Football search process – an overview from Joe Sterrett
12/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Lehigh Goodman Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett '76 explains the process behind Lehigh's search for a new head football coach...
The search and evaluation process for a new football coach is underway. This kind of event always generates a lot of external interest and often many questions. This overview is intended to be helpful to those among our community with a strong interest in the process we intend to follow.
One of the immediate decisions I made upon Pete Lembo’s decision to accept the Elon offer was that we would conduct an open search, and would not make an immediate internal promotion. While I feel strongly about the quality of our assistant coaches, and I expect qualified internal candidates to compete for the opportunity to serve as head coach, I also felt that an open process would be healthy for our program at this point in time.
As is true with most coaching vacancies, the informal network of coach communications produces quite a bit of interest in any vacancy almost immediately. Some candidates apply directly while others are nominated by colleagues. I have tried to encourage all interested candidates to communicate initially by email so that I can manage the phone follow-up process in a more organized and efficient manner. Concurrently, we are conducting a proactive effort to identify prospective candidates that have not applied or been nominated.
The time framework for this search is to attract the best candidate we can identify in the shortest amount of time possible. The holiday period makes this objective a little more challenging to achieve. Nonetheless, we are planning and expect to conduct multiple interviews within the current week and more immediately after the Christmas holiday weekend.
The tight timing makes the use of a search committee less efficient. Accordingly, I will be coordinating all search activity. I will use a small group of primarily campus based personnel to help me evaluate candidates that we invite to visit. This group is diversified in terms of their Lehigh roles, and includes perspectives from students, staff, faculty, and alumni. However, the time of year and the ambitious schedule we have established make unrealistic the engagement of a broader group of participants.
I have appreciated the communications received from a number of alumni about our search, their recommendations, and their aspirations for our program. It is truly inspiring to experience the passion for Lehigh football that exists among our extended community. It is my sincere intent to hire an outstanding football coach so that we can sustain and advance the strong tradition of football success that so many have worked so hard to build. Achieving this outcome matters a great deal to me, professionally and personally, and so I appreciate the trust that has been assigned to me.
Have a great holiday season,
