A very important facet of this hiring process still remains

[Harry]

So we have a pretty good idea that our new head coach will be one of two fine candidates which is great.

The next phase of this hire may be just as important.  The hiring of quality assistants.

With all of the craziness of the coaching carousel, you have many, many qualified assistants that are out there looking for work.  Obviously you are looking for good coaches who can recruit.  The tempting thing could be to latch on to one who might be looking for a one year place to earn a living until something else comes along.  What you NEED to do, is find quality assistant coaches who see the new coach as a way for them to further their career and move up the food chain.  This will prove to be a challenge for us with so many p5 jobs with bigger budgets that will look to steal any quality guys we announce... it happened with Mac on a O-Line coach that we announced and ended up moving to Indiana for more money.  Mac said it was a good sign -- that we were attracting quality coaches but it put us behind in recruiting once we brought in Mike Simmonds.

Personal relationships are huge.  We know from the Mac hire that there could be some who you hire who end up taking other jobs and we need to avoid that if we are able to.

You also have to pay a competitive salary.  Perhaps even consider some two year guaranteed deals if they are special candidates.  You want to make it difficult for them to leave for another g5 or lower tier p5 job.  Being in Texas is an advantage here as there is a lower cost of living and taxes etc.

The other piece to this, and this to me is HUGE, is you need to bring on a recruiting champion.  SMU did a similar thing when they brought in Van Malone as their defensive coordinator.  Malone may well be a good defensive coach but there are probably guys with more x's and o's out there.  The key is Malone is one of the best recruiters in the entire country.   UNT is a job that desperately needs this position and needs it to be filled by a strong coach who has a proven track record of recruiting athletes.  You can provide this person a coordinator title or perhaps even an Associate head coach title.  You want this person to be in this job for a period of time if at all possible for continuity.   It needs to be a guy who can relate to recruits and their families.

The next piece is you hire a director of operations that is extremely organized, social media saavy and also relates very well to recruits and their families.  This is tough to do because these positions usually do not pay very well.  This could potentially be a high school coach with connections looking to move up.

[drex]

I agree, Harry.  I watched Corky Nelson crash and burn because of poor assistant coaches.

[Ben Gooding]

Also, an important decision is the contract. Why the employee always has the upper hand when negotiating contracts is beyond me. I don't ever want to be caught having to listen to dead weight in pressers or radio interviews ever again. At this point the contract is already probably written, but I would like to see a respectable but yet minimal guranteed anount. I want to see a ton of performance incentives. I also don't want to see what Iowa St just did with a 6 yr contract. We need to have some say or some collateral if whoever we hire does not pan out. No more sitting on a walking dead coach because we have an idiot for an AD. A 4 yr deal worth 2.6M with 3.2M worth of incentives tied to job performance based on several variables would be ideal. Have a delicious carrot, but a sharper sword. 

[EagleMBA]

Also, an important decision is the contract. Why the employee always has the upper hand when negotiating contracts is beyond me. I don't ever want to be caught having to listen to dead weight in pressers or radio interviews ever again. At this point the contract is already probably written, but I would like to see a respectable but yet minimal guranteed anount. I want to see a ton of performance incentives. I also don't want to see what Iowa St just did with a 6 yr contract. We need to have some say or some collateral if whoever we hire does not pan out. No more sitting on a walking dead coach because we have an idiot for an AD. A 4 yr deal worth 2.6M with 3.2M worth of incentives tied to job performance based on several variables would be ideal. Have a delicious carrot, but a sharper sword. 

RE: that Iowa State contract, my thoughts when I read about it were: 1. They seemed pretty damned sure he could do the job to lock him in like that, or 2. He sold them that it would be a time-consuming, major rebuilding job and he needed security if they proved not to have the patience for that, or 3. Everyone else has been telling them not only no, but HELL no, or 4. They are just f'n crazy!

[GOMG2013]

I just hope the AD doesn't force him to keep a co ordinator.  Let him hire his own staff...