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The truth about Eric Hyman

Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:31 pm
Posted by CGSC Lobotomy
Member since Sep 2011
79980 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:31 pm
Article in Houston Chronicle

Some excerpts:

quote:

In 2014, he told the Chronicle it was his job to "manage expectations that define reality" - not exactly what A&M fans hungry for national titles in the major sports wanted to hear. In fact "managing expectations" became a battle cry for fans who wanted Hyman out for his condescending, detached ways in College Station.


quote:

Hyman, who had been athletic director at TCU earlier in his career, was one of 10 members on the NCAA baseball selection committee at the time. TCU snagged a national seed, the Horned Frogs held the home-field advantage over evenly matched A&M for a super regional, and TCU won in extra innings in the deciding third game in Fort Worth. "He just argued against A&M making it … that's unreal," one TexAgs poster vented following Hyman's radio interview once the bracket had been announced. "You can't say you made an argument for us when you're sitting there highlighting our weaknesses and smoothing over the issues TCU had." Longtime national college baseball columnist Kendall Rogers posted on Twitter on Thursday concerning the Star-Telegram article, "(Hyman) might be the most out of touch committee member I've seen."


quote:

"Driftwood," as one A&M athletics official called him on Thursday. It was evident Hyman, now 66, was treating the A&M gig as a nice cushion heading into retirement.


quote:

I recall quizzing Hyman on why A&M believed it needed to give Sumlin such a dramatic pay bump and with a multi-year extension, and he responded angrily.


quote:

That day in November 2013, when Hyman was making such a strong case for Sumlin's contract, the size of Hyman's paycheck for doing practically nothing must have outweighed all that righteousness he revealed this week.
Posted by CNB
Columbia, SC
Member since Sep 2007
95873 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:35 pm to
"We stole your AD haha"
Posted by NYCAuburn
TD Platinum Membership/SECr Sheriff
Member since Feb 2011
57002 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:36 pm to
I fully believe Hyman remained intact for his A&M tenure...
Posted by CGSC Lobotomy
Member since Sep 2011
79980 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:37 pm to
quote:

I fully believe Hyman remained intact for his A&M tenure...


The only Hyman Eric broke was his own.
Posted by SCLibertarian
Conway, South Carolina
Member since Aug 2013
35960 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:37 pm to
I think Hyman was our best AD. The YES program was implemented in order to keep up with the facilities arms race. We won 2 national titles in baseball, won the East in football for the first time, had 3 straight 11 win seasons in football, beat Clemson 5 years running and hired Frank Martin and Dawn Staley.
Posted by CGSC Lobotomy
Member since Sep 2011
79980 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:40 pm to
That may be the case, but he only took the A&M job to collect a paycheck. Amazingly, he performed BELOW the low bar he set.
Posted by GetCocky11
Calgary, AB
Member since Oct 2012
51246 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 1:42 pm to
Hyman also hired Gary Patterson and Jim Schlossnagle (their awesome baseball coach) when he was the AD at TCU.
This post was edited on 9/22/17 at 1:44 pm
Posted by Carolina_Girl
South Cackalacky
Member since Apr 2012
23973 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 2:03 pm to
Hyman was great at Carolina.

Wanna take another staff member from us? We're sneaky with our sabotage.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 5:33 pm to
I worked with Eric at Carolina, so I think I can answer this honestly. First, being an AD is one of the toughest jobs in collegiate athletics. Until you have sat in the seat, you have NO IDEA!!! You absolutely CANNOT make everyone happy no matter what you do and always upset someone with what you say. Everyone thinks they are a better coach and/or administrator than the person in the job even if they have never worked as a professional in the industry. Additionally, they feel it is not only okay, but their right to criticize decisions, when they actually know very little about the facts and issued involved. Are not fans and supports supposed to SUPPORT??
Eric did many good things at Carolina, especially regarding facilities which were in desperate need of updating and when completed were first class and really helped recruiting. He really did care about the student-athletes; their experience while a student-athlete, and creating/implementing programs that benefited them as they moved on after college athletics.
BUT there were things I feel he did very badly i.e. STAFF TREATMENT and STAFF DEVELOPMENT, it was a dictatorship. (1) Unless you had been hired by him, he eventually got rid of you one way or another. This was a pattern under each of his AD tenures; (2) He did not like his senior staff disagreeing with him, even after asking for feedback; (3) If a staff member blindly agreed with him, they were safe, treated differently and promoted; (4) He liked to hire young people and would get rid of older staff members and coaches. Look at the number of staff and coaching changes during his tenures. Key staff members were always people he had worked with before.
Coaching hires - Other than Dawn (I think Judy Rose AD at Charlotte can take credit for Dawn) and Frank (Eric's second MBkB coach during his tenure) both of which have done a tremendous job at Carolina, his hires have been average at best. The great coaches, Spurrier and Tanner, were both already at Carolina when he arrived, hired by Mike McGee. Finally, none or Eric's senior staff have moved on to become AD's. But Mike McGee's senior staff moved on to be AD's, Dan Radkovich, Laurie Massa, Chris Massario, Brad Edwards, Shawn Eichorst, Val Sheley, Jeff Barber ... that should tell you something about Eric's management style and development of his staff.
This post was edited on 9/22/17 at 6:02 pm
Posted by CGSC Lobotomy
Member since Sep 2011
79980 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 5:39 pm to
quote:

