Barret Rey, now ex-coach of the baseball team, has completed a career arc at Grambling very similar to the man who hired him.
Both Rey and now ex-athletics director Troy Mathieu, to my mind, had recognizable successes. But both made early exits, too, largely because of a flawed hiring practice that the administration at GSU must take decisive steps to correct.
After seeing, for the second time in roughly one year, a major figure in the Grambling athletic department leave to be closer to his own wife and kids, its clear that future job prospects’ larger family concerns need to be brought into focus as the interview process narrows.
In the broadest sense of things, you can’t argue with the notion: These men wanted to be closer again to their loved ones.
But new employers like Grambling should have their own, very different priority — safeguarding the program. If a candidate is unwilling to bring those he cares for most to this new job, shouldn’t his application be put to the side for more committed prospects?
Ignore that central question and you have, instead, new hires unmoored from their root system, cut off from the every day joys of parenting and a loving relationship, working all week in hopes of traveling back “home” on Fridays.
They become distracted, unhappy, isolated. And, it should be completely clear now, destined to make an early exit. Rey stayed three years, one more than his old boss.
Grambling must do a better job — and this is bitterly ironic for a school that once had a single football coach for nearly 60 seasons, and only three baseball coaches ever before Rey — in hiring people who are willing to put down roots.
Rey says “it was about nothing but me moving closer to home,” calling it “strictly a family-based decision.”
That’s his right, as it had been Mathieu’s before him. But it’s also a powerful argument for having never hired either.
Rey came to Grambling to succeed Sapp Randall, but left behind his wife and five-year-old son — who still live in Zachary outside of Baton Rouge, where Rey coached in a previous stop. Mathieu, similarly, left a son, daughter and wife in Dallas when he assumed the AD’s chair at Grambling.
Husbands and parents must be shuddering at the notion. Was Rey’s heart, or Mathieu’s, ever truly in it?
Shouldn’t someone have seen this day coming?
To be fair, you can’t call this mistake unique for Grambling’s administration. The Washington D.C. public school district, where Mathieu landed after resigning at GSU, turned a blind eye as well. Perhaps predictably, Mathieu quit there too after less than 10 months — since, again, he had taken the position without bringing along all of his immediate family.
I wish Rey, like Mathieu before him, well. I hope that they both can rebuild the family bonds that were strained by this period away.
It’s time for Grambling, however, to find some home bodies.
First off this is a very good article by Mr. Deriso. I think it brings up alot of good points and I agree with most of it. I also have a family just like the two of these men that I love and take care of so I have to say that its hard to disagree or argue with their decisions. In my opinion it starts with the very top and thats with the hiring process and all. If your athletic program is serious about winning and you have a young enthusiastic coach such as coach Rey you have to make it hard for him to leave. And when I say this I mean by supporting a man who in three seasons as head coach has made the swac tourney twice. If im a head coach in this situation and my athletic program is supporting me and making moves like they care for the program im trying to turn around I believe it would be a little easier to convince my family to be where I am. Just something to think about
Matt,
As a former player, you knew Rey better than any of us did, and I respect your opinion. Thanks for adding this point.
This is a great article and it sounds good, but it is noticed that the current administration is against hiring "home bodies." Look at the recent hiring decisions.
Both individuals were offered more money with job security and courted heavily. Would anyone turn that down in today's economy?
Also look what happened when new leadership takes over such as Dooley at Tech. You don't know what moves they want to make or who they want to surround themselves with once they get their feet on the ground.
Coaches (in any athletic program) come and go. It is the nature of the athletic world. It is easy to evaluate the personal reasons behind Rey and Mathieu leaving…because they left on their own. However, would this even be an issue if they were fired? I think not.
Kenn … if they had been fired, quite frankly, I'd say the same thing: Maybe they would have been more focused, would have had longer tenures, if they'd brought their family.
I can tell you that I would think twice, more than twice, about hiring someone who wasn't bringing their wife and kids. Every time. Reason: Common sense says that automatically shortens the time from hiring to departure — whether by their own volition or because I had to send them home, where their heart was in the first place.
You hire who you can hire. If that means you can't get a Mathieu or a Rey, because they won't move their families — then you hire someone else. Someone who will commit, fully and completely, to the program.
We've certainly seen other nearby universities do that. Derek Dooley, the current football coach at Tech, moved his family to Ruston from … Miami.
