Tom Allen's buyout is supposedly 20 Million dollars.....

[BradStevens]

From a monetary standpoint you are more successful with a good FB program. You can still be successful at BB, swimming, etc. My big question is why participate at the top level if your not going to be committed ? I'm about to the point of IU dropping FB altogether. However on your list Duke, KY, Arizona have decent FB programs, Villa and Gonzaga don't have D-1 FB and UConn is an aberration.

Money. Football program had a net profit of $27 million last year.

People keep talking about IU being "committed" as if that is going to change things. We are never going to compete with OSU, Michigan, Penn St. other than in once-in-a-generation flukes like the Covid year (with a Heisman candidate level talent at QB). NIL is going to ensure that.

 

[zeke4ahs]

Alumni support is a huge part of college sports/money. The GI bill and the boomer legacy consisting of high achieving and rich males put college sports where it is today. They are the “boosters”. Given the state of student demographics now, mostly female, outrageous student debt, changing the focus and meaning of a college education, and the declining importance of wealth and entrepreneurship in college graduates, I give college sports another generation or so before the whole thing collapses. Maybe then intercollegiate sports will return to sanity.

I agree with most of that but the demographics of some of the boosters are changing also, hence Cindy Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and Sandra Eskenazi Team Center.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Football takes a lot more than excellent coaching

IU fails because it wants to roll out 3 balls into a gym and go 32-0 without any more support from the school. A kids dad can drive the bus. The moms can sell cookies. And it’s paid for.

I still believe the story I heard about Coach DiNardo. Remember his tour around the state of Indiana to visit high schools to see if any of them had any coaches who could coach or players who could play? I heard that when he tried to turn in his expenses, he handed them to one of the secretaries in the athletic office, and asked her to get him reimbursed. She handed him a bunch of forms, and said “that’s not how we do things here.“ I don’t know if it’s true, but I believe it. It sounds exactly like what a big high school athletic office would do.

The NEZ and the SEZ were STARTING POINTS. But to IU, they were “good to go for another 50 years.”

Small thinkers thinking small thoughts.

Red light specials on popcorn.

 

[BradStevens]

I think we should just give up D1 sports entirely.

If by "we," you mean the nation, I'm good with that.

If you mean only Indiana, then I'd have to say no.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

If by "we," you mean the nation, I'm good with that.

If you mean only Indiana, then I'd have to say no.

I mean both. I don't think they should be a thing, but I'd also be fine if IU made the leap on its own without any guarantee of followers.

 

[mrhighlife]

A few years ago (2019?), the TV money went to the building fund. There's a press release out there somewhere saying half of the funding for the new GIS building was from the athletic department's TV money. Several schools in the conference have done it.

They get a check from the BIG every year I believe.

Regardless. The 20 million is not coming from the academic side of the budget. They have separate budgets.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

If by "we," you mean the nation, I'm good with that.

If you mean only Indiana, then I'd have to say no.

People talk about all the donations that sports brings in, but those go to sports. I wonder if there are studies on sports competing with academics. If someone donates $5000 to the Varsity Club then gets a call from the foundation or alumni, are they more or less likely to give. I suspect they are competing for the same pool of cash.

 

[mcmurtry66]

The soccer and especially baseball facilities are night and day compared to the 80s when I was there. The baseball team played on the equivalent of an empty lot covered in broken glass and riddled with gopher holes.

the soccer facility is god awful. any field surrounded by a track is just plain terrible. and baseball might be okay for hte big ten but it's nothing compared to stadiums in the south and southeast

 

[mcmurtry66]

People talk about all the donations that sports brings in, but those go to sports. I wonder if there are studies on sports competing with academics. If someone donates $5000 to the Varsity Club then gets a call from the foundation or alumni, are they more or less likely to give. I suspect they are competing for the same pool of cash.

i give to my college soccer program (directly and restricted) and every year they send me sweet sweet swag in the mail. i would never give to any university sitting on a fat endowment. no chance

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

i give to my college soccer program (directly and restricted) and every year they send me sweet sweet swag in the mail. i would never give to any university sitting on a fat endowment. no chance

Yeah but none of us are looking to emulate your decision making.

 

[hookyIU1990]

They get a check from the BIG every year I believe.

Regardless. The 20 million is not coming from the academic side of the budget. They have separate budgets.

