In the history of college baseball, only 2 coaches have won the college world series with 2 different teams. This past week Coach Andy Lopez from Arizona became the 2nd coach to do it! (His first with Pepperdine in 1992…I was rooting for the Gamecocks!).
Switching sports, you cannot deny that Peyton Manning is a stud QB. A Stud QB with one Super Bowl ring in 14 seasons (not counting last season since he didn’t play). As everyone knows, due to the media frenzy behind it, Peyton will start this season for a new football team-The Denver Broncos. What you may not know is that only 4 QBs in the history of professional football have won a Super Bowl with 2 different teams! (None of which were starters for one or both of those teams). Ring yes. Playing time? No.
Getting lightning to strike twice is a difficult thing. Sure, winning track records should account for something and sports analogies don’t always translate to business. You don’t have to make it to the “big game” to be considered successful. Translated to the radio world, does a candidate with “big market experience” have a better shot at landing a gig over someone who doesn’t?
They shouldn’t.
If someone has a major market programming pedigree, they are often exposed when they move down to a medium or small market (not always, but often). They don’t take the market seriously because they assume the gig is a cake walk compared to their days in the “majors”. Not always, but many had resources and talented people to help them succeed. The APD/MD was probably good enough to be a PD somewhere, the Promotions Director wasn’t a young kid promoted from the street team just last week and there is a good chance they had a healthy marketing/research/promotions budget. Not exactly a situation where the cards are stacked against you right?
“I like this guy because he has a major market pedigree”… Words I have heard from more than one employer in my career. That pedigree is the LAST thing you should consider when looking over resumes. Too often, employers get enamored by the glitz and glam of that person’s major market based resume. They hire them in a medium/small market and soon find out that this person, although probably still very talented, isn’t putting up the numbers they did in the large market. (See previous paragraph for reason). It’s not that they are not talented, but you have to consider the environment you are placing this person in. Even if you are hiring them in a comparable market, make sure that the employee can win in the system you are putting them in. You don’t ask a lights out closing pitcher to throw nothing but knuckleballs or have a pocket passer go all Michael Vick all of the sudden.
Take a look at the candidates and make sure their skill set matches the needs of the situation. Don’t discount the major market person-they are talented. Yet, don’t allow their pedigree to heavily influence the decision. Make sure they are the kind of person, with the right background, that can flourish in the situation they are being hired for.
Yes, I generalized a lot in this blog, but I hope you get what I’m trying to get across here. In short, hire the right person for the job and not someone who will just sell tickets and jerseys (Peyton Manning).
