The Role of Athletic Director

[Grad2009DPT]

As I read through the posts on the board, it has come to my attention a lot of you do not know the role of the Athletic Director.

1. Due to Title IX, the AD has to provide equal resources across all male and female sports.

2. It is not the AD's job to micromanage the football head coach. It is the head coaches responsibility to determine who plays, who the coaches are, ect... If something mind boggling is going on then either the head coach should be fired or then the AD will step micromanage at that point.

3. The AD's main job is to make sure all legal and contract obligations between the school and coaches is legit. To make sure the head coach of ALL sports are meeting requirements of the student and athlete. Is to lead fund raising efforts and properly spend money.

When reading this board many of you confuse the AD with an NFL owner/GM. It truly frustrates me when people say the AD should stop paying attention to all other Purdue athletes and only care about the football team. I understand football is the cash cow, but you can not just ignore the other sports. As a Purdue alum I like to show support to all Purdue students whether they are football players, swimmers, or even not athletes at all. If you want to complain about Burke because you do not think the money he spend on renovations to the stadium this off season was a good spend of money, then fine. However, do not complain about him building new baseball and softball stadiums that were decades upon decades out of date. 5 years ago the baseball team, track team, and softball team all shared 1 locker room. If the people on this board had their way that would still be true today. Furthermore how can you make fun of an AD for spending time at a sporting event????????? People talk about how terrible it was the AD was at a swim meet. That is where he shoulde be!

If you do not like Burke, that is fine with me. I admit he has made decisions that I disagree with as well. However, when making your decision on your opinion of current or future ADs, at least be intelligent enough and take time to be thoughtful on what the position is before making a extremist judgement.

 

[SIBoiler2]

Thanks for the insightful input although I'm sure you really didn't throw anybody off track by claiming you graduated in 2009 Morgan.

 

[BoilerBonz]

As I read through the posts on the board, it has come to my attention a lot of you do not know the role of the Athletic Director.

1. Due to Title IX, the AD has to provide equal resources across all male and female sports.

2. It is not the AD's job to micromanage the football head coach. It is the head coaches responsibility to determine who plays, who the coaches are, ect... If something mind boggling is going on then either the head coach should be fired or then the AD will step micromanage at that point.

3. The AD's main job is to make sure all legal and contract obligations between the school and coaches is legit. To make sure the head coach of ALL sports are meeting requirements of the student and athlete. Is to lead fund raising efforts and properly spend money.

When reading this board many of you confuse the AD with an NFL owner/GM. It truly frustrates me when people say the AD should stop paying attention to all other Purdue athletes and only care about the football team. I understand football is the cash cow, but you can not just ignore the other sports. As a Purdue alum I like to show support to all Purdue students whether they are football players, swimmers, or even not athletes at all. If you want to complain about Burke because you do not think the money he spend on renovations to the stadium this off season was a good spend of money, then fine. However, do not complain about him building new baseball and softball stadiums that were decades upon decades out of date. 5 years ago the baseball team, track team, and softball team all shared 1 locker room. If the people on this board had their way that would still be true today. Furthermore how can you make fun of an AD for spending time at a sporting event????????? People talk about how terrible it was the AD was at a swim meet. That is where he shoulde be!

If you do not like Burke, that is fine with me. I admit he has made decisions that I disagree with as well. However, when making your decision on your opinion of current or future ADs, at least be intelligent enough and take time to be thoughtful on what the position is before making a extremist judgement.

Title IX does not require equal "resources" across male and female sports. It requires opportunities to participate in intercollegiate male and female sports in roughly the same proportion as a school's male-to-female student population, provided there is interest, and this has been interpreted to mean that scholarships should be allocated proportionally. Title IX does not require equal facilities, coaches' salaries, etc.

Regardless of the state of non-revenue facilities, the upgrades were a luxury we could not afford at the expense of under-investing in football for a decade or more, which is exactly what Morgan did. Granted, the BOT is also to blame, but the emphasis on the Directors' Cup is from Morgan.

Purdue basketball survived Morgan's penny pinching only because Painter was in a position to stand up to Morgan and the BOT.

 

[Boiler8285]

As I read through the posts on the board, it has come to my attention a lot of you do not know the role of the Athletic Director.

