May 21, 2004
Opening Statement...
I just want to start off by saying how much we appreciate all the great works that Mike Montgomery did at Stanford. I think that Mike felt a little bad about leaving Stanford and I think all of us, including myself and his team had to reassure him that he had accomplished so much and that he could leave here assured that is job was fulfilled and his obligations were complete. We wish him the best of luck in the next phase of his life. It is kind of a bittersweet parting and we are going to miss him. We are going to miss his sense of humor, his ever-present cup of coffee, and his brown bag for lunch, but I think mostly we are going to miss his coaching. At Stanford we have a really first rate coaching staff with Olympic gold medal winners, national coaches of the year, lots and lots of accolades and I think that most of the people in this room, the coaches on this staff, and our teaching faculty would probably say that Mike Montgomery was the best coach of all. He could take his guys and get them to play better than your guys and has some talent. We wish him the best of luck in this next step.
We are very exciting about the status of our basketball program at Stanford. It's strong, we have good players, we are returning an excellent nucleus, we've got a great tradition built up for a number of years, we feel like our program's in good position. We are a national power in men's basketball and we will definitely continue to be a national power in men's basketball. We look at this leadership succession as just one of the many challenges that we have and we've got to find a great replacement. We've got to find somebody who can inspire the athletes and inspire the basketball community here on campus, like Mike Montgomery was able to do. It's my challenge, I guess, to make those decisions. I should say we don't have a timeline and we can't set a date up there. We are setting up some interview committees now on campus to help us with the interview process. We will ask the candidates to visit campus and interview - we certainly won't be meeting in an airport anywhere and striking a deal. We also have contract issues that must be approved by the Board of Trustees and compensation committees, so we've got to work our way through that process too. We just don't know how long that would take. We will not rush into anything. I will refrain from mentioning names or responding to things about different people. I don't have a desire to surprise everybody when I name the new basketball coach in this room. It's not my goal to pull a paper bag over his head and say surprise. I don't want to contribute to a lot of the speculation because that does sometimes cause certain individuals to drop out of the running for that job. I don't ever want to put the pressure on people by me saying something inappropriate
I would say that this seems to be a very attractive job. There's nothing that can enhance your popularity like having a job opening like this, so my phone is ringing off the hook because Mike Montgomery and our basketball team has elevated the status of this job to one that's very attractive to all sorts of people. I want to find a great coach. We are going to stick to our policy of not paying exorbitant salaries and we think that a generous salary would be one that certainly meets or exceeds the standard of living but I don't want to see us out trying to buy and outbid other schools for head coaches. I just don't think that the Board of Trustees thinks that some of these exorbitant salaries that are being paid to some college coaches are appropriate at Stanford given the mission of the school. We are going to look for a great coach and we are going to give a generous contract, but we are not going to pay millions of dollars for our basketball coach. I just don't think that's something that fits into Stanford's priorities.
On qualities of prospective coaches....
I think there is a built in prejudice on my part for at least having coaches that have a worked at a private school similar to Stanford. It doesn't have to be Stanford but I'd like us to try to balance academics and athletics. I think that whenever we've stepped out of that mold, and we have on occasion, and hired someone who's not worked at a selective institution that tries to compete at the highest levels like we do, we've had a hit-and-miss history of that. Some people, we tell them the academic issues and some people think they know what we are talking about, but they really don't understand the differences between ourselves and maybe some other schools. We do operate a little bit differently. I think one of the great things about this search is that prodigies that Mike Montgomery has produced in the coaching profession and there are six or seven or eight coaches who we know have worked in Monty's system and understand Stanford. They know what it takes to win here and they have gone out and gotten some head coaching experience. That's a real advantage for us to have these people and we also have a couple of strong candidates on our own staff. We would probably lean toward someone who has some experience at Stanford.
On whether Monty's departure would be a "step back"...
In the short term, I think we have to get used to a new coach and a new style of leadership. We had a system that was working and functioning on all cylinders, maximizing the ability and potential of our student athletes. Along the way, Mike Montgomery had a 100% graduation rate out his scholarship athletes over his eighteen years so we had all these great things happening. We're going to have to recreate something as good and that's going to be a challenge for us.
On how he found out...
It was Wednesday morning at 8:15 and he had told me that he had taken it. I was down at a committee meeting in L.A. and he gave me a call. Nobody was sick, but it was probably the worst phone call I could have received. It was really a blow to us, but we are back on our feet now.
On possibly dissuading Monty...
I think Mike and I have had a great relationship and we've talked about families and all the things that are important to us, different jobs and careers. I could tell that Mike had thought that this would work and he thought this was the best thing for him and his family. So, I did not try to dissuade him. His mind was made up and I respect him and his family so much and I respect his decision. They know more about what they need than I do, so I just felt that it was not effective to try to tell him all the bad things about pro basketball or anything. I think sometimes you just face something like a Josh Childress situation and you just wish them the best and let them do what they think is best for them,On this being a different opening than the one eighteen years ago...At least from the phone calls we've been feeling and the confidential conversations we've been having with people. Mike and his team have elevated this program to the point that it is very, very attractive to big name people. I think before Mike Montgomery was our basketball coach, there was serious doubt on the part of many people that we could achieve this type of performance in men's basketball.
On recruiting effects....
We did schedule some recruits on campus and our assistant coaches are still here working full force. I think they will be able to show these young men and their families the Stanford model with the idea that they don't have to put the leadership piece together.