Many laid the blame for the Galyans collapse on Bob Mang, who reportedly had little support from employees that still yearned for the days of Pat Galyan’s leadership, but was given free reign by the Board. Many industry watchers look to Galyans’ overall heavy reliance on department store executives to direct the ship as a major misstep, as they went up against stronger rivals with deep sporting goods industry experience. The blame for that strategy is placed on the Board.

In a recent report in the Indianapolis Business Journal, Joel Silverman, the former president and COO that came to Galyans in 1996 after years at Limited, the failure of Galyans rests squarely on the shoulders of the company’s chairman, Norman Matthews. Matthews, who was tapped for the COB job in 1999 by Freeman Spogli, is the former vice chairman of Federated Department Stores. In the IBJ piece, Silverman said Matthews “infused the company with a bureaucratic department store culture” and had expanded the number of VP’s to 36 from just six before he arrived.

He also said Matthews was the one responsible for the heavy emphasis on apparel and the retailer’s declining fortunes in sporting goods.

“If I was to say anyone is responsible for where we are at, he is the one,” Silverman was quoted in article. “All the people there are his guys. He pulled the strings from New York.”

Silverman points to his departure as a key point in the shift away from a culture that favored service and a focus on the customer to one that saw management have little interaction with the consumer or the stores. He pointed to numbers that showed that Galyans had produced 15 straight quarters of comp store sales increase before he was forced out in March 2002, and only one positive quarter since then.

Others support Silverman’s position, including Charles Nelson, the former Minister of Culture for the company. A position, or title, that no longer exists. “I think the culture started to suffer in the business for a lot of reasons,” said Nelson in the IBJ article. He also pointed to the “infusion of a department store mentality’.

“For the customer, I think there was a sense the integrity of the business had been undermined,” he said.

Many laid the blame for the Galyans collapse on Bob Mang, who reportedly had little support from employees that still yearned for the days of Pat Galyan’s leadership, but was given free reign by the Board. Many industry watchers look to Galyans’ overall heavy reliance on department store executives to direct the ship as a major misstep, as they went up against stronger rivals with deep sporting goods industry experience. The blame for that strategy is placed on the Board.

In a recent report in the Indianapolis Business Journal, Joel Silverman, the former president and COO that came to Galyans in 1996 after years at Limited, the failure of Galyans rests squarely on the shoulders of the company’s chairman, Norman Matthews. Matthews, who was tapped for the COB job in 1999 by Freeman Spogli, is the former vice chairman of Federated Department Stores.

In the IBJ piece, Silverman said Matthews “infused the company with a bureaucratic department store culture” and had expanded the number of VP’s to 36 from just six before he arrived. He also said Matthews was the one responsible for the heavy emphasis on apparel and the retailer’s declining fortunes in sporting goods.

“If I was to say anyone is responsible for where we are at, he is the one,” Silverman was quoted in article. “All the people there are his guys. He pulled the strings from New York.”

Silverman points to his departure as a key point in the shift away from a culture that favored service and a focus on the customer to one that saw management have little interaction with the consumer or the stores. He pointed to numbers that showed that Galyans had produced 15 straight quarters of comp store sales increase before he was forced out in March 2002, and only one positive quarter since then.

Others support Silverman’s position, including Charles Nelson, the former Minister of Culture for the company. A position, or title, that no longer exists. “I think the culture started to suffer in the business for a lot of reasons,” said Nelson in the IBJ article. He also pointed to the “infusion of a department store mentality’.

“For the customer, I think there was a sense the integrity of the business had been undermined,” he said.