Did you move the goalposts in a football related thread? LOL

Everyone understands that they get a payout every year from the media rights grant agreement. Nobody said the buyout was coming from the academics side. I was merely saying that the TV money could be used for something other than athletics and it has been.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Yeah but none of us are looking to emulate your decision making.

right. that's more than fair

 

[Marvin the Martian]

i give to my college soccer program (directly and restricted) and every year they send me sweet sweet swag in the mail. i would never give to any university sitting on a fat endowment. no chance

So sports in no way helps the academic standing? Which becomes a cart/horse issue.

Endowment is great, it enables a university to "live" on the interest, much like your average investor. If they spend out the principal, they eventually will be really suffering.

 

[BradStevens]

i give to my college soccer program (directly and restricted) and every year they send me sweet sweet swag in the mail. i would never give to any university sitting on a fat endowment. no chance

IU endowment currently sits at $3 billion.

Yet another taxing proposal: any endowment over $100 million gets taxed. No exceptions.

I'd also be happy if the Indiana legislature required its public universities to spend down endowments each year, by either the amount earned or 1-2% of the principal (with limits on sustainability, etc.) that go directly towards across the board tuition reduction.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

Yeah but none of us are looking to emulate your decision making.

Certainly not by donating to the S word program

 

[hookyIU1990]

the soccer facility is god awful. any field surrounded by a track is just plain terrible. and baseball might be okay for hte big ten but it's nothing compared to stadiums in the south and southeast

Not disagreeing, but they're both night and day from what they were.

 

[mcmurtry66]

So sports in no way helps the academic standing? Which becomes a cart/horse issue.

Endowment is great, it enables a university to "live" on the interest, much like your average investor. If they spend out the principal, they eventually will be really suffering.

i don't know if sports helps academic standing. i really don't. i would think making the school more attractive increases applicants which raises standing but i don't know.

as for an endowment i know exactly how they work. schools don't need endowments that large.

 

[mcmurtry66]

IU endowment currently sits at $3 billion.

Yet another taxing proposal: any endowment over $100 million gets taxed. No exceptions.

I'd also be happy if the Indiana legislature required its public universities to spend down endowments each year, by either the amount earned or 1-2% of the principal (with limits on sustainability, etc.) that go directly towards across the board tuition reduction.

amen

 

[secondasky]

I think we should just give up D1 sports entirely.

I sure as hell gave them a lot of money over the years that seems to have gone down the drain.

 

[BradStevens]

Not disagreeing, but they're both night and day from what they were.

I don't recall the baseball field being that bad in the early 90's.

Funny story: fall of freshman year, a bunch of high school buddies met at the softball field by Foster to play home-run derby with a tennis ball. Really fun for about 45 minutes.

Then a woman with spikey hair pulls up (turned out to be the head softball coach, I think), gets out of the car and starts screaming profanities at us like we've never heard before or since. We ran and climbed over the outfield fence as she continued to yell at us. I swear we could hear her yelling for another 30 minutes afterwards (it was probably five). My buddy who was in ROTC and served for 4 years in the army still claims to this day he's never been chewed out like that since.

 

[secondasky]

Money. Football program had a net profit of $27 million last year.

People keep talking about IU being "committed" as if that is going to change things. We are never going to compete with OSU, Michigan, Penn St. other than in once-in-a-generation flukes like the Covid year (with a Heisman candidate level talent at QB). NIL is going to ensure that.

You could be correct on the NIL problem. I am hoping it will be reined in soon. Just hoping.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

I mean both. I don't think they should be a thing, but I'd also be fine if IU made the leap on its own without any guarantee of followers.

IU will probably start a trans-gender team in all sports - and be the founding member of the Kinsey Conference. Winner gets the Masters and Johnson Trophy.

But winning the Big Ten in football ain’t on the agenda.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

I just reported you for this post. It was my first time ever doing it.

@BradStevens he's not lying, he really did. So, "First Warning."

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

IU will probably start a trans-gender team in all sports - and be the founding member of the Kinsey Conference. Winner gets the Masters and Johnson Trophy.

But winning the Big Ten in football ain’t on the agenda.

Can you please, please, please stop trying to shoehorn your dumb fetishes into every single goddamn thread?

 

[Marvin the Martian]

IU endowment currently sits at $3 billion.

Yet another taxing proposal: any endowment over $100 million gets taxed. No exceptions.

I'd also be happy if the Indiana legislature required its public universities to spend down endowments each year, by either the amount earned or 1-2% of the principal (with limits on sustainability, etc.) that go directly towards across the board tuition reduction.

