Didn't any of you see that the BOT re-upped Mitch this past week with a healthy signing bonus and year over year raises. Mitch DOESNT care about Purdue Football. Since Mitch started Indiana down the road of destroying its K-12 Public School system, he cares about nothing but himself - Purdue Football is the laughingstock of the Midwest. Its reputation among the high school coaches of this state COULD NOT BE WORSE. Sorry to inform all of my fellow alums that the present state of things won't change before all of the morons in charge cycle out over the next 5-7 years. My son, a talented 8th grader, would be foolish to consider Purdue - even though he would be a 3rd generation Boiler - ALL of us are to blame - we have blindly supported a university and athletic program that CONTINUES to make unbelievably short-sided and rediculously poor decisions. BOILER DOWN!
Mitch Daniels
- Thread starter krs84
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BOT has a major conflict of interest. Mitch appointed them.
Mitch needs fired. He is a smug face punk who is working greatly against the better interests of the stakeholders of Purdue. No politician should ever be running a major university like Purdue. That guy needs fired. Students need to take action in their own hands that is the student's job. They just can't sit around. They are the ones paying for all this. That university works for the students. The students hire them not the other way around. It is time for students to really start playing hardball. I am talking all out. Get on TV. Put stuff on youtube. Get actionable. Take action. Get in their face and start to show them who the boss man is. Because I got some news Mitch. It ain't you. All these old hags need to go. Their mere presence on the campus is like a curse I think all fans can feel. Purdue students need empowered and it is time they take matters into their own hands in a big way. That is how things get done real fast. Mitch has run Purdue into the ground. Look at the business school getting worse each year. Look at some of the other programs. He needs to go right now. All these old losers do. We need fresh faces and we need fresh ideas.
His previous politics aside, Mitch is a politician. He rode his Harley out on the football field while the band spelled his name. Yet, he unveils Purdue's largest fundraising campaign ever and it doesn't include athletics.
He may do the "cool things" that make you think he's this great supporter of sports at Purdue. At the end of the day, he's not really some major advocate for athletics. At least not yet.
And not Purdue academics. His major thing is affordability, which sounds good but does not help Purdue become a greater institution. Students willingly pay more to go to the University of Michigan for a reason.
While I agree that college affordability is an issue, freezing tuition is something that simply sounds better than it actually is (politics). Increasing your financial aid keeps college affordable. It costs $60,000 to go to Harvard, yet hardly anyone actually pays that because they have such great financial aid packages.
So... it's better to help people take on more debt to afford an education than to just reduce the cost of the education in the first place? Interesting...
However, this whole thread is a little ridiculous. If you don't like Mitch Daniels, that's fine. However, he has little to do with football success/failure. Sure, he could dump tons of money into the athletic department, but that's not what Purdue is supposed to be about - this is a university. I want to win as much as the next guy, but it would be wise to keep a little perspective.
It's almost funny to see so many complain about a university President because he's trying to keep costs for students down, while improving the academic standing and reputation of the university. If you think he's failed in those goals, fine. However, venting about his actions relating to academics as President (and Governor) because you're pissed about the football team seems misplaced and unproductive with regards to both academics and athletics.
He hasn't improved the university reputation. Purdue was ranked 38th in business schools for the MBA 2010. Guess what they are today? Not in the top 50. That is a travesty especially when you see the schools that jumped into to replace them. Why did that happen? That needs answered. Mitch is not the person to lead a university and he needs removed from office now. His initiatives are failing the school. Purdue needs someone in the science field or business field to lead that school. It can't be a politician. The same goes for Burke. He is a swim team guy. He never played college football did he? Wisconsin had former football coaches as their AD and when the coach leaves the AD coaches and they win. I am not saying either of Mitch or Burke are bad guys, I am saying there is no way they should be running this school. If the qualification to hire someone is merely they are a nice person then maybe we should just hire the local 7-eleven cashier on that basis to run the school. They are not putting Purdue into a competitive position in any respect. Purdue is a self sustained enterprise at sports. How then can the other programs get the funding they need if the football team isn't rolling?
