If Tressel were actively involved in this process, I do not believe it would be characterized as "bizarre". I could be wrong, but I do not think Tressel has anywhere near the involvement with day-to-day operations of YSU Athletic Dept as some people think. He is UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, and has people hired to run the Athletic Department. He likely gives advice, and guidance, but not much different than he would or does for people in ANY department on campus. And, as important as it is to hire a football coach, it is MORE IMPORTANT to get the contract disputes with Faculty and ACE resolved, because first and foremost, a University is about providing EDUCATION. Sports are EXTRACURRICULAR.
I find all the secrecy appalling. YSU is a PUBLIC UNIVERSITY. When there is a search for President or Provost, names of people who apply are made public by the school, as are the names of those who make it to the interview process. And, I do not see any way that the way this process is taking place can be giving people a positive opinion of YSU? Whatever positive publicity may have come from the false leaking of Pelini as the next coach has likely been lost, and may even have become a negative. Heck, we keep talking about Pelini, myself included, even though he has NEVER stated publicly that he has any interest in the job at YSU.
The same way lists of applicants is released by the school for President, Provost and other important positions related to YSU, this process used to be done for head coaching openings. List of applicants was made public by YSU, list of finalists made public, and the ones who got interviews were even interviewed by the media in press conferences. It was true when Tressel was hired. There was no search to replace Tressel, as he suggested Heacock be named his successor, and to be honest that made sense at the time.
Names of applicants were made public when hiring a replacement for Dom Roselli. The initial replacement for Mike Rice was Bill Daily, who was a member of Rice's staff. He died in August of that year due to cancer, and was replaced by Jim Cleamons. Do not remember a whole lot about that search process, other than it was very close to the start of the season. Cleamons left after 2 years, and was replaced by John Stroia, an assistant to Cleamons. I remember names of applicants being made public when Dan Peters was hired as mens basketball coach, as were their interview dates. Same with the search process that ended with Robic being hired. Not sure about the search for Slocum. At the very least, I know the names of candidates coming for interviews was released. Strollo started working on the search for a replacement to Robic well before the season was over.
I used to try and get info out of him, but he would usually only tell me "trust me, we are talking with people". I've known him since he was in 5th grade, and that is all he would give me. I'd suggest names, and he would just smile and say "we're contacting people. By the way, Slocum is one of the coaches I was suggesting, as I went to alot of Geneva games when he coached there, and sat right behind the bench. Honestly think some of his teams at Geneva would have beat YSU. Anyway, as some know, I considered Tisha Hill a friend. Ron never came flat out and told me she was done, but I remember talking to him at the last regular season home game in the 07-08 season, and knew she was done by his tone and body language.
Names of candidates were released in the search to find the successor to Coach D. That is how I know Jodi Kest, the current coach at Akron applied and was one of the top candidates, likely THE top candidate, then withdrew her name. I remember in 1999, the likely top candidate was Sean Miller. At the time, he was an assistant at NC State. He is now HC at Arizona. Was young, and had the smarts to remain at NC State a few more years, rather than take a job at a place where success was going to be hard, not too mention he most likely was not quite ready to be a Head Coach.
I do not remember a whole lot about how things happened as far as search that resulted in Slocum being hired. I know Ron wanted a person with Head Coaching experience. I know the coach at Findlay was high on the list, as was Slocum. Do not remember if a full list of applicants was released by YSU, but know things were made public about coaches coming for interviews, complete with press conferences.
Even when Ron Strollo was hired as AD, a list of the applicants was released by YSU, and then the names of the finalists, bio of each and when they would have their interviews. That is how I can say Ron was the best choice of the people who applied for the job, because I was able to compare Ron's background with that of the other candidates
