The Search, livre ebook

"Buddy" Knowland was dead, keeled over with a heart attack during the game. Buddy's fans knew him as the most successful football coach in Nebraska State University history. His colleagues knew him as a misogynistic, foul-mouthed bully. Replacing Buddy would be one of the biggest tests that Charlie Rosen, the president of Nebraska State University, would face during his career. How to hire a replacement for the irreplaceable coach? How to keep the university trustees happy? And how to deal with the ghost of Buddy, which keeps hanging around the office? With his job on the line, Rosen must pull out all the stops. All in all, just an average day in the life of a university president.

The Search is the first novel written by Indiana University President Emeritus Thomas Ehrlich. Although (almost) entirely fictional, it illustrates the competing pressures faced daily by university presidents around the country particularly as they struggle to maintain the primacy of academics over athletics.

Prologue

If you know anything about college football, you know about "Buddy" Knowland, the legendary coach of Nebraska State University. He was just enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia, almost ten years to the day after his last game. To be eligible coaches must have a minimum of ten years of head coaching experience, have coached one hundred or more games, and have won a least 60 percent of those games. Knowland met those requirements easily.

You may also have heard that Knowland and I clashed when I was president of Nebraska State. That's an understatement, but it will do for now. I knew that the Hall of Fame ceremony would trigger an avalanche of articles about Knowland and his winning ways. And that is just what has happened.

In the wake of that publicity, the director of the Nebraska State University Press suggested I write my story about the challenges I faced as president of Nebraska State, particularly the challenge of choosing a successor to Knowland. This is that story.

Preface
Prologue
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
Epilogue