2200 days of Brad Edwards

Herndon

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Brad Edwards started July 1, 2014.

So, I think most of us are on board with the hiring of Dave Paulsen (even though some of us are taking a wait and see approach).

At George Mason, mens basketball is the bell cow, and hiring the right guy is one of the more important duties of an AD.

Does anybody have strong feelings about the job he's done otherwise? I remember when he came in, his supposed expertise was in fundraising. Has that improved?

How about involvement with the community/alumni/fanbase?

These are not rhetorical questions, I genuinely haven't paid close enough attention to know, and I'd love to hear the insight of those who have.

I think 1700 days is long enough to have established a heading, and I'm curious if people are happy with the heading.
 
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mkaufman1

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So, I think most of us are on board with the hiring of Dave Paulsen (even though some of us are taking a wait and see approach).

At George Mason, mens basketball is the bell cow, and hiring the right guy is one of the more important duties of an AD.

Does anybody have strong feelings about the job he's done otherwise? I remember when he came in, his supposed expertise was in fundraising. Has that improved?

How about involvement with the community/alumni/fanbase?

These are not rhetorical questions, I genuinely haven't paid close enough attention to know, and I'd love to hear the insight of those who have.

I think two years is long enough to have established a heading, and I'm curious if people are happy with the heading.

I definitely like what I see. Some accomplishments:

-Ridding Paul Hewitt and hiring Dave Paulsen, albeit a wait an see, but definitely someone who appears to be an accomplished coach and helping turn the program around.
-Creation of a study (no idea what the study showed/if its done) regarding the Patriot Center
-Helped get the Patriot Center rights sold
-Advertisement on twitter/gomason that the team is out in the community volunteering and making a name for themselves has improved
-Conducted a poll with the season ticket holders as part of a study to see what we want, and implemented several fan friendly changes for last season.
-Spearheaded a 10 year anniversary celebration with Cabrera for the Final Four
- Completed fundraising to get the baseball stadium renovation underway, started fundraising for basketball facility and got proper approvals up the chain.
-Mentioned that there would be a "faster farther" piece for athletics (yet to come out yet)
-Stated several times in several different ways that he wants to win more than anyone else, the right way

No idea if I hit them all, but that's what comes off the top of my head at the moment.
 

MasonSAE4

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So, I think most of us are on board with the hiring of Dave Paulsen (even though some of us are taking a wait and see approach).

At George Mason, mens basketball is the bell cow, and hiring the right guy is one of the more important duties of an AD.

Does anybody have strong feelings about the job he's done otherwise? I remember when he came in, his supposed expertise was in fundraising. Has that improved?

How about involvement with the community/alumni/fanbase?

These are not rhetorical questions, I genuinely haven't paid close enough attention to know, and I'd love to hear the insight of those who have.

I think two years is long enough to have established a heading, and I'm curious if people are happy with the heading.
Definitely happy with him. Glad that he shitcanned Hewitt. Think we may have missed out on some better coaching options but I think outside factors beyond Brad's control probably hampered that. Really pumped he recognizes the potential for baseball and soccer and has stepped up the effort to give soccer its own stadium. Practice facility is in the works, even if I have reservations over the design of the thing.

Still holding out the last bit of judgement until I see what he wants to do to the arena. Think we need a new one and would rather ride this one until that's possible. I know he's a fan of the Robbins Center and how they reduced capacity but I don't think that's an option for us.

Overall, A-
 

GSII

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Its all about money. He is in the richest county in America and has done a decent job with bringing in more cash. However, more time is needed for him to stroke the right people.
 

Five Two

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Two biggies for me:

Under him we have an apparel deal with Adidas. Say what you want that UA is better, but under the old regime, coaches were allowed to sign with whichever company they wanted. That was a mess. Any apparel deal is better than what we were doing previously.

The naming rights deal. and not only is EagleBank paying for the rights, students are having internships made available to them at EB offices.

This is a great start and I hope we look back in 10 years and see how the increase in private and corporate donations brought all our sports to the top of the A10.
 

gmujim92

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I think it's fair to say that building relationships with big-money donors takes time just like it does for coaches on the recruiting trail.

A lot of that work is being done well below the radar, but I am confident it will bear much fruit for our athletic department in the coming years.

Mason has always been a sleeping giant. There is so much cash in play just in NoVa it boggles the mind. Unfortunately Merten was never going to prioritize fundraising for athletics.

It appears that has changed under Cabrera's leadership and not a moment too soon.
 

MasonFanatic

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In addition to what has been mentioned above, he's hit home runs with some of his other coaching hires.

Men's Volleyball beat 3 nationally ranked teams and won the EIVA in Jay Hosack's first season.