That, quite frankly, is a far tougher transition than Baton Rouge (Rey) and Dallas (Mathieu).
First off, a school can't ask a coach during a interview if he or she is going to move the family wherever he/she is. That is illegal. The school would be setting itself up for a lawsuit. Now, if that information is voluntarily given that is another thing. And yes, I am sure there are other creative methods of getting that information. But it is none of our business nor the schools business what a coach decides to do with his/her family. That is petty. All GSU can do is hire the best possible candidate and hope it works out.
Secondly, how long does a coach have to stay in a position before considering other options without being labeled a "quitter"? It is not unusual for a coach to look at other options after 3 years…especially if that school is paying more money as is the case with Rey and Alcorn State. GSU didn't bother to offer any pay raises nor is it in a position to do so. Rey's decision to leave may have been personal, but you best believe it was a business decision as well.
And I disagree with that Dooley example. Mathieu and Rey were able to make weekend visits (by car) to see their families from time to time. Dooley didn't have that option with this family. Moving his family was not a hard decision. That fact that Dooley moved his family to Ruston will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on what happens when he leaves Tech. If Tech fires him, the fact that he moved his family to Ruston will not matter to the people at Tech. If he leaves for another position it still changes nothing.
Broadway has won 2 black college championships in 3 years but still lives in a hotel room. Why would I care about him not buying a home? For some reason people are bothered by that. I could care less.
Not that I care (because I don't) nor does it matter, but for the sake of this discussion has Dawson moved his family from NC yet? Last I heard they were still there.
There's a lot in your response that I didn't get into, in particular charging either of these guys — both of whom I had good working relationships with — as a "quitter."
I simply said I would be concerned with the idea of a continued hiring trend in which new hires do not bring along their family — then leave because of that void.
That concern plays out in a variety of ways.
One would be, say, setting up a program by which you assist people moving to your community with things like finding a new home, school placement for their children and employment for their spouses. That kind of outreach, often done with the assistance of people within the candidates new department, is standard for a number of employers.
You bring up Lin Dawson, and it reminds me of Coach Jeffries — who, like, Rey and Mathieu, didn't bring his wife … and left Grambling's athletics director post within a year in 2005. As I said from the beginning, that's really no surprise. Who can blame them?
Seeing a trend like this, however, and not addressing it is bad management on Grambling's part.
As for Mr. Dawson, my understanding of it is that his wife has joined him in Lincoln Parish.
Well as I understand the Jeffries situation. Dr. Judson made him leave (fired) after learning about his plans to leave the school in the near future. And I don't recall anyone being upset about his departure.
Nick,
I would be willing to bet that the salary GSU offered didn't compare to the COMBINED salaries of the coach(AD) and his spouse at their previous positions.
Perhaps Mr. Dawson's wife was willing to give up her salary to be with her husband but Rey and Mathieu's spouses preferred to remain where they were.
Rather than look at the hirees, perhaps the problem exists in the GSU administration's perception that they are only hiring a person and not a family.
Coach Broadway's decision to stay in a hotel may have something to do with selling his house in North Carolina and the fact that he couldn't handle two mortgages on the salary GSU gave him.
Economics has a lot more to do with decisions today than in the past.
Both sides have to balance their own interests. The salary issues you mention, OW, are certainly a consideration for the applicant. But Grambling must have its own, often different set of priorities. One of them should be retention.
That's why, to me, this trend of departures should lead to a closer examination of how they go about evaluating candidates in the athletic department.
To echo something you said, OW: Perhaps the problem exists in the GSU administration’s perception that they are only hiring a person and not a family.
Fair enough, Nick
Employers must create conditions that make employees want to stay.
Right now there appears to be a conflict within the Grambling family.
Administrative leaders may want "new blood" but those left to implement still treat the new arrivals as "outsiders". So it doesn't take long for people to have second thoughts about bringing their family into an environment where they, themselves, don't feel welcomed.
Again, if your not under contract (if promised one) why would you uproot your family knowing you could be fired at a moment's notice? Especially if you come from an area where the spouse and kids are comfortable
Most high-level positions offer some type of security and if you want a high-level person with credentials, they have a contract at their previous employer.
But in this scenario, these guys were courted by others and received a nice raise.
If Grambling wanted to prevent that, they would've countered.