1. Due to Title IX, the AD has to provide equal resources across all male and female sports.

2. It is not the AD's job to micromanage the football head coach. It is the head coaches responsibility to determine who plays, who the coaches are, ect... If something mind boggling is going on then either the head coach should be fired or then the AD will step micromanage at that point.

3. The AD's main job is to make sure all legal and contract obligations between the school and coaches is legit. To make sure the head coach of ALL sports are meeting requirements of the student and athlete. Is to lead fund raising efforts and properly spend money.

When reading this board many of you confuse the AD with an NFL owner/GM. It truly frustrates me when people say the AD should stop paying attention to all other Purdue athletes and only care about the football team. I understand football is the cash cow, but you can not just ignore the other sports. As a Purdue alum I like to show support to all Purdue students whether they are football players, swimmers, or even not athletes at all. If you want to complain about Burke because you do not think the money he spend on renovations to the stadium this off season was a good spend of money, then fine. However, do not complain about him building new baseball and softball stadiums that were decades upon decades out of date. 5 years ago the baseball team, track team, and softball team all shared 1 locker room. If the people on this board had their way that would still be true today. Furthermore how can you make fun of an AD for spending time at a sporting event????????? People talk about how terrible it was the AD was at a swim meet. That is where he shoulde be!

If you do not like Burke, that is fine with me. I admit he has made decisions that I disagree with as well. However, when making your decision on your opinion of current or future ADs, at least be intelligent enough and take time to be thoughtful on what the position is before making a extremist judgement.

Well good to know. Purdue offers the fewest number of varsity sports in the Big10 and probably 11th or worse in more than any other school. Seems the AD has failed in coaching hires, fund raising and fan support. Not asking him to micro-manage any sport just hold his employees accountable. Not sure you can consider him successful by any stretch of the imagination. Fell into a BTN windfall and made the least of it.

 

[loftygoal]

Title IX does not require equal "resources" across male and female sports. It requires opportunities to participate in intercollegiate male and female sports in roughly the same proportion as a school's male-to-female student population, provided there is interest, and this has been interpreted to mean that scholarships should be allocated proportionally. Title IX does not require equal facilities, coaches' salaries, etc.

Regardless of the state of non-revenue facilities, the upgrades were a luxury we could not afford at the expense of under-investing in football for a decade or more, which is exactly what Morgan did. Granted, the BOT is also to blame, but the emphasis on the Directors' Cup is from Morgan.

Purdue basketball survived Morgan's penny pinching only because Painter was in a position to stand up to Morgan and the BOT.

Painter was more than half way to Missouri before we responded to keep him. That set the BBall program back at least a couple of years. It was embarrassing that Painter had to just about accept another job to get action.

 

[Foolmeoncefan]

As I read through the posts on the board, it has come to my attention a lot of you do not know the role of the Athletic Director.

1. Due to Title IX, the AD has to provide equal resources across all male and female sports.

2. It is not the AD's job to micromanage the football head coach. It is the head coaches responsibility to determine who plays, who the coaches are, ect... If something mind boggling is going on then either the head coach should be fired or then the AD will step micromanage at that point.

3. The AD's main job is to make sure all legal and contract obligations between the school and coaches is legit. To make sure the head coach of ALL sports are meeting requirements of the student and athlete. Is to lead fund raising efforts and properly spend money.

When reading this board many of you confuse the AD with an NFL owner/GM. It truly frustrates me when people say the AD should stop paying attention to all other Purdue athletes and only care about the football team. I understand football is the cash cow, but you can not just ignore the other sports. As a Purdue alum I like to show support to all Purdue students whether they are football players, swimmers, or even not athletes at all. If you want to complain about Burke because you do not think the money he spend on renovations to the stadium this off season was a good spend of money, then fine. However, do not complain about him building new baseball and softball stadiums that were decades upon decades out of date. 5 years ago the baseball team, track team, and softball team all shared 1 locker room. If the people on this board had their way that would still be true today. Furthermore how can you make fun of an AD for spending time at a sporting event????????? People talk about how terrible it was the AD was at a swim meet. That is where he shoulde be!

If you do not like Burke, that is fine with me. I admit he has made decisions that I disagree with as well. However, when making your decision on your opinion of current or future ADs, at least be intelligent enough and take time to be thoughtful on what the position is before making a extremist judgement.

