Just over a week ago, we were celebrating the rollout of SB Nation Atlanta and learning why our own personal pessimist was reversing his position. Then came the now infamous Red Panty Affair. We’ve pondered whether or not it was those events qualify as All-Time Stupidest, we’ve considered who could play us in Dawgsports The Movie, we’ve learned a little something about UGA Basketball, and we’ve been encouraged to seek solace in the voice of the institution we hold so dear. Now that the resignation is official, we’re back in familiar territory with a vacancy in the Athletic Department, which leaves us all wondering who will be chosen to lead Georgia Athletics for the foreseeable future.
A few names seem to pop up on everyone’s list, Suzanne Yoculan, Carla Williams and Greg McGarity. I’m not suggesting these aren’t perfectly good candidates, and one of them may well be the next chosen one, though I have my doubts about Suzanne’s candidacy. However, the few recent openings in Georgia Athletics have been filled by candidates we didn’t exactly think of right off. Todd Grantham and Scott Lakatos weren’t on anyone’s short list in the blogosphere that I recall. (Does anyone else have a habit of calling Lakatos LaTacos or is it just me?) I’m not even sure Mark Fox was on anyone’s radar at the time he was hired. So I decided to look outside the popular candidates and come up with my very own personal AD Candidates list.
All candidates are in fact Bulldogs, which as far as I’m concerned is pretty much a requirement for the position, whether the official opening says so or not. They may not be names you recognize and you may not even realize they are Bulldogs, but I think any one of them would serve us well and make us proud. I present to you my personal candidates and a short description of why I think each of them would make the Bulldog Nation proud if they were chosen to be our next AD. Following the list, you can vote in my poll for your favorite. Feel free to add to or challenge any of my candidates in the comments section.
Bob McTeer
Dr. Robert D. McTeer knows how to run things. Things like oh, the Texas A&M University system where he was Chancellor from 2004 to 2006. He understands interesting concepts like economics, which he has both a BBA and PhD from UGA in. He’s a Distinguished Alumnus from the Terry College of Business. He’s known for not being afraid of disagreeing with the majority. During his 36 year career with the Federal Reserve System, he gained the nickname “The Lonesome Dove” for disagreeing with Alan Greenspan. As President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, his views and support of free-market/free-trade gave the Dallas Fed the nickname “The Free-Enterprise Fed.” He’s a smart cookie and he knows how to handle money. On his website he has a list of “McTeer’s Management Maxims” which include all of the following:
Keep expectations high and overhead low
It’s no great accomplishment to spend other people’s money
Read the reports
Hire people smarter than you
Don’t expect people to take your advice and ignore your example
Ok, so he may not know sports as well as the other candidates, but I’d say those are fabulous maxims for the Athletic Director of our storied institution to hold. Think we can get him to leave Texas and that fancy sounding “Distinguished Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis” job he’s got in Dallas to come home to UGA?
Jack Rives
Lt. Commander Jack L. Rives (USAF Ret.) is currently the Executive Director and COO for the American Bar Association. He retired from the Air Force just this year after a 33 year long career in the JAG Corps. Jack grew up in Rockmart, GA and earned both a BA in Political Science and his Juris Doctorate from our beloved institution. During his 33 year Air Force career he worked his way up from Assistant Staff Judge Advocate to “The Judge Advocate General.” This final promotion came when his predecessor was relieved of his duties “during an investigation into his relationships with female subordinates.” In other words, he took over an office during a scandal, so he’s familiar with this kind of situation. Partly because of the scandal, Rives got the chance to restructure the JAG Corps, and as part of that effort he helped develop the current guiding principles, “Wisdom, Valor and Justice.” I’ll grant you that Mr. Rives has no sports background, but we don’t need him to play any of the sports, we need him to manage the money and the politics and behave himself. Besides, I believe those same guiding principles will work nicely at the Athletic Association. Since Lewis taught us all how horrible it is to be forced to live and work in Chicago, (headquarters of the ABA), perhaps it wouldn’t take too much effort to convince the Lt. Commander that he should quickly get back to Georgia and nail his own feet to the ground.
Billy Payne
William P. Payne is currently the Chairman of The Augusta National Golf Club and has been since 2006. Y’all probably remember Billy as the former President and CEO for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Seems Billy likes sports and knows a little something about managing sporting events. Like Jack Rives, Billy holds a BA in Political Science and a Juris Doctorate both earned at our great institution. Now I know there was some criticism of Billy during the 1996 Olympic games, but that’s long past us now. While he’s been Chairman at Augusta, he’s made a few changes, including a new contract with ESPN. That might be useful in future tv contract negotiations. But more importantly, just before the 2010 Masters Tournament, Billy Payne publicly called out Tiger Woods for failing as a role model. He was the first “important member of the golf community” to criticize Tiger for his behavior. Further, neither Payne nor his predecessor Hootie Johnson had ever commented on the off-court behavior of a golfer. The quote from his opening speech - “He forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility.” I’m still sad Damon Evans didn’t remember this, but I’d bet money that Billy Payne does.
Sonny Shroyer
Otis B. “Sonny” Shroyer Jr., first attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, but due to a career ending injury, left football and FSU and came home to earn his business degree at our beloved institution. So here’s a candidate that actually played football, and has a business degree from UGA, what more could you possibly want? Now right about this point, y’all are probably scratching your heads trying to figure out who Sonny Shroyer is, and what corner of obscurity I dragged him out of. That is, unless of course you happen to be a tv/movie trivia buff, in which case you know that I am referring to none other than Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate, or at least the actor who portrayed the Deputy Sheriff (as well as Bear Bryant in Forrest Gump.). While most of The Dukes of Hazzard characters were based on Jerry Rushing & folks he knew, the character Enos Strate was actually been based on Sonny Shroyer, at least according to the series creator, Gy Waldron. Now I don’t know about y’all, but I am pretty much dead certain that Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate would never be driving while intoxicated down Roswell Road at nearly midnight on a school night with his mistress in the passenger seat and her red panties in his lap. Sonny’s still acting, but when he’s neither acting nor making appearances, he lives at home, in Valdosta with his first & only wife Paula.
