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  2. Looks like CMU got a two year waiver from the NCAA to stay in FBS without the minimum number of teams. https://amp-freep-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.freep.com/amp/3148230001?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freep.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2F2020%2F06%2F04%2Fcentral-michigan-football-ncaa-waiver-fbs%2F3148230001%2F
  3. Yesterday
  4. Actually the number at the time I posted the article on ZipsNation was at least 100 because between publication of the article and my posting here Wright state dropped three sports. One thing that makes the Wright State cuts extremely interesting is that they knew the cuts would drop them below the minimum number of sports required to qualify as a DI school. They plan to petition the NCAA for a waiver after the fact! I think I heard the AD and university pres mumbling their new mantra "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers."
  5. And that's exactly why tuition has been raising so rapidly. Schools aren't competing with one another to offer the highest level education at the lowest cost possible. They're competing with one another to build the tallest rock climbing wall, coolest lazy river, most extravagant dorm apartments, etc. then pass that cost along to the students. Schools are doing this because not so street smart 18 year old kids are willing to borrow thousands of extra dollars per year for these things and thanks to the government they have access to near limitless capital. Of course these same kids after graduating then complain once they have to start repaying those loans. That's a whole other discussion.
  6. Agreed. That feeds into my point that the COVID-19 crisis gave them the cover to did it with little or limited opposition.
  7. What we, and many schools like us, got caught up in was the "building process". Universities were building buildings for the sake of building buildings. Akron went through a much needed construction cycle. There was little thought put in to what would happen other than "if you build it, they will come". It was magical thinking but it made people happy because everyone likes new things. New provides a good energy and something leaders have to capitalize on. Ours didn't. When things started to go bad, they took it to another extreme and made cutting everything in their path the priority undercutting the mission of the university, which is to educate people and develop people into better citizens. The cutting process makes people upset because it is a symbol of failure and a very public one at that. As soon as possible, they need to stop talking about what is being cut and transition to talking about what the university does for the students alumni and larger NE Ohio community. Getting off of the negative should be a priority.
  8. I think the current trend will continue for MAC level schools. The days of picking up a hot coordinator at a P5 school like we did with Brookhart is over and has been for a few years. They are making too much money at P5 schools to leave for less money and more responsibility. MAC level schools will take a risk on a much less proven position coach at a P5 school or a less proven coach from a lower division. I think the price point we got TA for will become a starting norm.
  9. For the kid's sake, let's hope he doesn't take him to an Italian restaurant.
  10. On the bright side I'm not sure if the talent in New Rochelle, NY is as enticing
  11. We'll have to hope he's no longer using hookers in his recruiting strategy.
  12. It will be fascinating to see what happens during the next round of head coach salary negotiations. Surely the trend of replacing current coaches with more expensive coaches (or giving massive raises to retain coaches) will end at least for one "silly season."
  13. You can look at my post history. I've long advocated that the scholarship cost is greatly overstated as it really doesn't cost 25k-30k to educate, house, and feed 1 additional student or multiple those figures by 10 if you want to look at 10 scholarship reduction. The cost of coaches, staff, travel, facilities etc are very real. Finding ways of reducing those overheads should be the focus. Ideally making all the olympic sports like baseball where it's self sustaining, or at least close to it, should be the goal. The point I was making was we fail to complete 1 goal before moving to the next. Having overly ambitious goals can certainly have negative consequences. Look at all the debt Akron took on to expand its campus to accommodate an enrollment that it envisioned would surpass 40k. Now we're at less than half that and are still forced to service those debt payments on building we don't really even need.
  14. Paragraph 1: The problem is the only news you hear about the university and probably a lot of universities like Akron is what they are cutting from their budget. What the Idaho president was saying was these cuts are self defeating in many ways and we could be in much worse shape today. Again, takes me back a couple of decades now, but Jack Welch was the "cutting" guy. Basically, he became famous for making obvious decisions look complicated by wrapping Six Sigma around them. Did it really take a 12 month Six Sigma study to figure out that after NAFTA, a company could make more money off of a $15 toaster made in Mexico vs the USA? Over time GE became a shell of itself and could not support itself after the endless cuts. Five years ago, the stock closed around $30. Yesterday it closed around $8.50. Cuts may be needed, but they are not the same thing as thought and should not be defined as a success. Paragraph 2: Lofty goals are a good thing. I can't think of a worse idea than to tell the general public they no longer need their money. A university will always need money and in big chunks. On a positive note, I like the administrative changes our current president has made at the university. The consolidation of administration will cut a lot of overhead without sacrificing the mission of education. It was a thoughtful direction. Unlike how cuts at GE impacted their customers in a negative way, these changes should not impact the students in a negative way.
