It’s been said before that “to be the man, you’ve gotta beat the man” or something along those lines.  None of that concerns me at this point; I just want a job with the man, whomever he or she may be.  I’ve been working on that pretty hard the past few weeks, but even moreso this week.  Ironically, I don’t have a job to keep me busy and interfere with my job hunt.  By the way, is that the right use of “ironic”?  Either way, the point is it’s much easier to look for a job when I don’t have a job.  Although, I’ve also heard that the easiest time to gain employment is when you’re already employed.  So, maybe it’s a catch-22.  Did I use catch-22 right?

At any rate, I’m job hunting and trying to walk the line between keeping my name on the tip of important people’s tongues while avoiding irritating the crap out of them with my daily calling and dropping by.  Yes, I’ve been “that guy” regarding some of the positions I’m pursuing.  When applying online through a website or emailing my resume and cover letter, I always follow up with a phone call within a few days.  There have been a few places that I’ve called…a LOT.  There’s one HR dude in Orlando that has received a voicemail from me every other day since the middle of February.  I was actually beginning to think his name was actually a code to warn all employees that a job-seeker was on the line.  Then, I asked the operator/secretary/nice lady that answers the phone if that was the case, and there was an awkward pause before she refuted my latest conspiracy theory.

Before I head out on today’s job search adventure, I’m gonna edumucate you a bit in the field of NCAA basketball tournament expansion since people have been blowing up my email wanting me to teach them about it (not really, but it’s a fun fantasy). 

The tournament bagan in 1939 when the National Association of Basketball Coaches developed an 8-team, single elimination tournament (the following year, the NCAA took over).  Over the past 70 years, the NCAA tournament has experienced approxmimately 11 expansions.  By the way, from inception until 1974, only one team per conference was allowed to participate in the tournament.  In other words, teams with multiple bids prior to 1975 were absolute ballers.  Anyway, back to the expansions; here’s the history:

 - 1939 – 8 teams
 - 1951 – 16 teams
 - 1953 – 22 teams
 - 1954 – 24 teams
 - 1963 - 25 teams
 - 1975 - 32 teams
 - 1979 - 40 teams
 - 1980 - 48 teams
 - 1983 - 52 teams
 - 1984 - 53 teams
 - 1985 - 64 teams
 - 2001 – 65 teams

This time of the year seems to generate a lot of noise about a further tournament expansion, many times from coaches who feel they’ve been slighted by their exclusion from the tournament – expect Gary Williams to broach this subject in about 11 or 12 days.  In fact, there was serious discussion back in 2006 about expansion to a 128-team format.  I’d also venture to say that contract incentives and bonuses based upon a coach making the tournament is an underlying reason we hear some coaches expressing their desire to see expansion. 

 As a final note, I’ll leave you with a swell tidbit I picked up while running some recon on the NCAA tournament history:

Although the NCAA tournament now determines the national champion, that was not always the case. Until the 1950-s, the NIT was considered a more prestigious tournament than the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney. Because of this dichotomy, two of the best centers of the 1940-s never met in an NCAA tourney.  George Mikan-s DePaul team traditionally entered the NIT, while Bob Kurland-s Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won two NCAA titles. Several schools entered both tournaments. One such team, City College of New York (CCNY) led by Irwin Dambrot, won both in 1950. Ironically, CCNY defeated Bradley University in the finals of both tournaments. Another school, Utah in 1944, entered the NIT, lost in the first round, and then went on to win the NCAA title. Kentucky pulled off a similar accomplishment in 1949, losing in the second round of the NIT and then going on to win the NCAA Tournament.

Very, very interesting.  So, I guess all those teams on the wrong side of the bubble today can pretend they’re going to the better tournament.  By the way, if anyone can find information about the number of division 1 teams per year, please email the location of said info to me or leave a linky in the comments.  I currently have information saying there are 347 D-I teams, there were 326 in 2001, and 282 in 1985; but I can’t seem to find information about previous years.  I’ve really been itchin’ to put a chart/graph together and I think I’ll have a nice one to present to you if I can get my hands on that info.  I’ll give you a cookie for your efforts, so hop to it! 

Jobless Day 1
Jobless Day 2

Shameless self-promotion:
I’m now a free agent structural engineer in the Jacksonville, FL-area and willing to commute as far away as the Gainesville and Daytona areas.  I have 2 years and 10 months of experience and a MS; and, provided I can find work in a relatively quick time period, I will be eligible this May to apply for, and sit for, the October PE licensing exam.  Also, I’m actively searching for any civil engineering position that my degrees will qualify me for: structural (buildings, bridges, etc.), civil, geotechnical, transportation, etc.  So, if you’ve got a contact or would like to legitimately take a gander at my incredibly awesome resume, give me a shout at mizerle06(at)gmail(dot)com.

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