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New AD

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NJCat

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2016
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torque-cat

Redshirt
Dec 11, 2018
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Fitzphile said:
Seems like a really strong candidate. Got to wonder why he wasn't the first choice.

Northwestern has hired Derrick Gragg as its next athletic director, the schoolannounced in a statement.

Gragg, who will take over as AD on July 1, works as the NCAA's senior vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement. Prior to his hiring in 2019, he served as Tulsa's athletic director.

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I assume he wasn't hired in the first place because people thought Mike Polisky was the best person for the job.
 
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SteveNU

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Apr 7, 2009
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torque-cat said:
I assume he wasn't hired in the first place because people thought Mike Polisky was the best person for the job.
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Which "people", their line of "think"ing, and "best" are all things I'd like to take issue with. Polisky was hired because the process and judgment of people were flawed from the start. Hopefully this hire reflects a correction to those flaws. It certainly reflects an acknowledgement of them.
 
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torque-cat

Redshirt
Dec 11, 2018
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SteveNU said:
Which "people", their line of "think"ing, and "best" are all things I'd like to take issue with. Polisky was hired because the process and judgment of people were flawed from the start. Hopefully this hire reflects a correction to those flaws. It certainly reflects an acknowledgement of them.
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I don't know about the process. What were the flaws in it?
 
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NUCat320

Senior
Dec 4, 2005
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phatcat said:
Is it odd that an SVP at the NCAA would take a director role at a small P5 school?
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The NCAA has never held less influence than it does today. States are scoffing at the NCAA’s view of “amateurism” and the organization completely abdicated responsibility with the COVID situation, especially during the football season.
 
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Titanium999

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Jan 16, 2014
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Fitzphile said:
Seems like a really strong candidate. Got to wonder why he wasn't the first choice.

Northwestern has hired Derrick Gragg as its next athletic director, the schoolannounced in a statement.

Gragg, who will take over as AD on July 1, works as the NCAA's senior vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement. Prior to his hiring in 2019, he served as Tulsa's athletic director.

Click to expand...
Former football player! Sounds great!
 
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purplebirder

Redshirt
May 29, 2001
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Derrick Gragg looks like an excellent choice. Besides his administrative experience, the book that he wrote about his experience as a Black player at Vandy (40 Days of Direction:Life Lessons from the Talented Ten) receives 5 star reviews on Amazon.
 
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Fanaticat98

Senior
May 29, 2001
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phatcat said:
Is it odd that an SVP at the NCAA would take a director role at a small P5 school?
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“Small P5 school” is a bit self deprecating talk about a university that is top 10 academically in the premier athletic-academic conference.
 
jne381

jne381

Freshman
Sep 2, 2013
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I don't have an opinion on Gragg, but if he is able to do the following, he is the perfect person for the job:

1- Keep NU athletics in a positive national light.
2- Raise enough money for a new stadium.
3- Hire a rising star basketball coach, if the time comes.
 
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charcat

Redshirt
Apr 11, 2006
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Fundraising is the key responsibility of an Athletic Director, if they are not going to be the point person, they have no reason to be in that role. NU’s hiring these days seems to be myopically focused on issues of race and gender…Like the BIG10. We will regret the loss of Jim Phillips more that we can imagine.
 
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pnt16

Junior
Dec 8, 2017
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charcat said:
Fundraising is the key responsibility of an Athletic Director, if they are not going to be the point person, they have no reason to be in that role. NU’s hiring these days seems to be myopically focused on issues of race and gender…Like the BIG10. We will regret the loss of Jim Phillips more that we can imagine.
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This new hire is literally replacing the role Travis Goff held before taking the AD job at Kansas*. Lol
 
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Darren72

Darren72

Junior
Nov 12, 2018
1,301
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charcat said:
Fundraising is the key responsibility of an Athletic Director, if they are not going to be the point person, they have no reason to be in that role. NU’s hiring these days seems to be myopically focused on issues of race and gender…Like the BIG10. We will regret the loss of Jim Phillips more that we can imagine.
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Not sure I follow you here. As others said, only thing that happened was an open vacancy was filled. Why jump to conclusions?
 
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Darren72

Darren72

Junior
Nov 12, 2018
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Alaskawildkat said:
As many anticipated, looks like the new AD will be delegating the fund raising role to someone more experienced in that area.


Here is another try although the first time works for me.


NU announces Search Result
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Your first link goes to a link in an email, which means that when we click on it, it opens our gmail account. Second link works.

But as others posted above, I think you are reading too much into this hire. We’ve always had a Deputy AD for Development. You wouldn’t say that Pat Fitzgerald is delegating anything because he hired a new defensive coordinator.
 
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zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
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charcat said:
Fundraising is the key responsibility of an Athletic Director, if they are not going to be the point person, they have no reason to be in that role. NU’s hiring these days seems to be myopically focused on issues of race and gender…Like the BIG10. We will regret the loss of Jim Phillips more that we can imagine.
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I wouldn't go quite that far yet; the AD has always had other employees involved in fundraising due to the fact that it's basically the most important task other than just managing the actual coaching staffs/players/etc.

Of course, the AD is the one that completes the sale, but lots of other people also participate every step of the way.

It's good to have that position filled given we all know the next big project is the stadium revamp, and that's looking like a giant $300-400 million undertaking (depending on how big Ryan and the rest of the big donors want to go).
 
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Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
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Appears to be a smart hire. I am almost equally impressed by the fact that we have made it through 24 posts without someone lamenting that a middle-aged white guy was hired for such an important role. That's progress. Maybe killing the Rant board was a good idea!
 
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thewildcat2011

Senior
Jul 25, 2011
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Hungry Jack said:
Appears to be a smart hire. I am almost equally impressed by the fact that we have made it through 24 posts without someone lamenting that a middle-aged white guy was hired for such an important role. That's progress. Maybe killing the Rant board was a good idea!
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You mean other than people blindly criticizing the black AD immediately upon any news about anything he does?
 
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