Let's empty the notebook here.
*I'll start with an inside the story process. I hate how I started this story. I really do. I spent most of Thursday coming up with like five or six different ways to start. Some of them were too cutesy. Some of them didn't address Thad fast enough. I was getting bogged down by the first 150 words of a 2,100-word story. Once I got rolling, I knew the information was good. I knew how I wanted it to flow. But I still really detest how I began this sucker. Oh well, whatever.
*Onto the interview. So first off, Thad gets massive points in my book because he wants a face-to-face interview. No phone call. No Zoom. In person. Sweet. Get there, but we don't go to his office. Not really sure if he even has one at this point. No, we go into the room where OU did all the Zoom interviews the last two seasons. Just sit on a couch and start chatting.
*I asked my first question at the 39-minute mark. No joke. Turnipseed had prepared talking points. And nothing is just a one-two line quote. Everything is a story. Everything eventually connects to what you're looking to have answered. Gotta have patience to get there. The majority of this was his Bama background and construction days and going to Bama and to Clemson. But he wanted to paint the picture to me of who he was and how it shaped how he got here.
*Some Thad-isms...
There are four things that make a great leader: Intelligent, Feared, Respected, Won't Back Down.
He said you have to have the fear and the respect. Can't be feared w/o respect and can't be respected without fear. And then whatever your plan/philosophy is, you don't back down. He mentioned Dabo about this for the 2021 season after Clemson's rough start. Dabo didn't change anything about who he is, just kept going. 'Process in your belief system.'
*Three kinds of people: Mean, Friendly, Nice. There aren't a lot of mean people, he said. The world is full of friendly people, himself included most of the time. There aren't a lot of nice people. Dabo is a nice person. He's in that last category and his niceness rubbed off on Thad and Brent in recent years. Softened them up, for sure.
*He'd like to retire at OU. Doesn't believe it will be anytime soon, but he can see this being his last spot. He can see himself not ever getting bored and always finding some project to occupy his time.
*Good to great. Seriously, that's the message. He has a high, high standard of great. He mentioned Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson as the greats, with OU and Georgia both right there. It's that last push that's the hardest.
*Wanted to be a true chief of staff. Even at Clemson, he wasn't that. Clemson was going to pay him a lot more than $350K per year, but he wanted that role and wanted to take on that challenge. And knows he can do it with Brent.
*No dreams at all of being an athletic director anymore. Nope, and that's where the 'building the dynasty' line came from. I asked what his aspirations are now, are they the same as what they were in the past?
*Not a lot of NIL talk or talks of current projects. Still feeling things out as to what he sees needs to be addressed the most and the fastest.
***
OK, the whiteboard. Because, yes, this was by far the most interesting thing. And he stopped sitting at this point and started pointing at the items on the board and delivering his passionate message. Thad could see me eyeing it and gives this epic line...
"Here's our board. I can't let you take a picture of it, or I'd have to slap you."
Ha.
So what this board was, essentially, was the way Thad/Brent could explain to Joe C and the rest of the brass where OU is, what OU needs to do and how it correlates in the move of going from good to great. I couldn't take a picture of it, but he did go into pretty good detail about several of the items.
There were like 15 or so sections. A lot of them sorta overlapped. And a lot of it focused on the student. Partnerships with the university. Social media. Recruiting/recruiting budget. SOUL Mission. Nutrition. Strength and conditioning. Making sure the student experience is the best it can be.
Because... everything matters. A lot of talk about budget. A lot of talk about staffing. Comparing what OU is doing now to what it's going to need to do to compete at the great level vs. the SEC. Everyone (AD, president, Board of Regents) must fully understand the commitment required. It's the only way it works.
You do that, and you get your alignment. The alignment wasn't there for Brent Venables at Auburn, so Thad knew Brent wasn't going to take it. They're fired up and believe it is at OU and want to do it together.
What he wanted to make clear was it's not that OU doesn't have a lot of these pieces. It's just the pieces Thad believes matter in the long run. Some might be completely checked off. Some might be a partial one where it's good but needs to be better. There's no panic. It's just a process he's gonna go through to do what he knows will work.
You get the full commitment, you get the full results.
