My gripe with hiring Ah You and Damuni

BYU is already operating at a staffing disadvantage—for better or worse, the AD won’t open the wallet for more than a couple full time recruiting positions for the football team. However, that disadvantage makes these hires all that much more important to get right.



So, with two full-time positions to recruit high school kids in the year 2020 and beyond, who do we hire? Look at the resumes:



Jasen Ah You[/u]

• Served as support services coordinator and the NFL/Pro Liaison for BYU football (2016 to present)

• Def Coord, Westlake HS (2011-15)

• Estimator/project manager doing restoration work (2004-16)

• Defensive administrative assistant at University of Utah (2007-10)

• DL Coach, Snow College (2004-07)

• B.S. in Sociology (BYU 2004)



Jack Damuni[/u]

• Community Relations Coordinator, (tweeted “Das My Nephew” 4x per day) BYU (2016-2020)

• Teacher, State of Hawaii (1996-2015)

• Speed and Quickness-Complex Coordinator/Coach (2009-2015)

• Vice President, Island Football Magazine (2000-15)

• Assistant Coach, Baldwin HS, Maui, Hawaii (2000-15)

• Assistant Coach- DBs, Mesa Community College (2011)

• Special Education Certification (Chaminade 2001)

• Assistant Coach, Maui HS (1997-98)

• B.S. in Sociology (BYU 1996)



Now, for comparison, let’s look at a school with similar or fewer financial resources to see who they hire as a recruiting coordinator—Boise State:



Darren Uscher[/u]

• Director of operations, assistant recruiting coordinator and video coordinator, Georgetown (2012-2013)

• Sports Marketing Assistant, South Carolina (2010-2012).

• Sports Marketing Intern, South Carolina (2010)

• Internships with Washington Redskins and D.C. United (2008-2009)

• Masters degree in sports industry management (Georgetown 2013)

• B.S. in sport and entertainment management (South Carolina 2009)



So Boise State hires a young savvy guy with a marketing and sports management background who has been building to this role from the day he graduated from college. BYU hires guys whose only recruiting experience is during their time as coaches a decade or more ago (and in Damuni’s case, just one year).



That’s it. That’s who we have handed the keys to and asked to lead the charge in convincing 17 and 18 year old kids in 2020 and beyond to come to BYU. The only plus I see either hire bringing has nothing to do with their resume or qualifications. It has to do with family – BYU wants to land Jack Damuni’s kid, and wants to keep Ah You’s kid in the program and land his nephew as well. It just seems like a massive whiff.

And the positive with the Ah You hire.



Right now he's saying the right things. Stars matter. Getting 4 star kids is vital for this program to climb out of the massive hole that it's dug itself into over the last 4 years. Landing 2 star kids that only have other offers from D2 schools is bad recruiting.



Now, just because he's willing to say and admit that recruiting has been awful the last 4 years doesn't mean he can fix it. But it's the first time that there has been an acknowledgment that there has been a problem.

Do these guys do the actual recruiting or just come up with the top level recruitment plan or handle all the paperwork? What is their role/job?

byufan4ever wrote:

Do these guys do the actual recruiting or just come up with the top level recruitment plan or handle all the paperwork? What is their role/job?

Listening to Ben Criddle yesterday on the radio and he put it like this.



Ah You will be responsible to (step 1) identify which kids to recruit (step 2) be in charge of online/social recruiting of these kids and ultimately be in charge that they are being recruited by the coaching staff assigned to that kid.



Damuni will be in charge of showing the kids a good time while they are on campus.

hawkwing wrote:

Do these guys do the actual recruiting or just come up with the top level recruitment plan or handle all the paperwork? What is their role/job?

Listening to Ben Criddle yesterday on the radio and he put it like this.



Ah You will be responsible to (step 1) identify which kids to recruit (step 2) be in charge of online/social recruiting of these kids and ultimately be in charge that they are being recruited by the coaching staff assigned to that kid.



Damuni will be in charge of showing the kids a good time while they are on campus.

So how much of a resume is really needed for these positions? Sounds like we need someone who has a scout type skillset and somebody with a fun personality.



If you could have two legacy BYU players fill these positions who would you pick? I think Chad Lewis could fill about any staff role but I wonder if he would be over qualified. What about a David Nixon for the scout and Brian Logan for the fun guy?

I like the start that they have made. If we had hired the guy from BSU, he would be lost at BYU. He does not know anyone or the culture. Give them a year to see what they can do. I would add some student interns to help with the social media part.



Our twitter account needs to add a lot of fans and alumni this next year. We are way behind the major programs.

byufan4ever wrote:
If you could have two legacy BYU players fill these positions who would you pick?

The question is, IMHO, part of the problem. Why are we limiting it to legacy BYU players?

As another comparison, the U's recruiting coordinator is Freddie Whittingham.



Now, based on the name, you might think he's a football coach who's been promoted into recruiting responsbilities, but Freddie actually worked 2 decades outside of football as a marketing executive before Kyle brought him in to take the lead in recruiting--he hadn't been involved in organized football for 20 years, and only received any coaching duties for the Utes 4 years after he was hired for recruiting.



The other six staff members in Utah's recruiting department are largely young former players, yes, but have backgrounds in sales and marketing or business degrees. Freddie's #1 assistant never played ball that I can tell (Ethan Russo), but majored in business and communications, had operations internships with the Browns and the Colts, and worked in recruiting before at Rice.



Finally, Alabama's #1 and #2 recruiting staff members never played football, much less coached. Their director of recruiting has an MBA in business analytics and 8 years of prior experience in player personnel and recruiting without any coaching responsibilities.



Point is--recruiting is marketing, something successful football teams seem to realize when staffing their recruiting positions. Yes, being a former player can be a plus, but in the top recruiting positions, other schools are emphasizing marketing and recruiting/personnel experience. From the outside looking in, BYU is hiring guys with little to no relevant, recent experience in marketing and recruiting.

snoscythe wrote:

If you could have two legacy BYU players fill these positions who would you pick?

The question is, IMHO, part of the problem. Why are we limiting it to legacy BYU players?

Just for fun.