I have to disagree with this completely. Why is it then that Michigan is paying their coach 6 million a year. And I am hearing that Texas is throwing offers of 10 million per year to snag away Alabama's head coach? Those schools make twenty times or more the amount Purdue football makes. Their stadiums are like gladiatorial arenas while our stadium looks something slightly better than a 5A high school might have in certain parts of the country. Wisconsin is adding seats and just renovated their stadium. Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska, you name it they are all increasing seating. Burke actually is probably the first athletic director in the HISTORY of sports that spends money to renovate Purdue football's stadium THAT DECREASES seating capacity. It is sheer mindlessness. And further to that to actually leave the most important aspects unresolved in the process. Such as stadium lights and concession facilities, along with better box seats and a bigger screen for the south end zone. Imagine what is going through a high school recruits mind when his high school stadium has lights and every high school game he played was under the lights. And then comes to Purdue and sees portable lights setup. It is a no wonder why all of the successful programs in the country have lights equipped. It is an enormous neglect. Schools like Michigan and Alabama are killing it. You think they are spending the same on softball as football? Alabama is pulling a 100 million dollar surplus on football alone not including alumni donations or royalties. They make more in royalties than Purdue does in ticket sales. This is an embarrassment what Burke has done here. This situation needs fixed now. Purdue is dead last in sports revenue even to Northwestern. How is that even possible? Northwestern is a small expensive private school with Ivy League academic standards. Burke has utterly neglected Purdue football and treats the sport like an undesirable. Purdue is a huge university right in between Chicago and Indi with a very large percentage of alumni concentrated within those locations and yet we are last in ticket sales? Penn State is in the middle of nowhere and they are selling out even to the worst teams on their schedule. Even amidst the Sandusky scandal. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why Purdue should not be near seating capacity every single week. This is the job of the AD. To fill that stadium and find ways to keep the fans and money coming in. If nothing else, sports revenue is a decided benchmark. And since Purdue is dead last that is a major reflection on Burke.


I am not saying we have to be this:

Expenses and revenues continue to grow for Alabama athletics, and the school again finished with a surplus in fiscal 2013-14, according to a financial report submitted to the NCAA in January.

According to the documents obtained by AL.com, Alabama's athletics department generated $33,050,145 more than it spent in 2012-13. That's up from the $27.2 million surplus in 2012-13 and continued the trend of surpluses in recent years. It hasn't operated at a loss in the last 10 years, according to documents obtained through public records requests.

The most recent Alabama gains came with a 6.6 percent revenue growth in 2013-14 as football continues to drive the ship. Nick Saban's program had a $53.3 million surplus with revenues of $95.3 million.




BUT WE CANNOT BE THIS - If this is the mark of a good athletic director then I am the King of England.

 

[boilermaker75]

As I read through the posts on the board, it has come to my attention a lot of you do not know the role of the Athletic Director.

1. Due to Title IX, the AD has to provide equal resources across all male and female sports.

2. It is not the AD's job to micromanage the football head coach. It is the head coaches responsibility to determine who plays, who the coaches are, ect... If something mind boggling is going on then either the head coach should be fired or then the AD will step micromanage at that point.

3. The AD's main job is to make sure all legal and contract obligations between the school and coaches is legit. To make sure the head coach of ALL sports are meeting requirements of the student and athlete. Is to lead fund raising efforts and properly spend money.

When reading this board many of you confuse the AD with an NFL owner/GM. It truly frustrates me when people say the AD should stop paying attention to all other Purdue athletes and only care about the football team. I understand football is the cash cow, but you can not just ignore the other sports. As a Purdue alum I like to show support to all Purdue students whether they are football players, swimmers, or even not athletes at all. If you want to complain about Burke because you do not think the money he spend on renovations to the stadium this off season was a good spend of money, then fine. However, do not complain about him building new baseball and softball stadiums that were decades upon decades out of date. 5 years ago the baseball team, track team, and softball team all shared 1 locker room. If the people on this board had their way that would still be true today. Furthermore how can you make fun of an AD for spending time at a sporting event????????? People talk about how terrible it was the AD was at a swim meet. That is where he shoulde be!