He really did care about the student-athletes; their experience while a student-athlete, and creating/implementing programs that benefited them as they moved on after college athletics


Clearly, which is why he suspended multiple players prior to the 2013 season opener without telling Kevin Sumlin until 1 hour before kickoff...

quote:

Unless you had been hired by him, he eventually got rid of you one way or another. This was a pattern under each of his AD tenures


Name one person he hired OR fired in the 4 years he spent at A&M. I'll hang up and listen.

quote:

Eric did many good things at Carolina


That may be true, but he didn't do a single good thing at A&M.

I can tell you all the shitty things he did at A&M:

-Telling the fanbase they needed to manage their expectations after the second straight season that the basketball team failed to make the NCAA tournament after making it from 2006-2011.

-Attempting to change the construction plans for Kyle Field after they had already been approved, bid on, and started.

-Publicly saying that Billy Kennedy's job was contingent on making a postseason tournament for the 2013-2014 season, then BUYING A BID TO THE CBI when he failed to make the NIT just so he could say "he made the postseason" instead of making the hard choice to fire him.

-Blatantly and publicly campaigning for TCU to be a national seed over A&M as a member of the selection committee in 2015, wearing a fricking TCU shirt to an interview with an A&M radio program. When you're the athletic director of a school, YOU DON'T GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST YOUR OWN EMPLOYER.
This post was edited on 9/22/17 at 5:45 pm
Posted by GarnetStrand
Myrtle Beach
Member since Sep 2016
1185 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:09 pm to
They can take Tanner if they really want to try again.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:11 pm to
I can't speak for all of what happened at TX A&M as I was not a staff member there, but I believe a number of the staff were "removed or changed". Check the staff directory prior to his arrival and compare it to the one when he left. I was trying to offer a more balanced approach. As I stated being an AD is a really tough job. I am not actually an Eric fan as an AD and I don't think it is a good idea airing opinions about a current situation after you are removed from it. As I said he has an EGO.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:14 pm to
You do what you can for the student-athletes that do what is right for the program and the institution. Some don't want to do that and a bad apple can ruin the whole barrel. There are always success stories and failures, that is the just the business.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:20 pm to
The two national titles in Baseball where Ray Tanner's, not Eric's. The new baseball facility was already underway when Eric arrived. Mike McGee, Ray Tanner and the USC Board built it. Ray has been building that program for nearly 10 years when Eric arrived. Spurrier was already in place rebuilding our FB team when Eric arrived, also hired by Mike McGee before he retired. Facility improvement there were also underway upon Eric's arrived, but he did go on and do more. Dawn was a great hire, but as previously stated, Judy Rose (AD Charlotte) should really take credit for her hire. Frank was all Eric as far as I know, but only after firing his previously hired MBB coach.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:23 pm to
Don't disagree with you there.
Posted by CGSC Lobotomy
Member since Sep 2011
79980 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 6:36 pm to
I'm having trouble following what parts your posts are answering. Not a flame, just an observation.
Posted by getrealsportsfan
Member since Sep 2017
6 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 8:50 pm to
Sorry, I m new at this. I have been answer multiple posts from people.
Posted by agswin
The Republic of Texas
Member since Aug 2011
4339 posts
Posted on 9/22/17 at 11:53 pm to
quote:

Hyman also hired Gary Patterson


He got lucky with Patterson. He was the "next man up" when Fran went to Bama.

Patterson was on staff (DC) and worked cheap.

I don't know the story about Schlossnagle but I am pretty sure he was cheap and available.

If a vote were to be taken he would be voted the worst Athletic Director ever at Texas A&M. That is saying a lot for school that is over 100 years old.
This post was edited on 9/22/17 at 11:59 pm
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