The athletic director recruitment comes at a critical juncture in Long Beach State athletics history. Revenues are drying up, attendance is down, Pyramid roof needs fixing or replacing, Coach Monson needs to be replaced after the 2023-24 season and supporter’s are losing interest. While I know everyone won’t agree with this, I believe we need a person who is basketball centric. Someone who can bring men and women’s basketball back to the top of the Big West. The revenue and interest would increase dramatically in most sports if that were to occur.

I am realistic that we have a number of limiting factors in recruiting such a person. Our salary ($235,000 or so) and cost of living probably limits our candidate pool to up and coming associate A.D.’s and experienced A.D.’s who are already working in Southern California.

I’m hoping the Beach is looking hard at the current A.D. at UC Riverside. Wesley Mallette became interim A.D. at UCR during the period where they were considering eliminating their intercollegiate program. He was key in eliminating that threat and became their permanent A.D. Many on the board have joked about the UCR basketball program over the years, but they have improved substantially, going 9-6 (21-22) and 14-6 (22-23) since Mallette took over. (Mallette recently signed their HC to a 5 year extension) Check this article out about Wesley Mallette – 100 Most Impactful People in Men’s College Basketball
https://www.silverwavesmedia.com/100-impactful-mcbb-23

I have no skin in this game but only want someone capable of bringing this program back to prominence. If not Wesley Mallette, I hope we don’t hire another associate A.D. type who can’t hit the ground running. We’ll be in big trouble.

I’m not aware of any other potential candidates with Div 1 A.D. experience on his or her resume. If you know of any, feel free to share that.