Having only met Doug Logan once in Berlin and not being on the inside of the boards conversations, influences, expectations, and needs I cannot really make an educated decision about Doug’s dismissal. I do know that it takes 3-5 years for any system to take hold and show its benefits. I don’t think Doug was given a fair shake from that perspective. Now if the board had an MBO from Doug and it wasn’t a biological MBO then that would be the boards fault. Its expectations would be set in the initial plan and not changed according to prevailing changes in the world about us – dumb mistake. As in coaching analyze and synthesize the events around continually and make changes accordingly then inform why – every plan needs to be able to change with prevailing events – just like a marathoner's race plan on race day when they wake up and find out the weatherman was an idiot and it is 30 degrees, wind blowing, and snowing instead of 55 and sunny. Maybe Doug didn’t inform – I cannot say. The business individuals on the board should have been able to recognize any roadblocks to success that Doug had, that the plan had, and counseled him accordingly. Maybe they did! That is board’s role to aid the CEO in the development of the sport in support of the shareholders – anyone that run’s in the US.
A CEO’s role is to first create a viable realistic vision of where the business needs to go, (a SWOT analysis in the business world) but only after an exhaustive stage of researching the current status of all areas. Not sure if Doug took the time to complete that process in an organization with as many stakeholders as USATF. If he knew the sport that process would have been completed already. That would take some grassroots handshaking and conversing that I am not sure Doug had time to achieve or the desire to do. Second is to create the organization to build that vision (which he hired a very capable Mike McNees to do), third go find the money to fund the organization and its future (apparently his downfall -- where was the boards support in this), fourth to report to the board the ongoing (weekly and monthly – that is accountability and transparency) evolution of the success of the plan.
To date I have not seen anyone really take the time to investigate the future. 2011 is on us, 2012 is close, 2013 around the corner, 2014 too close for comfort and 2015, 2017, and 2018 planning should be on the boards already. We do not have a Long Term Development Plan for the ascension of youth athletes to elite status (currently HS and college athletics) and then on to master’s that I am aware of. Do we have a long term plan to keep and develop people in the sport as officials, coaches (coaches education), volunteers, etc? This should be first item for that is the essence of the sport.
Athlete Centered (all levels), coach driven, officials, and administration supported. That mantra hasn’t changed and shouldn't! As we sit here today, to achieve elite status, it is still a chance collision (right HS & college and coach) between a good coach (the design), a talented athlete (the gift), a talented agent(business), and some great luck for someone to ascend to the top of their abilities and on to elite level. Of course defining elite level is always a touchy subject. IMHO it is being within 1-3% of the top yearly mark in the world for any given event. Otherwise you are still an emerging elite or developmental athlete whose needs have to be met to bring them to that 1-3% level.
Did Doug have a viable well thought out and well supported long term plan. Not sure if there was a long term plan as we can see he was fired because the short term one wasn’t working! Project 30 plan is a bandaid plan at best! I know some of those around him and they are very capable people, is the board as capable as we are giving them credit for? There are some good people and some suspect powerbrokers/politicians. They are partially responsible for Doug’s failure (anyone familiar with the term team) and should take responsibility. It is interesting to see the lack of transparency in the why as we are the shareholders and should be informed. Hiding behind privacy and legal jargon is a sham – just tell us why he failed-is that too much to ask!
Too many great people have walked away from this sport because of the powerbrokers. Too many of them remain in decision making positions although their connections and insights should not be totally ignored! As we said in the days gone by revolution not evolution. Sometimes we need to revolt –USOC almost led it. Might have been best – never know!
So much for my rant!!!