If you do not like Burke, that is fine with me. I admit he has made decisions that I disagree with as well. However, when making your decision on your opinion of current or future ADs, at least be intelligent enough and take time to be thoughtful on what the position is before making a extremist judgement.

There are two rules to being an AD.

Rule 1. By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program.

Rule 2. Don't forget rule 1.

 

[BoilerBonz]

There are two rules to being an AD.

Rule 1. By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program.

Rule 2. Don't forget rule 1.

In MB's defense, the BOT and former Prezs have given him different rules:

1. balance your budget

2. don't forget rule 1.

But MB is the one who has set about achieving rule #1 on the back of the football program. Which is how we get what we got.

 

[BoilerStutz]

MB is an empire builder. Throughout history these sorts of leaders often got so excited about the fancy things they were building that they neglected the revenue sources and ultimately the people. When money got short and there was no food to eat, the masses often became quite angry and the leader generally experienced a very unpleasant demise. While Morgan is thrilled with his natatorium, unfortunately it is only a cost center and a major one at that. No mobs will form and march to the athletic department, but I imagine the non-revenue sports will begin to experience the pain that the dismal football program is already experiencing. Every dollar counts in big-time athletics and King Burke turned his back on the major source of his fun money.

Funny, he could have strengthened football while more slowly adding reasonable facilities for the non-revenue sports. But Morgan got greedy, and the entire department will now pay the price.

 

[Boiler8285]

Entire department has never been consistently good. Nice seasons here and there but typically mediocre results across the board. MBB is what most would argue is our best sport. When was the last final four? AD is not expected to deliver much and he doesn't.

 

[BoilerBonz]

Entire department has never been consistently good. Nice seasons here and there but typically mediocre results across the board. MBB is what most would argue is our best sport. When was the last final four? AD is not expected to deliver much and he doesn't.

True, as I said, the BOT and former Prezs have given MB these 2 rules:

1. balance your budget

2. don't forget rule 1.

Winning would be nice if it makes achieving rule #1 easier, but it hasn't been a priority at the top since Hovde.

 

[Grad2009DPT]

I guess I have a few observations:

If we learn from football, the grass is not always greener to fire someone and bring in a new person.

I agree I wish Burke would make some better decisions, and I am not against the idea of getting a new AD. I am just saying pump the brakes on the argument that the AD should be fired because the head football coach went for 2 instead of kicking an extra point, as an example. Burke should be doing better with branding and should do better at making Purdue the team of Indy, Chicago, and Ft Wayne.

I agree he has had some coaching hiring blunders. I would be interested in national titles under Burke vs the rest of Purdue history though. I would like to see Burke make sure that Purdue continues the climb to become the premier diving school. In 10 year have 2 divers that won multiple titles is very impressive.

As far as the football must win rule: I feel kentucky, kansas, duke, IU, UNC, Syracuse, and Arizona AD departments are all doing well. But I agree it is easier if football is good.

As far as the updates to the non-revenue sports, I feel like he did them at the right time. You can not add seats to a football stadium that does not currently sell out. As Brees was finishing up he updated Ross-Ade. Shortly after that he updated Mackey. So when the B1G money came in those to facilities had just received updates... so was he supposed to renovate the stadiums less then 10 years later while baseball and softball were 30 years out of date. I feel a more reasonable argument should be that those should have never gotten that far out of date.

 

[Foolmeoncefan]

There are two rules to being an AD.

Rule 1. By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program.

Rule 2. Don't forget rule 1.

No doubt. No doubt at all. And success doesn't even need to be defined as repeated national titles every year or 15 10-1 seasons in a row like Ohio State. But Purdue has got to be good enough to legitimately contend for a title every 4 years or so with solid continual improvement week to week, and that is not too much to ask. That may not happen but the team has got to be good enough to develop. If you have 4 years of coaching kids and proper training in place, I cannot imagine a scenario how kids can be seniors getting stomped by freshman or younger clubs no matter who they have unless the coach didn't do his job. I cannot remember the last 10 win season Purdue had. It would be one thing if this was an Einstein equation. But it isn't, which is so astounding how mediocre the team has been for decades, even our Rose Bowl squad lost 3 games that year.

