Wednesday, July 28, 1999
Timing was perfect for Kittley, not for ACU
By Ted Dunnam
There’s a rock on the left, a hard place on the right
and Stan Lambert sandwiched between.
Abilene Christian University lost its head track coach Monday
when Wes Kittley informed ACU Director of Athletics Lambert he
was taking a similar job at Texas Tech.
Apparently, the two jobs weren’t similar enough for Kittley
to stay.
In addition, Kittley is taking assistants Kelly Smith and Cliff
Felkins with him. And had the situation been more suitable, another
assistant, Jon Murray, along with ACU compliance officer Sylvia
Dyer would have traveled north with Kittley.
Therein lies some consolation for Lambert. He could be looking
at replacing five people instead of three. The timing could have
been better.
But as Kittley said: “I didn’t plan this. Tech approached
me a little more than two weeks ago.’’
Who, in their right mind, can blame Kittley for taking the
job? Five years and a six-figure salary per year, five full-time
assistants and running both track and field programs at a Division
I school?
I don’t know exactly what ACU put on the table, but it
would have been difficult for Kittley to turn down the Red Raiders’
offer.
Trivia note: Kittley just passed Art Briles as the highest
paid coach from Rule. Briles probably wants to renegotiate now.
Lambert is the man squarely on the spot, and it’s not
an enviable one.
Before Kittley arrived, the ACU track program had been in a
shambles — at least by the school’s standards. Now,
it prays not to revert to those less-than-thrilling days of yesteryear.
It would be totally unfair to say that someone can come in
and accomplish what Kittley has done. That said, ACU’s track
program won’t be what is now. At least not in the near future.
“We may see a dropoff for a year or two,’’ Lambert
admitted. “But we plan on keeping this a very high quality
program.’’
With classes beginning in about a month, most schools have
their coaches in place. Obviously, that’s not the case with
ACU.
The one thing Lambert does have in his favor is that ACU has
the most successful and one of the most prominent Division II
track programs in the nation. There should be no shortage of applicants
for Kittley’s job.
However, Lambert still has to replace Smith as well as strength
coach Felkins, who also devoted his time to the football team.
Kittley, in addition to being men’s and women’s track
head coach, was an associate athletic director.
In that capacity, he worked with other members of the ACU coaching
staff in day-to-day duties, including scheduling, recruiting,
training and professional development.
“We tried as late as Monday to keep Wes here,’’
Lambert said. “But it just didn’t work out.’’
For Kittley, his decision might have been a no-brainer.
“Professionally, there just weren’t many challenges
left out there in Division II,’’ Kittley said. “Texas
Tech is Division I, they have an indoor facility, and it’s
still close to my parents, in-laws and our kids’ grandparents.
“I never wanted to leave ACU; I thought I would retire
here. But this is the right thing to do at the right time.”
Although Kittley bade a tearful farewell to ACU, one wonders
if the feeling was reciprocal.
It was certainly no fault of Kittley that a great opportunity
fell into his lap. Most of us would have done exactly what he
did.
It just all came down to timing. And for Stan Lambert, that
timing was bad.
Ted Dunnam can be reached at 676-6771 or dunnamt@abinews.com.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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