Minnesota Golden Gophers: How Was Norwood Teague Hired In The First Place?
As someone who only lasted a full academic year before transferring away from the University of Minnesota, I can tell you that there are some screwed up things about the school when you get down entrenched in the middle of it. As a lifelong Minnesotan I can tell you that the Gophers athletic program has always been screwy.
It has now come out that University paid over $100,000 to a search firm to find a new athletic director and the firm’s finding was Norwood Teague.
Apparently it’s not too hard to start up a search firm and be hired by a major public university. Maybe the university is just that horrible in decision making.
I believe that it’s becoming clear that the powers that be at the U of M did little to no vetting themselves of Teague once the name was brought to them. The only reason Teague was on the radar anywhere is because he was the AD of a school, VCU, that had made miraculous runs in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and it was thought that he could bring the amazing coach, Shaka Smart, along with him.
That’s why Tubby Smith was fired so early on in Teague’s regime. Smart never left.
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Teague came from a school that didn’t have a football team and he failed at communicating with the head football coach at Minnesota. The Star Tribune reported that VCU had to pay $125,000 in 2012 to settle a gender discrimination complaint brought against Teague by a women’s basketball coach which is another problem the U of M is currently facing. Teague was supposed to be a hell of a good fundraiser and the Gophers still sit millions away from the money needed to build wanted new athletic facilities.
Not to mention he’s a predator and a creep.
I do not doubt that hiring an athletics director is a challenging endeavor, it’s an incredibly important position, and for its importance alone it needs to be done right. The University didn’t do it right in 2012 and the tone deafness on that campus really doesn’t give me a lot of hope in them getting it right three years later.
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