Purdue fans didn't ask Burke to build the Great Pyramids with stones or to build the Twin Towers. All we did was say build a decent looking football stadium that icons things Purdue is known for that the students can call home; a little "cool factor" that gives Purdue its own identity and draws in fans. This is not what we have. That should be a no-brainer. Which leads me to your rule 1. haha...there are only 2 rules. Rule 1, and when it comes to rule 2, don't forget about rule 1. So true. It is understood without saying. Yet, Purdue fans are still having this conversation 15 years later. We have a high school field with a giant press box that other teams fans come to Purdue and make fun of Purdue fans in their own stadium for being underachieving (that is problem 1 that is over 60 years old now). And why wouldn't they? Most of these fans are used to seeing games in their home stadiums like OSU or Wisconsin, and they come to Purdue making fun of the stadium like it is some MAC place. Taking that very simple stadium step would solve half Purdue's football problems overnight and would attract many of the local recruits that have been opting for other schools and end up riding pine 4 years at OSU instead of starting at Purdue. The football gods help those who help themselves. And Burke doesn't help Purdue football by leaving the football stadium so unfriendly, bland looking, and dull as dishwater. It would be hard to criticize Burke if he delivered on the football stadium. It doesn't have to be LSU or Alabama, but it has got to be as good as a Minnesota or a Wisconsin. I'd like something iconic and drawing at the South Endzone along with a "cool factor" type scoreboard entertainment setup. Some state of the art concessions and some kind of seating adjustment with an upper deck arrangement, even if the bottom zoned seating sectors have to be shrunk to accomplish it, with all the way around luxury box seating from press box side to South end zone. Maybe even a train theme throughout. Some night lights affixed to the stadium that stand out and bring character to the field. No Purdue stakeholder needs to see his school so poorly represented on national TV. It doesn't make this school look good athletically or academically alike by having such a methodically poor showing on TV, particularly by environment in that stadium. If TV shows an image of Purdue with a cool stadium filled with fans having fun, results on the field mean a lot less, because that image sells itself. But when we see a poorly arranged stadium that looks like it was put together without much thought, along with empty seats together, and then uninspiring scene on TV, that image makes us look bad. That has to change.

 

[loftygoal]

No doubt. No doubt at all. And success doesn't even need to be defined as repeated national titles every year or 15 10-1 seasons in a row like Ohio State. But Purdue has got to be good enough to legitimately contend for a title every 4 years or so with solid continual improvement week to week, and that is not too much to ask. That may not happen but the team has got to be good enough to develop. If you have 4 years of coaching kids and proper training in place, I cannot imagine a scenario how kids can be seniors getting stomped by freshman or younger clubs no matter who they have unless the coach didn't do his job. I cannot remember the last 10 win season Purdue had. It would be one thing if this was an Einstein equation. But it isn't, which is so astounding how mediocre the team has been for decades, even our Rose Bowl squad lost 3 games that year.

Purdue fans didn't ask Burke to build the Great Pyramids with stones or to build the Twin Towers. All we did was say build a decent looking football stadium that icons things Purdue is known for that the students can call home; a little "cool factor" that gives Purdue its own identity and draws in fans. This is not what we have. That should be a no-brainer. Which leads me to your rule 1. haha...there are only 2 rules. Rule 1, and when it comes to rule 2, don't forget about rule 1. So true. It is understood without saying. Yet, Purdue fans are still having this conversation 15 years later. We have a high school field with a giant press box that other teams fans come to Purdue and make fun of Purdue fans in their own stadium for being underachieving (that is problem 1 that is over 60 years old now). And why wouldn't they? Most of these fans are used to seeing games in their home stadiums like OSU or Wisconsin, and they come to Purdue making fun of the stadium like it is some MAC place. Taking that very simple stadium step would solve half Purdue's football problems overnight and would attract many of the local recruits that have been opting for other schools and end up riding pine 4 years at OSU instead of starting at Purdue. The football gods help those who help themselves. And Burke doesn't help Purdue football by leaving the football stadium so unfriendly, bland looking, and dull as dishwater. It would be hard to criticize Burke if he delivered on the football stadium. It doesn't have to be LSU or Alabama, but it has got to be as good as a Minnesota or a Wisconsin. I'd like something iconic and drawing at the South Endzone along with a "cool factor" type scoreboard entertainment setup. Some state of the art concessions and some kind of seating adjustment with an upper deck arrangement, even if the bottom zoned seating sectors have to be shrunk to accomplish it, with all the way around luxury box seating from press box side to South end zone. Maybe even a train theme throughout. Some night lights affixed to the stadium that stand out and bring character to the field. No Purdue stakeholder needs to see his school so poorly represented on national TV. It doesn't make this school look good athletically or academically alike by having such a methodically poor showing on TV, particularly by environment in that stadium. If TV shows an image of Purdue with a cool stadium filled with fans having fun, results on the field mean a lot less, because that image sells itself. But when we see a poorly arranged stadium that looks like it was put together without much thought, along with empty seats together, and then uninspiring scene on TV, that image makes us look bad. That has to change.

