Athletic Department begins filling empty seats in office
Dan Kukla
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Sports
However, because Miami has established a reputation for excellence, the difficulty is not finding quality replacements but choosing from them, Athletic Director Brad Bates noted.
Bates feels quite confident that despite the losses in personnel, the Athletic Department will still be able to recover quickly and maintain a high level of performance.
"The same strengths that are appealing to students are appealing to potential staff, administrators and coaches," Bates said. "This university is a great institution and people want to be affiliated with it. The challenge is to make sure we hire the absolute perfect person."
Although it seems somewhat ambiguous, the Athletic Department has a clear image of what that "absolute perfect person" looks like for them.
According to Bates, Miami looks for people who are intelligent, passionate about their job and have an exceptional work ethic. This profile was personified in the promotion of Josh Fenton.
While both Athletic Director Brad Bates and Fenton asserted that Fenton's promotion April 9 was not in response to the recent departures from the department.
Bates said that he does serve as a model for the type of people that Miami is looking to hire. A passionate employee with drive and work ethic.
Fenton is precisely the kind of person that the department wants to embody, according to Bates.
"(Fenton's) promotion is unrelated to any of the attritions that we've had," Bates said. "He's just been a rising star, works extremely hard and is just a quality person. Certainly he epitomizes the type of people we need to surround our students and our staff with."
As for the other openings left by Watson, Frieden and Bechard, the department has still not filled these spots, as the search for their replacements continues.
Bates said that the type of people the department is looking for are ones who are devoted to student development.
"At the forefront of our values is a deeply rooted commitment to student development," Bates said. "That is going to be an over-arching theme with any candidate that we are going to seriously consider."
Fenton echoed Bates, saying the Athletic Department is at Miami to serve the students and continue the Miami athletic tradition.
"The strength of Miami's Athletic Department first and foremost is our people," Fenton said. "We have great people here that want to do great things."
Bates feels quite confident that despite the losses in personnel, the Athletic Department will still be able to recover quickly and maintain a high level of performance.
"The same strengths that are appealing to students are appealing to potential staff, administrators and coaches," Bates said. "This university is a great institution and people want to be affiliated with it. The challenge is to make sure we hire the absolute perfect person."
Although it seems somewhat ambiguous, the Athletic Department has a clear image of what that "absolute perfect person" looks like for them.
According to Bates, Miami looks for people who are intelligent, passionate about their job and have an exceptional work ethic. This profile was personified in the promotion of Josh Fenton.
While both Athletic Director Brad Bates and Fenton asserted that Fenton's promotion April 9 was not in response to the recent departures from the department.
Bates said that he does serve as a model for the type of people that Miami is looking to hire. A passionate employee with drive and work ethic.
Fenton is precisely the kind of person that the department wants to embody, according to Bates.
"(Fenton's) promotion is unrelated to any of the attritions that we've had," Bates said. "He's just been a rising star, works extremely hard and is just a quality person. Certainly he epitomizes the type of people we need to surround our students and our staff with."
As for the other openings left by Watson, Frieden and Bechard, the department has still not filled these spots, as the search for their replacements continues.
Bates said that the type of people the department is looking for are ones who are devoted to student development.
"At the forefront of our values is a deeply rooted commitment to student development," Bates said. "That is going to be an over-arching theme with any candidate that we are going to seriously consider."
Fenton echoed Bates, saying the Athletic Department is at Miami to serve the students and continue the Miami athletic tradition.
"The strength of Miami's Athletic Department first and foremost is our people," Fenton said. "We have great people here that want to do great things."
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