Spent some time on the phone this morning learning more about the hire. Here's what I know:
- Evidently Korn-Ferry suggested Turner as a candidate and it went from there.
- Evidently it also took some convincing to get him away from the G League, which explains why it took a while. I think this has been in play for about a month or so.
- As VU put out, hire is effective Feb. 1. He's never been an AD before and never been at Vanderbilt. Based on what a source told me, I'd expect a minimum of a three-month "breaking-in" period (my words there) where he's getting acclimated to VU and to his new role. So, I would not expect a lot of wholesale change in the first few months because of that, though of course it's his job to manage as he sees fit.
- I think the biggest driver of the hire, far and away, are these two things:
1. They needed someone to lay out a strategic plan for athletics, since they don't have one.
2. They needed someone whom Zeppos is comfortable with; Turner is apparently going to be part of the chancellor's inner circle and have avenues of influence that David Williams did not.
Also:
- I've got Malcolm Turner's phone number. I will make every effort to get him on a podcast soon. Hopefully that will be today or tomorrow.
- Vanderbilt is having a conference call at 11. I'll be on the call. I'm going to record the call and run it here if they'll allow that. (I'm about to check and see.)
- I will be on 104.5 The Zone at 9:17 Wednesday morning to discuss the hire.
More to follow; I've got the conference call to catch in a bit but I'm coming up with sort of a "to-do" list for Turner and things that need to be addressed that I'll publish.
- Evidently Korn-Ferry suggested Turner as a candidate and it went from there.
- Evidently it also took some convincing to get him away from the G League, which explains why it took a while. I think this has been in play for about a month or so.
- As VU put out, hire is effective Feb. 1. He's never been an AD before and never been at Vanderbilt. Based on what a source told me, I'd expect a minimum of a three-month "breaking-in" period (my words there) where he's getting acclimated to VU and to his new role. So, I would not expect a lot of wholesale change in the first few months because of that, though of course it's his job to manage as he sees fit.
- I think the biggest driver of the hire, far and away, are these two things:
1. They needed someone to lay out a strategic plan for athletics, since they don't have one.
2. They needed someone whom Zeppos is comfortable with; Turner is apparently going to be part of the chancellor's inner circle and have avenues of influence that David Williams did not.
Also:
- I've got Malcolm Turner's phone number. I will make every effort to get him on a podcast soon. Hopefully that will be today or tomorrow.
- Vanderbilt is having a conference call at 11. I'll be on the call. I'm going to record the call and run it here if they'll allow that. (I'm about to check and see.)
- I will be on 104.5 The Zone at 9:17 Wednesday morning to discuss the hire.
More to follow; I've got the conference call to catch in a bit but I'm coming up with sort of a "to-do" list for Turner and things that need to be addressed that I'll publish.
