It can be tough in this business separating process from result. Especially when you're attempting to evaluate search firms -- whose entire product is the process. Those firms, they like to remind us, don't make the decisions, they just smooth the process for their clients so they can make the most informed decisions possible.
And yet football is a win or lose game, so it's difficult -- if not impossible -- to look at a list of search firms and keep your eye from wandering over to the win/loss record.
The folks at Athletic Director U conducted a comprehensive study of 260 combined AD/head football coach searches at the FBS level dating back to 2008. Of the 93 football hires tracked, here is the search firm "standings":
1. Korn Ferry -- .617
2. Ventura -- .576
3. CarrSports -- .525
4. Eastman & Beaudine -- .500
5. Parker Executive Search -- .478
Two massive grains of salt to shake over these findings:
-- First, sample size must be considered. Korn Ferry conducted just six searches tracked by ADU, Ventura five. And even with just six searches, Korn Ferry had its share of clunkers (Charlie Strong, Texas) and flameouts (Jim McElwain, Florida; Mark Richt, Miami). Even its grandest success (Jim Harbaugh, Michigan) was a layup. In that light, perhaps Parker's .478 winning percentage over 26 hires is the most impressive figure here.
-- Even more important than sample size is context. A search that results in a .600 winning percentage is a massive failure at Ohio State. A .400 winning percentage is a notable upgrade at Akron.
The most interesting note we can definitively draw here is just the raw number of searches run by the various firms. For instance, I would not have expected Parker Executive Search to be 86 percent ahead of their next closest competitor.
1. Parker Executive Search -- 93 FBS AD/HFC hires
2. Collegiate Sports Associates -- 50
3. Eastman & Beaudine -- 31
4. DHR International -- 26
5. Turnkey Search -- 21
A few more interesting nuggets:
-- Ole Miss used four different firms that resulted in the hirings of ADs Ross Bjork and Keith Carter and head coaches Matt Luke and Lane Kiffin. Perhaps nothing says more than that.
-- Schools are roughly twice as likely to contract a search firm for an AD hire (57.6 percent at the Power 5 level/37.2 percent at Group of 5) than a HFC hire (33.9%/19.6%).
-- Unsurprisingly, only 6.1 percent of firm-led hires result in internal promotions. It's tough paying someone five or six figures to walk down a hallway to the next office.