Finalist #4: Navy's Chet Gladchuk (Update)

The Bio.

On March 2, 2006, Chet Gladchuk was named Athletic Director of the Year.

Gladchuk took the Navy job in 2001. He hired Paul Johnson as football coach and all Johnson has done is go to three straight bowl games. Some knock Johnson because he runs the outdated triple option (think Rice), but how can you argue with 8-5, 10-2 and 8-4? Gladchuk has also undertaken a $40M renovation project of the football stadium.

Before Navy, Gladchuk was the AD of Houston from 1997-2001. Before Houston, Gladchuk was the AD of Boston College and before that Tulane.

Gladchuk is an interesting candidate. I am really surprised he is interested. I would consider Navy to be a prestegious job. The guy is AD of the Year. How can you argue with his qualifications? Plus, his name is "Chet."

Update: While at Boston College, Gladchuk had three football hires. The first was a guy named Tom Caughlin. Coughlin went 21-13-1 and left for Jacksonville Jaguars. His second hire was Dan Henning, a former NFL coach. Henning wasn't that good. He went 16-19-1, but Henning is now the OC of the Carolina Panthers. His third hire was Tom O'Brien. O'Brien is still at Boston College with a record of 75-39.

Gladchuk's one basketball hire was Al Skinner. Skinner is still at Boston College and Boston College is in the Sweet 16 this year.

Gladchuk last year at Boston College was temultuous, whcih explains how he ended up in Houston. Football Coach Henning was fired after a gambling scandal, where players were found to have bet against their own team. Basketball Coach Jim O'Brien left for Ohio State over "recruiting," charging the BC administration (not Gladchuk) of, among other things,racism. Gladchuk got burned out and left for Houston.

I am having an impossible time finding Gladchuk's hires at UofH, due to problems with their website. That being said, I lived in Houston most of that time and Houston was terrible in both football and basketball. I think Clyde Drexler was a basketball hire of his. Drexler, while an emotional choice, was terrible. It was a swing for the fences that struck out big time.

Update II:
Gladchuk's hires at UofH were less than stellar. He hired Clyde Drexler, which as I mentioned, was a bold choice, but ultimately a bad one. He then hired Ray McCallum from Ball State. McCallum had one NIT appearance in four years. Ray McCallum is now an assistant at OU.

In football, Gladchuk's fired coach Kim Helton after winning seven games in 1999. He replaced him with Dana Dimmel who coached UofH to three losing seasons. Dimmel is now the Tight Ends coach at Arizona State. It should also be pointed out that Gladchuk was instrumental in getting football back on campus and out of the Astrodome. He also got the Hofheinz Pavilion (basketball) renovated. Academics improved during his tenure there.