With all of the debate around Saul, some (myself included) have been arguing that we should take a closer look at Schaus' track record too. Had some free time this afternoon and decided to "grade" out each hire he's made. I try to follow all of our sports to some extent, but obviously have more knowledge of certain sports than others.

You average these out, and you get a "C" overall - which confirms my thoughts that Schaus is, at best, average in making coaching hires. Some hits, some misses. But it's interesting that 2 of his 3 best hires (Groce and Hermanek) came in his first year. Recent track record has been much worse.

Apologies if I missed anyone. Tried to be provide a tough, yet fair grade for each coach...

A: Bob Boldon (Women's Basketball) - Absolute home run. More consistent tenure than Groce, with regular season and postseason success. Amazed he hasn't been snatched up by the P5.

A-: John Groce (Men's Basketball) - Everything that needs said has been said. Great in the postseason, regular season was mixed bag.

A-: Jodi Hermanek (Softball) - Took a program that had not done much historically and built it up in all facets (facilities, recruiting, etc). Ended on a high note and hit the ceiling of about what you can do with softball in the MAC.

B: Rob Smith (Baseball) - The "Groce" of MAC Baseball. Two MAC Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournaments. Other seasons have been sub-par. As high variance of a coach as you'll find in any sport.

C+: Jim Christian (Men's Basketball) - We gave JC a life raft just when he needed one out of TCU. Hard to shake the feeling that he "used" us a bit to reset his career and move on to bigger things. A successful 2 year tenure, but left lots of headaches for the next guy. IMO, Schaus just didn't find the right fit for what we needed at the time.

C-: Aaron Rodgers (Soccer) - A very average hire. Program hasn't been terrible, but hasn't been great. Best season was this year (lost in MAC semis). If he's the basketball coach, contract wouldn't be renewed. Seems like he's sticking around, though.

D+: Saul Phillips (Men's Basketball) - It's all been said. Hire was made (IMO) primarily because we thought he'd stick around. Had success in the lower ranks of D1, but recruiting philosophy hasn't translated well to the MAC. Great guy "off the court", just a poor fit for what we needed.

D+: Deane Webb (Volleyball) - This hire is very "Saul-esque". He was a successful coach at a historically dominant, "low D1" school. Inherited a program that was head & shoulders above the MAC, though the MAC was slowly catching up. We are now an incredibly average mid-major volleyball program, and it's hard to get back on top once you've slid this far. Sad for those of us who have been following back to the Carlston era.

D-: Rachel Baugh (Swimming) - Only reason this isn't an "F" is that she's not Semeka Randall. Tanked a program that historically was one of the best in the MAC. Decision to let go of Greg Werner (previous coach) was a very misguided one, but that's a story for another day.

F: Semeka Randall (Women's Basketball) - Probably the worst hire he has made, by far. 50-112 record over 5 seasons. Schaus even admitted to a group of donors (at a table, not on mic) in the Rohr Room soon after the hire that he "wasn't sure about it".

I: Carter Cheves (Golf) - Way too early to tell. Nowhere to go but up.

I: Ali Johnstone (Field Hockey) - Too early to tell. Was probably a mistake to let go of the prior coach due to spurious allegations.

I: Mason Norman (Swimming) - Too early to tell. This program lacks any momentum, and used to be dominant.

I: Kenzie Roark (Softball) - Yet to play a game. First "bigger" hire of the Nellis era, and about what you'd expect (done on the cheap). Not expecting much here.

Bob Boldon is an A+ and extra credit. Took a program that was smoldering in a dumpster to the NCAA tournament in just two years.

Agree. I've never been much on "A+", but he would be one. Perfect hire made at the right time.

Catfan 28 and others more knowledgeable than myself. You mentioned a few hires in the athletic program that have been near disasters. Here is the part of the hiring process that bewilders me. When I was teaching and coaching in high school, if a basketball or football vacancy came open, I and others could give the school's AD a few candidates off the top of our tongue to interview. My guess is he already possessed most of the names I and others would throw out. Unless someone was going through some sort of personal crisis, no hire would be a near disaster or dumpster fire. Perhaps it wouldn't work out as he and others in the school community would like, but there were no disastrous hires. How in the world can this happen for any men's or women's sport at the Division I college level, where there are so many resources available that a high school program simply cannot afford?

Agreed. Admittedly, I didn't follow volleyball too closely at the time. But he did an outstanding job to set the program in motion. Geoff may have never taken things to the level that he did without Mike coming first.

Heck, the BGSU AD decided to hire a football coach based on a Google search for "top offenses". ADs are just as human as you and I.

I've made a lot of good hires in my career, but had some real duds too. Some people learn/adapt their hiring philosophy over time, while others repeat the same mistakes over and over. From what I've heard, Schaus does hiring virtually "by self" and does not solicit much feedback from staff, colleagues, etc. This allows for a lot of bias in who he selects...and, not surprisingly, some high variance results.

Kirby Hocutt and Tom Boeh, on the other hand, had search committees for all of their head coaching hires. Not saying a committee is a necessity, but it does allow for a variety of opinions in the room. Schaus has pretty much picked all of the above coaches entirely on his own, with (what used to be) a rubber stamp from the President. With Nellis there, I expect there may be some vetos - especially in terms of salary.

Of note, that's what Maine did this off-season. They're currently 5-18, so the jury is out on how this experiment goes: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/03/05/reports-bob-walsh-... /

Jodi Hermanek was close to an "A" when I ranked these. Only knock was it took a lot of years to get to the point of being a top-tier MAC team. She was hired in 2008 for perspective.

Groce gets bonus points for NCAA success, but no doubt the regular seasons were pretty mediocre.

IMO, they both have some blemishes, hence the "A-" rather than A. But without a doubt, they are among Schaus' top hires (along with Boldon).

Great insight, a little frightening, and eye opening for sure.

Regardless of what the official record might say, the very successful Solich hire was made by McDavis. I doubt the next basketball coach will be hired by Nellis. I think it'll again be a one-man Schaus show.

+1,000. If Schaus gets the chance to hire the next football coach, that really concerns me. IMO, Solich will outlast him, though.

Hah! Brain fart. That's how forgettable the Christian tenure was, I suppose.

I edited my post above to avoid confusion. The point still stands: Christian was hired on April 3rd, Saul on April 6th.

It’s really sad what’s happened to volleyball to an extent. I know at one tome we were one of the better attended programs in the country. Beating State in the NCAA’s was fun. Bobcat Dragon took me to the OU v Miami volleyball game one year - the Ozone got into a shouting match with a young Miami fan who didn’t take kindly to the ‘point Ohio’ chants. Good times were had by all.