Change will not occur until a culture of excellence and winning is mandated as a goal at the very top of the University.

 

[Foolmeoncefan]

Change will not occur until a culture of excellence and winning is mandated as a goal at the very top of the University.

That is absolutely true. Can you imagine the mindset of these people running the university right now? They need ousted and replaced with winners and people who want to compete. We need a competitor culture mandated. These people have set the bar so low that it is hard to be as good as you were last year let alone better the next year. We need people who set the bar high. Initiatives need taken at the trustees level and they need to start better representing the interests of those involved. If they don't have any ideas they need to start taking a hard look at their competition and meeting the bar that they set. Because we get neither from these current administrators that are completely incompetent. If they have no ideas how to advance the university then they need to at least be good enough to mimic their competition. If they can do neither they need fired. The results speak for themselves. It is easy to know where these people stand when we are last in every category.

 

[BoilerBonz]

I guess I have a few observations:

If we learn from football, the grass is not always greener to fire someone and bring in a new person.

I agree I wish Burke would make some better decisions, and I am not against the idea of getting a new AD. I am just saying pump the brakes on the argument that the AD should be fired because the head football coach went for 2 instead of kicking an extra point, as an example. Burke should be doing better with branding and should do better at making Purdue the team of Indy, Chicago, and Ft Wayne.

I agree he has had some coaching hiring blunders. I would be interested in national titles under Burke vs the rest of Purdue history though. I would like to see Burke make sure that Purdue continues the climb to become the premier diving school. In 10 year have 2 divers that won multiple titles is very impressive.

As far as the football must win rule: I feel kentucky, kansas, duke, IU, UNC, Syracuse, and Arizona AD departments are all doing well. But I agree it is easier if football is good.

As far as the updates to the non-revenue sports, I feel like he did them at the right time. You can not add seats to a football stadium that does not currently sell out. As Brees was finishing up he updated Ross-Ade. Shortly after that he updated Mackey. So when the B1G money came in those to facilities had just received updates... so was he supposed to renovate the stadiums less then 10 years later while baseball and softball were 30 years out of date. I feel a more reasonable argument should be that those should have never gotten that far out of date.

There's a lot more that goes into properly supporting football than just renovating a stadium, or adding seats. 10 years ago Tiller was openly complaining about inadequate outdoor practice fields, weight training facilities, locker rooms, meeting rooms, coaches' offices, and most importantly, coaches' salaries. MB addressed none of these issues and instead spent money, that was coming from football, on non-revenue sports. Meanwhile, programs that were our peers 10 - 15 years ago, like Wisconsin, Iowa, and MSU, were investing serious money in football. As the recent study documented, we're last in the B1G in the football facilities, and we wonder why we can't recruit effectively?! And who is responsible?! Isn't it amazing that Daniels made a statement last month, during the bye week, that no coaching staff could be successful in the B1G with our facilties, yet no one asks, who is responsible for us falling this far behind?!!!

Was Fred Glass or the IU Varsity Club secretly allowed to run our Athletic Dept for a decade so they could trash our football program? No, our AD, BOT, and former Prezs did it on their own!!!!!!

And who is held accountable? As far as I can see, only Danny Hope, John Shoop, and Greg Hudson. Maybe they all deserved to go, but they sure as heck aren't the root of the problem!!! This is why those who've followed closely for years want MB out!

 

[Grad2009DPT]

You all have provided good points. It is unfortunate and some what ironic that Cordova did not care at all about sports and yet the sports recreation center is named after her. ha ha ha

 

[boilermaker75]

You all have provided good points. It is unfortunate and some what ironic that Cordova did not care at all about sports and yet the sports recreation center is named after her. ha ha ha

Her only accomplishment was being named president of Purdue. She did nothing positive here. Is there a rule that a building has to be named for an ex-president no matter how incompetent they were?

