The hits just keep on coming

As expected, the USATF board of directors voted to fire chief executive officer Doug Logan. Logan has been on the job 26 months and his contract was not set to expire until December 2013. It didn't matter. The board has spoken.

C'est la vie et bon voyage. Thanks and don't let the door hit you on the way out! 

In my humble opinion, Logan should fire the board (not possible under current by-laws). Everyone on the board should look each other in the eye and ask, "what are we doing to help promote track & field?" The answer is is absolutely nothing, nada, zilch or as little as possible. 

I have no knowledge of Logan's job description but I'm sure savior of track and field in the USA should not be part of the deal. How can the board expect years of mismanagement and inept marketing of the sport to be quickly reversed? 

Television ratings for track and field are pathetic. Is this Logan's fault? I think not. Track and field receives less TV air time than most minor sports. Bowling, cycling and even poker (sport??) have more viewers than track and field. 

These issues should be reviewed and managed by committees. The onus should not be on one individual whose hands are basically tied. The board should know track's interest peaks every four years (for the average sports fan) and only track aficionados care the rest of the time. Lets work on improving this statistic.

Overall running and race participation is up the US. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the track & field fan base. The US has more adults hitting the roads and trails, however, most don't care to the follow the sport. Lets recruit these runners to become fans.

Suggestion for the USATF board, grow the sport, create fans. Please do it sooner than later. If not, your all fired.

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September 13, 2010

USA track board would rather pay off CEO than keep him

By Philip Hersh

USA Track & Field's 15-member board of directors announced Monday it was making what looks like a costly decision to dump chief executive Doug Logan after barely two years on the job.

How costly?  It could be nearly $2 million.

``We were going into this with our eyes wide open,'' USATF board vice president Jack Wickens told me by telephone Monday afternoon.  ``At the end of the day, we think the opportunities are greater than the potential costs of a settlement.''

As I wrote in a blog last week, it seems foolhardy to dismiss Logan after just two years on the job -- and less than two years before the 2012 Olympics -- unless he were fired for cause.

And, unless he has been fired for cause, USATF will have to give Logan a substantial payoff, something in the vicinity of $1 million.   (He is owed almost double that amount for the remaining piece of a contract that expires in December, 2013).  That would be ironic, since sources have told me a reason the USATF board was unhappy with Logan owed to what it felt was his inability to bring in new sponsors.

And if you can fire the guy for cause, with no payout, why negotiate a settlement?

Further irony: Last week, the international track federation named Logan to one of its committees.

``Discussions related to the terms of my separation are ongoing, and I can't comment further on them at this point,'' Logan said via telephone Monday.

``I have spent 26 months investing my soul in this sport and this federation.  Some remarkable transformation has taken place in that time.  I am extremely proud of what the staff and I have been able to accomplish.``

``I have my head held high.  I will pay no attention to anyone who wants to denigrate my record.'' 

You can bet the U.S. Olympic Committee isn't happy with this move, even if it unlikely to try to reverse the decision. The USOC's relationship with USA Track & Field had gotten increasingly testy and frayed for a few years before Logan took over.

In 2007, the USOC ratcheted up pressure on USATF to revise its governance structure so it would fall in line with a revised USOC governance model created after Congressional pressure. 

``The board of directors of USA Track & Field clearly has the authority to undertake the hiring and firing of its CEO,'' USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said Monday.  ``We can't second-guess.

``That being said, there has been a fair amount of recent turnover in the CEOs of our federations, with track, fencing and triathlon changing their CEOs.  The amount of turnover is going to make it a more difficult task to find and hire qualified CEOs, because it looks like a risky job.''

Blackmun said he first learned about the decision to fire Logan by reading my blog.  USATF's failure to give him a heads-up before the announcement can't be a good thing for USOC - USATF relations.

It seems as if you can file this under the inmates running the asylum, since the whole idea of the governance revisions -- at both USOC and USATF levels -- was to minimize the amount of influence the volunteer boards of both organizations have on the work of the salaried staff.

Here is the USATF statement:

USATF Board to hire new CEO
 INDIANAPOLIS – The USA Track & Field Board of Directors has voted to pursue new leadership in its CEO position, bringing to a close the tenure of Doug Logan, who had been CEO of the federation since July 2008.

After a meeting over the weekend in Las Vegas, the Board voted to pursue leadership change.
“We sincerely thank Doug for his efforts and his passionate focus on our sport,” said USATF President and Chair Stephanie Hightower. “After undertaking a performance evaluation over the course of the past few months, our Board has decided it is in our best interests to engage different leadership to move the sport forward.”

In accordance with USATF bylaws, Chief Operating Officer Mike McNees will assume day-to-day leadership of USATF as the Board begins its search for a new CEO.

“The Board is committed to a thorough, thoughtful CEO search process,” Hightower said. “Although our goal is to complete the search process quickly, we will not compromise the quality of the search and candidate evaluation. The Board is fully supportive of the USATF staff, and we know they will do a tremendous job as we enter this new phase for the organization.”

Hightower stressed that the USATF Board will continue to vigorously pursue its strategic plan, developed in July 2009 and approved by USATF membership last December. “We simply need to accelerate our realization of this vision and plan,” she said.

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Hightower, a 1980 Olympian and former hurdles world record-holder, said she wasn't at liberty to give detailed reasons for why the board ousted Logan.

``Out of respect for Doug and his leadership, we can't talk about those things,'' she said.

I asked Hightower whether the cost of a settlement during tough economic times factored into the decision.

``The board went through a very thoughtful process,'' Hightower answered.  ``We understand the ramifications for whatever actions we were going to take and what could be in store for us.''

Board member Deena Kastor, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. women's record-holder in the marathon, said Monday that Logan's dismissal owed to his failure to follow up and implement significant parts of the strategic plan the USATF board adopted in July, 2009.  She declined to specify particulars for legal reasons.

``It came down to reviewing his performance and not finding great results in the past 2 1/2 years and (his) not being able to fix things brought up in our evaluation of him,'' Kastor said.

The board review began about three months ago.  Logan had presented written responses to questions about specific areas of his performance and addressed the board at a meeting over the weekend in Las Vegas.

Logan's aggressive management style and no-holds-barred attitude toward discussing issues publicly had polarized feelings about him, especially among athletes.

``Any time you have a strong leadership, you will have a mixed bag of people who love and hate the leader,'' Kastor said.  ``But this decision was based solely on a performance evaluation each member of the board filled out.''

According to Wickens, the decision was made by voting on a motion in executive session.  He said every board member participated with only one, Bob Hersh (no relation to me), doing it via telephone.

Hightower said there was no rush to have a new CEO in place.  The board will meet in October to discuss the succession plan.

``We have a great person who has stepped up in the interim role, Mike McNees,'' she said.  ``We are very confident Mike has the level of leadership skills to lead us through this period.  We don't have a headless horse running around here.''

Could there still be an interim CEO at the 2012 Olympics?

``I don't think anyone has any intention of it going that long,'' Hightower said.  ``I don't think that's an option.''

Photos:  Doug Logan (above), the former USA Track & Field chief executive, and Stephanie Hightower, the USATF president and board chair person. (USA Track & Field photos.)