Few were surprised this week to see Wichita State University lose its talented athletic director, Jim Schaus, to Ohio University. Schaus was a go-getter when he came to WSU — just the bold, enthusiastic leader the university needed to make the necessary tough decisions about hiring, firing, old Levitt Arena, football and more. Especially once the renovated and renamed Koch Arena opened in 2003 and Mark Turgeon’s Shockers made the Sweet 16 in 2006, it seemed a question of time before Schaus would depart. His legacy will be his clear vision and great expectations for WSU sports.
WSU president Don Beggs’ choice to succeed Schaus, government relations director Eric Sexton, came as a surprise. But Sexton’s record at WSU, extensive work in the community and dedication to WSU and Wichita are all impressive. Even if Sexton wasn’t the obvious replacement for Schaus, he could prove the right one.
12 Comments
Congrats?
It’s colder in the winter time in Ohio you know.
I keep hearing about this guy, that he played golf for WSU etc, but how is he qualified for this position? I would be heart broken if we went back to where we were before Schaus.
He isn’t qualified for this position. The woman who is, wasn’t promoted. If they weren’t going to go outside the university, if they weren’t going to do a national search she should have had the job!
I’m worried at many levels about WSU.
Check out the College of Ed and the new dean there. I predict they won’t pass NCATE without intervention from somewhere and she isn’t about to invite someone who knows anything to help.
While I have never posted here before I do read these blogs on a regular basis. Therefore, I was not surprised at all to see “lindainks55″ have something negative to say. She appears to wake up on the wrong side of the bed every day.
How is he not qualified to lead this department? Who is the “woman” that you refer to? Do you know Eric? Do you have any idea what he has already done for WSU and the Wichita community?
I went to school with Eric and he was the one of the nicest and smartest people at WSU during our years there. We all knew he would go on to do great things.
Linda, you would enjoy life a bit more if you smiled and tried being nice. I would hate to be you. It just can’t be fun to always be so angry and upset.
Linda - who do you think should have gotten the post and why?
Eric Sexton probably knows more Wichitans than anyone I can think of. Too often “experts” have to be from more than 1,000 miles away to be acceptable.
Wichita has had a string of “music men” come here to River City to sell us expensive band uniforms that never arrived. I’m thinking of the last downtown development coordinator, the last city manager, some TV and newspaper reporters and a lot of other cheerleaders who are long gone. Wichita is stuck with the bill and not much else to show for it.
Just a bunch of snake oil salesmen.
Eric is extremely knowledgable about the culture of WSU and Wichita. He is the kind of humble fellow who makes people happy to be around him.
I say, “Eric, go for the base hit and let the fielders just try to slow you down.”
Good points JWink. I think we far too often overlook people already here for such positions. And, when we do need to find people who are less provincial (which I believe to also be important) why not go after some of the many people who have transplanted to here? We have a vested interest in this community but also experience elsewhere.
Good day to you too Dayton Drieling. You have a strange way of telling someone else to be pleasant.
Ben, it isn’t that I don’t want the new AD to be very successful - I do! I was commenting on his experience for the job and although he has been a highly successful lobbyist, we won’t know for awhile whether that can make him a qualified AD. He has no experience. Maybe his vast knowing of people JWink mentions will go far toward success.
I too have seen many times when bringing in the expert from outside hasn’t worked well. I also have seen success from this move. My comment was predicated on IF THEY AREN’T going outside the university. Guess I didn’t make that clear enough. Often when in a hurry I post in shorthand and only those who know me better “get” what I didn’t type.
I don’t think it’s fair to state her name here, Ben. And, I’m also sure she will continue to do an excellent job and maybe even help ensure the success of Eric Sexton. I, along with everyone else, want his success!
I forgot to say welcome Dayton Drieling to posting here. We all have opinions. Most of them are as good and as useless as any others.
That female basketball coach would have made a good admin - durrr- can’t think of her name…
Of course, players would hate me for suggesting taking away their coach.
Sexton is a good man — from a great family.
Yes, that matters.
I have seen him under considerable stress and he does a great job.
I think that Sexton will be a bad fit and reflects very poorly on Don Beggs’ judgment. We all know that the Missouri Valley conference is a mid-level conference in all sports. The key for WSU’s future success will be the ability of the athetic director to scout and recruit the most talented young coaching prospects like a Mark Turgeon and the ability to maintian institutional control to avoid any scandals. The WSU athetic director needed to have extensive NCAA networking connections and the abiity to aggressively sell WSU as a great place to coach.
Eric Sexton may be a good man & have a great family, but he and his wife come from the non-competitive world of academia and local which only rewards consensus building and getting along poltically in the good old boy network rather than competition, marketing or risk taking. I predict that Sexton will delegate any major decision making to consultants and alumni advisory committees. Instead of hiring the most young talented coaches or established ethical coaches that are looking to finsih ut their career in a stable environment, I predict that Sexton’s committees will likely go for quick fizes and hire more famous coaches from larger universities that have left their previous employer for ethical reasons.