*I'll start with an inside the story process. I hate how I started this story. I really do. I spent most of Thursday coming up with like five or six different ways to start. Some of them were too cutesy. Some of them didn't address Thad fast enough. I was getting bogged down by the first 150 words of a 2,100-word story. Once I got rolling, I knew the information was good. I knew how I wanted it to flow. But I still really detest how I began this sucker. Oh well, whatever.
*Onto the interview. So first off, Thad gets massive points in my book because he wants a face-to-face interview. No phone call. No Zoom. In person. Sweet. Get there, but we don't go to his office. Not really sure if he even has one at this point. No, we go into the room where OU did all the Zoom interviews the last two seasons. Just sit on a couch and start chatting.
*I asked my first question at the 39-minute mark. No joke. Turnipseed had prepared talking points. And nothing is just a one-two line quote. Everything is a story. Everything eventually connects to what you're looking to have answered. Gotta have patience to get there. The majority of this was his Bama background and construction days and going to Bama and to Clemson. But he wanted to paint the picture to me of who he was and how it shaped how he got here.
*Some Thad-isms...
There are four things that make a great leader: Intelligent, Feared, Respected, Won't Back Down.
He said you have to have the fear and the respect. Can't be feared w/o respect and can't be respected without fear. And then whatever your plan/philosophy is, you don't back down. He mentioned Dabo about this for the 2021 season after Clemson's rough start. Dabo didn't change anything about who he is, just kept going. 'Process in your belief system.'
*Three kinds of people: Mean, Friendly, Nice. There aren't a lot of mean people, he said. The world is full of friendly people, himself included most of the time. There aren't a lot of nice people. Dabo is a nice person. He's in that last category and his niceness rubbed off on Thad and Brent in recent years. Softened them up, for sure.
*He'd like to retire at OU. Doesn't believe it will be anytime soon, but he can see this being his last spot. He can see himself not ever getting bored and always finding some project to occupy his time.
*Good to great. Seriously, that's the message. He has a high, high standard of great. He mentioned Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson as the greats, with OU and Georgia both right there. It's that last push that's the hardest.
*Wanted to be a true chief of staff. Even at Clemson, he wasn't that. Clemson was going to pay him a lot more than $350K per year, but he wanted that role and wanted to take on that challenge. And knows he can do it with Brent.
*No dreams at all of being an athletic director anymore. Nope, and that's where the 'building the dynasty' line came from. I asked what his aspirations are now, are they the same as what they were in the past?
*Not a lot of NIL talk or talks of current projects. Still feeling things out as to what he sees needs to be addressed the most and the fastest.
***
OK, the whiteboard. Because, yes, this was by far the most interesting thing. And he stopped sitting at this point and started pointing at the items on the board and delivering his passionate message. Thad could see me eyeing it and gives this epic line...
"Here's our board. I can't let you take a picture of it, or I'd have to slap you."
Ha.
So what this board was, essentially, was the way Thad/Brent could explain to Joe C and the rest of the brass where OU is, what OU needs to do and how it correlates in the move of going from good to great. I couldn't take a picture of it, but he did go into pretty good detail about several of the items.
There were like 15 or so sections. A lot of them sorta overlapped. And a lot of it focused on the student. Partnerships with the university. Social media. Recruiting/recruiting budget. SOUL Mission. Nutrition. Strength and conditioning. Making sure the student experience is the best it can be.
Because... everything matters. A lot of talk about budget. A lot of talk about staffing. Comparing what OU is doing now to what it's going to need to do to compete at the great level vs. the SEC. Everyone (AD, president, Board of Regents) must fully understand the commitment required. It's the only way it works.
You do that, and you get your alignment. The alignment wasn't there for Brent Venables at Auburn, so Thad knew Brent wasn't going to take it. They're fired up and believe it is at OU and want to do it together.
What he wanted to make clear was it's not that OU doesn't have a lot of these pieces. It's just the pieces Thad believes matter in the long run. Some might be completely checked off. Some might be a partial one where it's good but needs to be better. There's no panic. It's just a process he's gonna go through to do what he knows will work.
You get the full commitment, you get the full results.
