Hamilton: Bulldogs' next AD will be playing catch-up

Mike Capaccio announced his retirement on Thursday, two months shy of his 67th birthday.

Hes spent decades around college athletics as a coach, a fundraiser and an administrator.

But no doubt the past six years have felt the longest.

Not because hes hung his hat as The Citadels athletics director; though there are inherent challenges with that position.

But simply because of the systemic changes that have swept through college athletics pretty much since he took that job on Aug.

15, 2018 .

Name, image, likeness (good ol NIL) is now a thing.

Sos the transfer portal.

And a groundswell of support continues to transition the school-athlete relationship to something more akin to employee-employer.

Make of it what you will that employee came before employer in that sentence.

Administrators at every level have learned on the go with varying degrees of success.

Capaccio is no different.

Its not just a difficult time for The Citadel, Capaccio said in August, but for everyone across the country involved in college athletics.

Nobody understands whats going to happen.

Everything is constantly changing.

When the president of the NCAA says he doesn't know whats next or what to do, then how are athletic departments supposed to know what to do ...

or what to prepare for and whats coming next? Hes right.

No one can say whats coming down the pike from one day to the next.

Still, the innate nature of The Citadel makes reading the tea leaves particularly taxing.

Its basic blueprint a public military college thats long on tradition, though short on resources that makes the current landscape even more arduous to navigate.

Those challenges are exacerbated when there is a reluctance to evolve and adapt and, when necessary, change.

Probably more troubling, theres hubris to not map out a plan for the future until it has already become an unstable present.

After all, why plot a different course when the one thats been in place since FDRs first term has worked just fine? Kind of.

The Citadels athletic department, despite a history that includes championships across a litany of sports, is in a precarious position.

Its trajectory has been heading that way for years.

The Bulldogs last winning football team (10-2 under Brent Thompson in 2016) predates Capaccio.

Likewise for other flagship sports; basketball (20-13 in 2008-2009 during Ed Conroys first stint as head coach) and baseball (35-25 in 2013 under the great Fred Jordan).

Meanwhile, theres been a lot of losing.

And a lot of losing coaches hired.

Capaccio replaced each of the coaches he inherited in those sports.

Bulldogs standout Maurice Drayton took over the football team last year and hes 2-15, overall.

Conroy who was The Citadels basketball coach from 2006-2010 returned in 2022.

Conroy 2.0 is 21-43 heading into this season.

He hired Russell Triplett away from Newberry College back in June to be the Bulldogs' baseball coach after Tony Skole went 21-32 over seven seasons.

The athletic director is usually on the hook for that kind of non-production.

But, in The Citadels case, the AD (and even the coaches) can lean on a mountain of excuses and reasons already mentioned.

Because its hard enough to win in college athletics.

But its even more difficult when youre running in place or falling behind.

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The Citadels Board of Visitors athletics committee held an hour-long informational meeting with an outside consulting firm back in August.

The Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group which includes former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg delivered some strategies on how to survive and possibly thrive.

I think what the folks at Huron were able to do is give an overview of what college athletics is becoming and where its headed, Capaccio previously said.

To me, it was an informational session; a fact-finding session for some of the board members so they can better understand whats happening within college athletics.

Again, its a noble gesture, though perhaps a few years behind the rest of the pack.

And there hasnt been any definitive word on how the school at-large received the consultant group's suggestions.

Still, with the proper guidance and a thoughtful plan, its not too late for The Citadel to make up some ground.

How much ground remains to be seen.

Likewise for where that ground is even located.

Some initial thoughts are if The Citadel might consider moving down a level.

Should dropping to Division II or perhaps even Division III be on the table? No, they just need to know exactly who they are and what their mission is, said Rob Yowell, president of Arizona-based Gemini Sports.

And thats (to be) more like West Point, Annapolis and Air Force.

Not Coastal Carolina, Liberty and Lousiana-Monroe.

Yowell, whose firm runs major events such as the PGA Tours Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Fiesta Bowl, is spot-on.

Having an identity would simplify things so much.

The service academies embrace who they are, just as traditional Group of 5 schools realize they're not competing on and off the field with the likes of Alabama and Ohio State.

That makes Conroy a logical choice to step into the ADs office if they want to keep it in the family.

He was a four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs in the late-1980s and a former team captain.

He also rose to the rank of Lt.

Colonel in the Corps of Cadets, the highest rank by a basketball player in the schools modern era.

Perhaps just as important is that hes also been around.

In addition to his two stints at The Citadel , Conroy has had assistant coaching gigs with major-conference teams, as well as being head coach for D-2 Francis Marion and Tulane of the AAC.

Hes seen life from lots of different angles and can provide a much-needed perspective.

Conroy is also young (hell be 58 in February) and is apparently cool with being back in Charleston.

Not many folks return somewhere for multiple go-rounds unless theres a deep connection and desire to be there.

Certainly, the group advising the school will point to him as a viable in-house candidate.

Otherwise, what The Citadel is describing as a national search for its next AD will need a heavy dose of luck identifying a more suitable option.

Perhaps that person is indeed out there.

Capaccio, meanwhile, will stick around The Citadel .

Hell slide into a role as an advisor for school president Gen.

Glenn M.

Waters for athletic fundraising.

Itll be a nice fit that will beat the ceaseless grind of college of athletics, for sure.

Regardless of if his retirement was only partly his decision.

If at all..

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