The College of William & Mary’s job website has 148 postings — none of them is for the head coach position for the men’s basketball team.
“So it’s not on our website at all?” said Michael Owens, human resources assistant for the college, when WYDaily asked about the job posting. “I’ll go ask…I’m not sure about that.”
When asked how long does it take for the job posting to appear on the university’s website, Owens said he would have to ask the front desk and get back with WYDaily.
He has yet to do so.
Tony Shaver was the men’s head basketball coach for 16 seasons until he was fired by Samantha Huge, the college’s athletics director. Per his contract, Shaver is eligible for a $1.7 million payout.
It is not clear why Shaver was fired.
Shaver’s agent, Dennis Cordell, could not be reached for comment Monday.
RELATED STORY: Now this: W&M wouldn’t say it, but Coach Shaver was fired. Now he’s eligible for a $1.7M payout
The job posting in question also wasn’t on the Virginia Employment Commission’s website or the Commonwealth of Virginia’s website as of Monday.
However, a job posting for the head coach position for the men’s basketball team at Richard Bland College of William & Mary, was available on both websites.
Joyce Fogg, communications manager for the VEC, said employers can post their own job vacancies or if they need assistance, the commission helps them with that posting.
Fogg noted the VEC website is not mandatory for state universities or state job vacancies and is primarily used by private employers, but it is mandatory to post state jobs on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s website.
“I checked William & Mary’s site, the state site and our site [VEC] but I couldn’t find anything,” said Fogg, who then referred WYDaily to the Virginia Department of Human Resources.
WYDaily asked Marsha Heath of the Virginia Department of Human Resources Management, who said W&M’s head coach position for the men’s basketball team was not a classified position.
“They don’t have to post it,” she said. “They go out and do searches. It’s not a position covered by the Virginia Personnel Act.”
When WYDaily asked for clarification, Health transferred WYDaily to Deanna Goldstein, human resources management consultant for the department.
“That’s really up to them,” she said in regards to the university posting a job vacancy on the state’s website. “Each university is responsible for their own recruiting process for whatever jobs they have.”
WYDaily reached out to Samantha Huge, athletic director for the college and Pete Clawson, communications for the college’s athletic department. They did not return numerous calls.
In addition, WYDaily reached out to Suzanne Clavet, spokeswoman for the university and Brian Whitson, spokesman for the W&M President Katherine Rowe’s office. Both Clavet and Whitson responded to WYDaily via email and directed further inquires related to the job posting to Clawson, who remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him.
It’s remains unclear if the university plans to publish the vacant head coaching position on any of the three website, including the college’s career portal. It’s also unclear how the search for potential applicants is being conducted, how prospective basketball coaches can apply, whether Huge will receive public input about candidates and what are the requirements of the new coach.
In a letter to the Tribe Club supporters on March 18, Huge said she was looking for Shaver’s replacement “quickly yet prudently” and had already met with “potential candidates.”
There was no clarity provided to support that statement — where those candidates came from, how were they contacted, how did Huge find them, who referred them, how many, etc.
It is unclear what the job’s requirements are and how candidates are applying for the job since it is not posted on W&M’s website, the state’s job portal or the VEC’s website.
Huge named the current associate head men’s basketball coach, Jonathan Holmes, as interim head coach.
Members of Huge’s handpicked “advisory group” were unavailable for comment.
This is the second time Huge has been vague or unavailable for comment regarding a replacement athletics coach for the college. In August 2018, Jimmy Laycock, the Tribe’s former football coach, retired and Huge was in charge of finding his replacement.
“We’re not going to get that caliber of candidate if we’d done the search in the public eye,” Huge said, adding she had the “full support” of the university’s human resources department.
Huge also created an “advisory group” for that search.
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