That whole design has to change period. How does Michigan pay its coach 7 million? The entire Michigan economy has all but collapsed. These are the questions people need to be taking a look at. The AD has got to be a former football coach. Someone who knows the game and knows what to look for in a football coach. Because if the football team can't fill the seats all sports fail to get funding then. Hey Burke, when's the last time 40,000 people came to see the softball team or the swim team? Answer me that one. And what really gets me as that Burke and Mitch try and compare themselves across all colleges in the country instead of their peers. We don't care what community colleges and some school in the middle of the hills are doing. What has he done against his peers except put schools like the business school that were once ahead of all the peers to 7/8th in the big ten? If our business school can't even win in the big ten what does that say about who is running the university? If Purdue wants to be good at anything six things need to happen by the end of this football season. 1) fire the president. 2) fire Burke. 3) fire the football coach. 4) make sure the new AD is a former football coach and preferably a good one. 5) let him make the new football hire. 6) the new university president needs to come from the most elite program at Purdue and who understands what makes them good and establish those principles at other academic programs at Purdue. That will get things moving in the right direction real fast.
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Your realize you don't have to pay back scholarships, right?
I realize a President only matters so much, but people have trumpeted Daniels as a guy that is going to be such a big advocate for athletics and he gets how sports are important and he drives his Harley onto the football field. It's all a bunch of bologna.
I DO think that athletics being completely missing from Purdue's fundraising campaign is a horrible decision that directly does have to do with Daniels though.
You launch Purdue's biggest fundraising campaign in its history and it doesn't involve anything for athletics? Why not fundraise for a coaching endowment??? Just over the last few years, Michigan, Notre Dame and MSU have done this.
Tell him it's a swimming coach endowment- that'll fire him up
I think some of these previous posts are ridiculous and laughable. Clearly some people have political agendas and axes to grind.
I'm a usually Democratic voter who couldn't stand Mitch when he was governor and was not happy when he was hired at Purdue. However, I think he has been a home run hire and am genuinely impressed by his ability to think outside the box on higher education. I can't believe I'm writing this, but he is a visionary leader and we are lucky to have him.
Also, for those complaining about his salary, I think he might be near the bottom of B1G presidents.
I'm a usually Democratic voter who couldn't stand Mitch when he was governor and was not happy when he was hired at Purdue. However, I think he has been a home run hire and am genuinely impressed by his ability to think outside the box on higher education. I can't believe I'm writing this, but he is a visionary leader and we are lucky to have him.
Also, for those complaining about his salary, I think he might be near the bottom of B1G presidents.
So you would discourage your son from attending Purdue because the football team sucks right now? That does not make any sense unless he is a Division 1 football prospect. Otherwise, Purdue is a great education and value and still is the best school in the state.
I think Mitchell is a visionary. ..His latest fundraising goal is to have over 2 billion $$ by 2019...Hazell's contract expires in 2019 and it would take 2 billion $$$$ to revive the program hen he is gone
What percentage of "financial aid" is actually scholarships? I'd guess most of it is loans. At any rate, if you lower (or, in this case freeze) the cost, more people can afford it, and more people (or organizations) can afford to give those magical scholarships.
I have no problems with Daniels excluding athletics from general fundraising. Purdue is a university first, and athletics are just a fun side deal. Much like Burke has run the AD, it should be self sufficient. I suppose that's probably why I don't consider Burke a "total failure" as some here do.
Just to let you know politics is not the motivation for my comments, I am a republican.
How do you think Daniels has been able to not raise tuition? Here is a hint.
year International student enrollment
2013 8702
2014 9080
2015 9230
Note I think it is great that we have such a large international student enrollment. But tuition hasn't been frozen because Daniels is finding and cutting out inefficiencies at Purdue. There is more than $20 million dollars more coming from international students' tuition and fees in 2015 than in 2013. Also this can't be a source of continuing increase in revenue. The undergraduate international enrollment in ECE is now at 40%.
