Collen Declines Vandy offer

[Jennifer]

Interesting...
http://www.vucommodores.com/womenhoop/pressbox/Releases/020502collendeclines.htm

[CYMAN]

Looks like CSU doesn't want him either

May 2: Jeffrey Hathaway Issues Statement Regarding Tom Collen

Fort Collins, Colo./May 2, 2002 - Colorado State University Director of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway today issued the following statement:

"When Tom Collen informed the university and his former team Tuesday night that he resigned to accept the position as head women's basketball coach at Vanderbilt University, we immediately set a national search process in place to secure the finest coach possible for our position. That process continues."

[OhMandy]

This is really getting stupid. O' Learygate strikes again. What would happen now if coach A from school A is found to have some "irregularities" on his or her resume?

[mred]

What the heck? This is getting to be really weird...

Maybe Minnesota?

[Jennifer]

With some Minnesota players not being thrilled w/ the prospect of BUrnett being their new coach, and now this...what other names are floating around? Will Collen be coaching anywhere this season after this fiasco? Is Burnett someone Vandy would be interested in? Maybe Collen will end up at SMS. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif
I like to assume the best about people, and hope it was an honest mistake he made as he says it was. If this is the case, I feel for the guy.

[KSUron]

You have GOT to be kidding me. Am I to understand that after what he said at Vanderbilt about NOT ever claiming two masters degrees HE HAD claimed two on his CSU application. That tears it! I can't see an innocent way for that to have happened. What a Bummer for Vanderbilt, CSU and Tom & Nicki Collen. Given the history of this from the Vandy side of things I can see why he had to back out. Obviously CSU did not see much humor in it either.

Who, for crying out loud, cares if a coach has one masters let alone two. I think most schools require a bachelors but anything else is just window dressing. Misrepresenting your credentials is another matter. Why would you do such a thing?

[OhMandy]

Since Collen is out of a job now. And it looks like Colorado St isn't going to rehire him, maybe his former assistant coach Raegan Scott will hire him as an assistant at Utah St. where she was just named head coach?

[TRH]

This is really mind boggling for many reasons. I want to believe that there really is some innocent explanation. There is simply nothing to gain by claiming TWO masters degrees. So, you would think there MUST be some explanation. But, if so, why all the fuss?

But, it bothers me more that this man apparently was offered a D1 coaching position without a through check of his credentials. Colorado State seems to be just as responsible for this mess, since they obviously did not verify his background.

Before changing careers I spent years working in recruiting, and HR positions. I was even a head-hunter for a while. I have done interviews and background checks for everything from part-time hourly positions to major corporation CEO candidates. But, the point is that there was ALWAYS a background check. If I got the story straight O’Learygate started with a phone call from THE MEDIA. Not as the result of the employer doing a routine background check. If this were an innocent mistake a routine background check before the Colorado State job was offered would have provided the opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding.

So, I guess as a result of my background I put a lot of blame on the employers. But, I do not mean to let Collen off the hook either.

It is considered acceptable to make a resume look as attractive as possible. Stretch everything as far as you can possibly justify. But, you do have to justify and backup what you say. If you are in charge of one person when the boss in gone you can claim some supervisory experience. If you create a cute graphic to go with the auto signature in your email you can claim some graphic design experience. You can get away with leaving things out. But, you can NEVER claim to have done something that didn’t happen. I would expect someone with even one masters to be smart enough to understand why that would be a serious mistake. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the job candidate to ensure the information they provide is accurate. Like a missed lay-up there is no excuse.

[KSUron]

The story from the Vanderbilt AD is that the material Collen submitted to Vandy was correct but he told them, and the media, that he never misrepresented his background to CSU. He said that they (CSU) made a mistake and listed his one masters with a double major as two masters. CSU says that's not true, and that he did tell them he had two masters. When they heard his story it set them off. I expect his nest is fouled all around.

Btw, the Vandy AD is in some hot water over this and I have some sympathy for him in this. He claims the info Collen gave Vandy about his degrees was correct and did check out. When the CSU flap came up he counted on Collen to tell the truth about the CSU facts and it looks like Collen didn't.

[Press]

Well, this is crazy and unfortunate for all parties. A coches resume is just like any other persons. If you are not 100% honest, you run the risk of it biting you in the be-hind.