Korn Ferry, the search firm the Falcons used to help land new coach Dan Quinn, has a mixed track record.
The Los Angeles-based company, billed as the largest executive search firm in the world, helped direct the Green Bay Packers to Mark Murphy, who has become a well-regarded executive, and the Houston Texans to Bill O’Brien, who coached the team to a 9-7 record in his first season last year after the club was 4-28 the previous two seasons.
But Korn Ferry also united Michigan with coach Brady Hoke, who was just fired after an inconsistent four-year run, and hooked up the New York Jets with general manager John Idzik Jr., who was fired the day after the season ended after only two years in office.
The moral: Search firms deal in possibilities, not guarantees.
“The process was both very educational and very challenging as we went through it,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said of the search that landed Quinn.
The internal members of the Falcons’ search team included president Rich McKay, general manager Thomas Dimitroff, assistant general manager Scott Pioli and executive vice president Kim Shreckengost.
Also, Jed Hughes of Korn Ferry and Joe Banner, a former NFL executive who was a volunteer consultant, played key roles in the search.
“All of these people were diligent and committed to a very thoughtful process and a final decision,” Blank said. “Our search was focused and thorough.”
When coach Mike Smith was fired Dec. 29, the Falcons noted that Hughes, who declined to be interviewed for this article, helped the Texans land O’Brien and the Kansas City Chiefs with the hiring of Andy Reid.
In addition to those successes, Hughes, vice chair and leader of the firm’s global sports practice, also played a role in helping the Packers land Murphy, the Pac-12 land commissioner Larry Scott and the Big 12 hire commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
All of Hughes’ searches have not been successful. Hughes, who bills himself as a pioneer of senior-level search and organizational assessment in the sports, had a role in the hiring of both athletic director Dave Brandon and Hoke at Michigan.
Brandon, during his tenure in Ann Arbor, was charged with eroding the once proud program’s fan base while Hoke, a former Michigan assistant, could not stop the downward spiral on the football field.
Brandon was hired in March 2010 and resigned under intense pressure in October 2014. Hoke was fired a few months later, in December.
After using the Korn Ferry in the Idzik search, the Jets didn’t rehire the firm to find another replacement. Owner Woody Johnson elected to use former general managers Charlie Casserly and Ron Wolf. The Jets subsequently hired Mike Maccagnan.
Hughes also conducted searches for the USOC, LPGA and PGA, the Seattle Seahawks and the Women’s Tennis Association.
The Falcons are banking on Quinn to replace Smith, the winningest coach in franchise history.
“We went through (eight) candidates for a variety of reasons. This job was very attractive to virtually all of them,” Blank said. “The fact that we had this early connection with (Quinn), the mutual connection was important to us and important to him.”
It is unclear how big of a role that Hughes or Korn Ferry played in the search. Traditionally search firms work behind the scenes and anonymously when possible.
“We had to be patient through the process,” Blank said. “It’s a long process. With (the Seahawks) playing as well as they did through the playoffs and through the Super Bowl, we had to be patient.”
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