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West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker has a process when it comes to coaching searches.
And part of that is the use of a search firm. Baker will utilize Parker Executive Search to help find the 36th head football coach at West Virginia and there’s a lot of different reasons for that.
For one, Baker provides his list of potential candidates to the firm and not the other way around given the work that he does ahead of time to prepare for any potential movement. That is something that he does annually whether it’s a great year or one that a move might be necessary.
“I think it’s a healthy exercise,” Baker said.
One key advantage of using a search firm is the fact that they will be able to get background information on candidates at the early stages that might not be as easily accessible even with phone calls.
“They dig up things you may or may not have dug up on your own even with 100-phone calls,” he said.
The firm also works a step ahead of the traditional search and Baker has found that when you’re working with a group of candidates sometimes that list can shrink quickly even after you’ve narrowed the process down, and you need to bring back more names into the mix. That is where they can help, too.
One of the other major benefits is the fact that when dealing with individuals as a school you can sometimes run into situations where candidates are trying to create leverage to get a better deal in their current location and ultimately waste time.
“Search firms they’re involved in a lot of searches so agents and individual candidates they don’t want to mess up a relationship with a search firm, so you get leveraged less,” Baker said.
And finally, there is the confidentiality piece where they’re able to communicate on behalf of the school for people and help the process along.
The decision will ultimately be made by Baker but the search firms certainly play a role.
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