This is no doubt my favorite post of the year because I do it from my favorite place in the world, Ocean Isle Beach, NC. Our family has spent much of our Julys here over the past 12 years. It is a great place to recover from the past and prepare to start anew in August. This July is a little different than the past few years since we are searching for a new women's basketball and a women's lacrosse coach during this month. I have spent much of the last two weeks looking at resumes as we begin to narrow our search for both positions. Applications will continue to be accepted until July 10th. After the 10th we will narrow the candidate pool for both positions to eight (8) and then conduct phone interviews with each during the week of July 18-22. At that point a few selected candidates will be invited to campus for interviews. The goal is to have new coaches in place by the first week in August.
Thus far our women's basketball search has yielded over 150 applications while lacrosse (in only a week) has about 30. So how will we decide? We hope to find the right fit for Erskine. People who not only understand but embrace the mission of the college. They also will be people eager to work and succeed in a limited resources environment. Every candidate wants to be paid great and have huge funding in their program but our reality is much different. It takes special people to accept the challenges we offer.
Coaching searches can be both taxing and rewarding. we haven't had a search for a head coach since we started our new programs (lacrosse, volleyball, and golf) four years ago. It is difficult trying to find the right people but exciting to know two new people will come in this fall and hopefully energize our staff. So these are really important decisions and we pray that we get it right. It should be an exciting month for Erskine Athletics leading up to an exciting 2011-2012 academic year. I would say I can't wait, but I can for the moment as I enjoy a few more moments at the beach.