Even when I was at Purdue in the mid 90's they "bragged" that we had the largest international student enrollment in the Big Ten. It's not something I would, personally, "brag" about, but if it means we can lower the cost of some in state students to attend (and thus increase our potential pool of students), it's not a total negative. Also, I'm pretty sure many schools are also doing this (even though it is somewhat antithetical to the purpose of "state" universities, at first glance).
Don't get me wrong, I think a significant international undergraduate population is a real plus. It makes for a global experience. I know in ECE they are trying to take advantage of this by making the 4 member senior design teams diverse so students have to learn how to work with differing cultures.
I think we need to be totally complete in regards to the reasons tuition has not gone up.
Freezing tuition has minimal effect on improving the quality of Purdue; it could hurt if you don't spend on things to compete with your peer institutions. There are better ways to make Purdue more affordable than freezing tuition, just not things you can get a lot of press for. Maybe Daniels is positioning to be the next Secretary of Education.
I am a republican and I was positive when Daniels was first hired. I also admit I was positive when Hazel was hired.
Could you be specific about his outside the box thinking?
And I've heard from several internal sources that corners are cut to accept marginal international students - to show a strong international presence and because they pay more to the bottom line. That is one of my big beefs with dramatic increase in the percentage of foreign students - highly likely that some Indiana kids are being turned away (or turned off) because of that emphasis.
And they admitted more FYE students than engineering said they could handle for 2015. This makes a poorer educational experience for everyone. This was done because engineering is where they can increase enrollment, because that is where there is demand, and bring in more revenue.
BS to you.
I have had faculty tell me directly.
Believe it or ignore it - won't change the facts.
They flat out take the lesser tier students that don't make it into the truly elite technical schools - some which have no business being here.
Increased intl representation and increased revenue.
Done
Some faculty members have political agendas and axes to grind. Admissions numbers at a public university are pretty transparent, so I also call bs on this.
Purdue is a truly elite technical school. Show me where Indiana kids have been turned away from engineering due to increase in foreign students.
This thread is so out of whack I don't know where to start. Our football team sucks. Very little has to do with any Daniels decision. He has much more important things to worry about.
This thread is so out of whack I don't know where to start. Our football team sucks. Very little has to do with any Daniels decision. He has much more important things to worry about.
I think the point is that I don't think Daniels is not going to get rid of Hazel because of the chance it could reflect badly on him. I think he has ambitions beyond the Purdue presidency, probably the Secretary of Education position, and he won't do anything to jeopardize that. I think Hazel will be our head coach at least through the next presidential election and determination of the next cabinet.
Too much speculation here. We don't even know if his party can get elected. I don't think they can.
If that is his motivation he should be fired immediately. The trustees of Purdue need to fire Burke through influencing the pres. His very job depends on the action he takes on this football team. You better believe the board of trustees is going to look very carefully at what Mitch does about this. A) doing nothing sends the message the he is most certainly not looking out for the stakeholders of Purdue and that will reflect much worse on him than if he takes action now before the numbers really dive next year. B) if he takes action it better be the right action, and by that it means replacing Burke with an AD whom has held that position at another major college (with success) and whom also is football oriented with both playing and coaching college football. C) the way he handles Burke's departure needs to be carefully handled. Preferably forcing him into retirement after a selection has been made through the trustees and president outside of Burke's interference. A graceful transition would be desirable, but clearly looking at the numbers Purdue simply cannot afford to remain the status quo. It is not manageable anymore. We have passed the point of managing this crisis. Sweeping changes are needed now before it gets past the point of control. That loss yesterday was a devastating blow to the program.
Out here in NE, Mitch gets a fair amount of positive press (NYT, WSJ, and BG recently) for his approach to college value. It really is a novel approach. Our out of state numbers (at least in engineering) are way up too in the past few years, which I consider to be a great thing. More revenue plus the out of state student profile is much higher from an academic standpoint.