  15. our first recruiting battle against Rick Pitino?
  16. JUCO PG Wayln Napper has received an offer from Akron 6’2” 185# Dodge City CC also has offer from Iona
  17. I've been hearing the last 3 or so years how the university has in its budget a plan to reduce the athletic deficit by x-number of dollars. Often times built into that figure was some unrealistic boost to ticket revenue. In that time the athletic budget has only increased, not decreased. This year is the first time they actually followed through on making the cuts they said they would. The thing is they should have followed through on their plan 3-4 years ago then they wouldn't have needed to make such drastic changes now. I don't think this is an AD problem as much as a university as a whole problem. Every few years the university releases a new plan. I don't remember all the quirky names. The most memorable one for me is the landscape for learning. They set lofty goals of raising hundreds of millions of dollars. They never come close to hitting all those goals nor do they publish progress reports along the way. They might accomplish 25%-50% of what they wanted to do before they roll out the next one and it's even grander than the previous one. I'm waiting for the day the University sends me an email that says "Thank you for your contribution! We have currently completed our fundraising goal and don't need anymore of your money at this time."
  18. “College presidents are just not thinking this through,” former University of Idaho president Chuck Staben said. “I cannot believe they are making all these probably bad financial decisions for their university when what we need them to do in the face of this pandemic and pending budget cuts from tuition shortfalls and state funding shortfalls is to make good financial decisions that benefit students.” source Seems Dr. Staben understands the purpose of a university is to create societal leaders. There needs to be a connection between universities, their students, alumni and communities with the idea of exposing the existing students to the alumni and broader community in a way that enhances their college experience. All three are important and some of the financial decisions universities are now making need to take that into consideration. Athletics can be a big part of bringing those three elements together. Athletics is too often looked at as something separate from the "normal" parts of the university and that is wrong. Schools like ours and conferences like ours need to get together and decide how they can do that together. How do you use athletics to give those three groups a great experience with their universities? Are current athletic directors and conference leaders capable of looking in this direction or are they just paper pushers and opportunists? You know where I fall here. These universities and conferences badly need to get together and decide exactly how they want to improve the experience of students, alumni and communities or when this is all over, it's going to go straight back to the "building process" and we all know how that ends. Years ago now, a division leader of a company I was working at asked me what I thought the company did wrong. I already knew the answer and pretended to think about it for a couple of seconds. Since I really didn't like working at the company, I decided the best thing to do would be telling the truth. So I said, "Fred, there are too many action plans and not enough action". He looked at me like I called his mother a bad name. He was perfect athletic director material. The MAC and conferences like ours need to get together and take action and stop being victims of the current landscape of college athletics. It simply isn't giving us what we need.
  19. I'm surprised that number isn't higher than 97. I'm sure more sports would have been cut had the NCAA approved dropping the minimum teams required.
  20. I suspect that the COVID-19 crisis was a convenient opportunity for administrators to make cuts to athletic programs that they had contemplated for some time. It gave them the cover they needed to get it done without strong opposition.
  21. After reading that story, I’m a big fan of Idaho President Chuck Staben.
  22. https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/30/number-of-eliminated-college-sports-programs-nearing-100/
  23. Last week
  24. I think it's important to show that Ira Yedlin is no stranger to police violence. He knows of what he speaks -- and he's an elderly white Jewish chap. This tells the source of his fear for DeAndre. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/08/27/protester-my-injuries-show-how-police-fell-short-trump-phoenix-rally/599476001/
  25. Arth discussing the team with Jim Donovan- https://www-wkyc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.wkyc.com/amp/article/sports/ncaa/ncaaf/akron-football-coach-tom-arth-talks-to-jim-donovan-about-state-of-program-how-team-is-dealing-with-pandemic/95-3b6b4d05-3bcb-4585-9f3c-aa3ec3f9a6ab
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