Women's Lacrosse posted double-digit win totals in each of Jessy Morgan's first two seasons, the first time the program's ever done that in back-to-back years.
 

gmutom

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It appears that has changed under Cabrera's leadership and not a moment too soon.

This is probably the most relevant statement in this thread. An AD is only as good as the administration that he serves, and Cabrera has had Brad's back from the jump. Edwards and Cabrera are a dynamic team that thrives together, because unlike his predecessor Angel doesn't see athletics as a side door to the university.
 

gmubrian

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I know I am coming in late on this one, but I am not 100% convinced on Edwards yet. While there has been positive movement on several fronts, I think a lot of it was extremely low hanging fruit that the previous AD (and president combo) completely bungled. The Addidas deal and Eagle Bank deal both seem like no-brainers to me, things that should have already been done and while it is a good sign that Edwards did them, it just shows he is not completely incompetent.

We have seen what appear to be good coaching hires and that is excellent, but that seems to me to be a minimum requirement for the job (even if the previous guy wasn't the best at it).

On the fundraising front, I have heard a lot of talk in the right direction which is great to see since the previous AD and president combo couldn't even get the talking part right. But, in terms of actual fundraising, I haven't heard of any big wins yet and know of an easy six figure opportunity that was completely missed. Edwards had already made a huge impact at his previous job (raising $3M for their new stadium) in less time (22 months). He made significant fundraising strides at his other colleges as well. Unless I have missed it, I haven't seen huge progress at Mason on this front yet.

So, I think there are some positive signs, but I still want to see some significant movement, especially on the fundraising front. I am waiting for a sign that we aren't just the guy with no water in the desert that has seen a watery mirage. Hopefully we are being led out of the desert instead. I am just not 100% convinced yet, even though I am cautiously optimistic.
 

mkaufman1

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I hear you- as far as the fundraising I think the Patriot Club has exceeded goals the last two years in fundraising and I think the 1.2 million for the baseball stadium was fund raised in a short period of time. Obviously these numbers may not be public and I don't have anything to back it up, but from what I'm thinking (and someone can jump in if I'm wrong) the fundraising has improved. I know they are trying to get 13 million for the basketball facility as quickly as possible, but I have no idea where they are with that. If someone wants to call Jenn Montgomery and ask...

The other stuff was low hanging fruit, I agree, but I certainly think that the easy stuff has to be done before you move to advanced stuff. Things are improving and headed upward, and that's all any of us can ask for at this point.
 

gmujim92

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I've never had to do fundraising (other than stuff for my kids), but I can't imagine it's easy when your marquee program is in the toilet and nobody is even coming to games.
 
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Herndon

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Not to influence the discussion, but grabbing the low hanging fruit is part of the gig. On every job I've ever been to doing the stuff you're SUPPOSED to do is what makes you competent. Going above and beyond makes you excellent, and gets you promoted.

I'm fine with a competent AD.
 

MasonSAE4

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I know I am coming in late on this one, but I am not 100% convinced on Edwards yet. While there has been positive movement on several fronts, I think a lot of it was extremely low hanging fruit that the previous AD (and president combo) completely bungled. The Addidas deal and Eagle Bank deal both seem like no-brainers to me, things that should have already been done and while it is a good sign that Edwards did them, it just shows he is not completely incompetent.

We have seen what appear to be good coaching hires and that is excellent, but that seems to me to be a minimum requirement for the job (even if the previous guy wasn't the best at it).

On the fundraising front, I have heard a lot of talk in the right direction which is great to see since the previous AD and president combo couldn't even get the talking part right. But, in terms of actual fundraising, I haven't heard of any big wins yet and know of an easy six figure opportunity that was completely missed. Edwards had already made a huge impact at his previous job (raising $3M for their new stadium) in less time (22 months). He made significant fundraising strides at his other colleges as well. Unless I have missed it, I haven't seen huge progress at Mason on this front yet.

So, I think there are some positive signs, but I still want to see some significant movement, especially on the fundraising front. I am waiting for a sign that we aren't just the guy with no water in the desert that has seen a watery mirage. Hopefully we are being led out of the desert instead. I am just not 100% convinced yet, even though I am cautiously optimistic.
What was the six figure opportunity that was missed?
 

Pikapppatri8

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Let's face it - prior to Brad Edwards - the AD was a cluster f**k being executed inside of a dumpster fire burning inside of a broken down clown car.

In two years - I see progress in areas that were totally ignored (an actual fund raising strategy) as well as low hanging fruit.

Brian - you are being a bit too sour here. We actually have a program. As Dave continues to repair the abused basketball program - it will only get better.

This is not easy - it takes time and Brad has done a lot in two years.
 
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