 

[boilermaker75]

There are two rules to being an AD.

Rule 1. By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program.

Rule 2. Don't forget rule 1.

But if he followed "Rule 1 By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program" he would not only have accomplished "Rule 1 balanced your budget," but he would have achieved a surplus budget. With football ticket sales next year he is going to miserably fail on "rule 1 balance your budget." So he should be fired for failing on his mandate.

 

[BoilerBonz]

But if he followed "Rule 1 By whatever legal means necessary have a successful football program" he would not only have accomplished "Rule 1 balanced your budget," but he would have achieved a surplus budget. With football ticket sales next year he is going to miserably fail on "rule 1 balance your budget." So he should be fired for failing on his mandate.

I agree 100%. This is why healthy organizations don't identify financial results as their strategic goals. Healthy organizations recognize the financial results will follow from achieving the correct strategic goals. For Purdue Athletics, the #1 goal should be competitive football, as you say, and everything else will follow. But the fact is that this hasn't been the strategic goal. Instead, the #1 strategic goal has been two part, one explicit and part two implied: 1) improve facilities for non-revenue sports, and 2) balance the operating budget at the expense of investment in football.

 

[Statey]

Change will not occur until a culture of excellence and winning is mandated as a goal at the very top of the University.

I can appreciate the dissatisfaction with the football program, but I strongly disagree with the notion that "excellence and winning" in sports should be at the top of this university's (or any university's) goals. The President and Board of a school should be focused on the larger institution. There is a LOT more to running a state university with 40k students and 5k+ employees than ensuring the football team has 10 wins annually and sells out of the football stadium. Again, I understand the complaint, but I think your expectations are just a tad out of line.

 

[BoilerBonz]

I can appreciate the dissatisfaction with the football program, but I strongly disagree with the notion that "excellence and winning" in sports should be at the top of this university's (or any university's) goals. The President and Board of a school should be focused on the larger institution. There is a LOT more to running a state university with 40k students and 5k+ employees than ensuring the football team has 10 wins annually and sells out of the football stadium. Again, I understand the complaint, but I think your expectations are just a tad out of line.

Don't be a bonehead. No is talking about football being the #1 goal or priority of the university! We're talking about what should be the PU Athletic Department's goals and priorities.

 

[Statey]

Don't be a bonehead. No is talking about football being the #1 goal or priority of the university! We're talking about what should be the PU Athletic Department's goals and priorities.

If you look at the post he responded to, and then his response, it would appear that he meant exactly what he wrote, that Purdue University should place a greater importance - nay, the greatest importance - on winning and excellence in sports. If he didn't mean what he wrote, and instead meant what you wrote, then his post wouldn't have made any sense given the post he replied to.

Your friend,
Bonehead

 

[loftygoal]

If you look at the post he responded to, and then his response, it would appear that he meant exactly what he wrote, that Purdue University should place a greater importance - nay, the greatest importance - on winning and excellence in sports. If he didn't mean what he wrote, and instead meant what you wrote, then his post wouldn't have made any sense given the post he replied to.

Your friend,
Bonehead

Thanks. I certainly am not proposing we get to where Georgia is at today regarding firing a coach that has developed a winning respectable program. But where Georgia is at this point in time short of firing that coach should be a goal. Another example is Stanford that is a very fine academic institution and it has a successfully respectable football program. Heck we were there under Tiller until we refused to support him. Arguably we are achieving the goal of being competitive in football today -- we were in all but a couple of games. Since when did winning become a dirty word? These guys on the field haven't had the objective of being competitive since they played Pop Warner. They are out there to win and have been since they were in middle school. You can't watch Purdue football today without getting the impression that winning is not the primary goal -- it's alright as long as we keep it close. This is nonsense but it is where we are at because that is our goal - to be competitive. And excellence and winning goes beyond sports. Did Daniels get to where he is by being competitive? In politics you don't even remember the loser -- do you even remember Al what's his name that lost the Presidential election? Educational excellence is what separates the good from the great institutions. You will never be a winner or great if it isn't a goal and I submit that this is the biggest problem we've got today.