responsibilities.

The athletic department has set Dec. 15 as the target date to find the next head coach. While it will not rush the process, officials say there is a strategic advantage to hiring a coach sooner rather than later. Columbia is one among many other football programs seeking a new coach. As time goes on, the pool of candidates will quickly shrink.

“There are a lot of coaching opportunities out there,” Murphy said. “There have been a lot of coaches that have been let go at the D-I level. There are going to be lots of people looking for jobs. You don’t want to lose potential candidates because you are sitting around not doing your job.”

Murphy is convinced that the next head coach, with proper recruiting, can turn around the notoriously weak program.

“We expect to improve,” Murphy said. “We expect to win. We expect to get better in a very short period of time. I am very confident and excited for this opportunity. I think we have some outstanding people in our pool and we will get a great coach for Columbia.”