IU's yearly operating budget is over $4 billion/year. $100 million isn't even a rainy day fund. I don't disagree that there should be a point that is "too much". I doubt $100 million is it. If all $100 million went to scholarships, the most they could depend on is $10 million from interest. I don't know how much IU hands out, they say "millions". So $100 million would pretty much be scholarships only.

 

[mcmurtry66]

IU's yearly operating budget is over $4 billion/year. $100 million isn't even a rainy day fund. I don't disagree that there should be a point that is "too much". I doubt $100 million is it. If all $100 million went to scholarships, the most they could depend on is $10 million from interest. I don't know how much IU hands out, they say "millions". So $100 million would pretty much be scholarships only.

The problem isn’t unique to iu. It’s across the board. Bloated admins. Arms race of facilities for students. On and on. So if iu wants to keep up they have to play the game. Absurdities abound

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Can you please, please, please stop trying to shoehorn your dumb fetishes into every single goddamn thread?

Don’t knock fetishes. Fetishes got Kinsey tenure.

 

[BradStevens]

@BradStevens he's not lying, he really did. So, "First Warning."

Do I get a second warning if I call him a p*%^phile?

 

[UncleMark]

IU endowment currently sits at $3 billion.

Yet another taxing proposal: any endowment over $100 million gets taxed. No exceptions.

I'd also be happy if the Indiana legislature required its public universities to spend down endowments each year, by either the amount earned or 1-2% of the principal (with limits on sustainability, etc.) that go directly towards across the board tuition reduction.

That's just dumb. Assuming the endowment is managed properly and appropriately and the proceeds are spent to further the acadmic mission of the University, then the bigger the better.

 

[UncleMark]

People talk about all the donations that sports brings in, but those go to sports. I wonder if there are studies on sports competing with academics. If someone donates $5000 to the Varsity Club then gets a call from the foundation or alumni, are they more or less likely to give. I suspect they are competing for the same pool of cash.

The Foundation will tell you that sports are the "gateway" to further contributions that benefit the academic side. As young Varsity Club donors become more professionally successful and wealthier, they become the target audience for the Foundation.

 

[mcmurtry66]

That's just dumb. Assuming the endowment is managed properly and appropriately and the proceeds are spent to further the acadmic mission of the University, then the bigger the better.

@BradStevens yeah we might be wrong on this one. I underestimated the size of IU’s operating budget. I stand by what I said re the absurd arms race but …..

 

[Marvin the Martian]

The problem isn’t unique to iu. It’s across the board. Bloated admins. Arms race of facilities for students. On and on. So if iu wants to keep up they have to play the game. Absurdities abound

There is a unique problem for colleges, the consumers are the students. The students are "want want want". No one here will believe me, but DEI is very popular among students. Students want newer facilities and technology. The days of crowding into dorm rooms to save money with barrack showers are long gone.

So students won't come unless you offer everything and a unicorn, but they don't like paying for everything and a unicorn. I don't see a great solution. We drop out of the arms race, we won't be bringing in as many or as highly rated students. Especially with the cliff 2 years away, everyone is worried about the lack of numbers coming up quickly.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

The Foundation will tell you that sports are the "gateway" to further contributions that benefit the academic side. As young Varsity Club donors become more professionally successful and wealthier, they become the target audience for the Foundation.

That is what I expect them to say. They aren't about to start a feud with athletics.

 

[UncleMark]

That is what I expect them to say. They aren't about to start a feud with athletics.

The Foundation has $3B in it's coffers. How much does the Varsity Club have?

I'd say the model has proven out quite well.

 

[hookyIU1990]

That is what I expect them to say. They aren't about to start a feud with athletics.

Wouldn't be surprised if the IUF floated a loan to the Athletic department for the Allen buyout.

 

[BradStevens]

There is a unique problem for colleges, the consumers are the students. The students are "want want want". No one here will believe me, but DEI is very popular among students. Students want newer facilities and technology. The days of crowding into dorm rooms to save money with barrack showers are long gone.

So students won't come unless you offer everything and a unicorn, but they don't like paying for everything and a unicorn. I don't see a great solution. We drop out of the arms race, we won't be bringing in as many or as highly rated students. Especially with the cliff 2 years away, everyone is worried about the lack of numbers coming up quickly.

Do aspiring highly rated students care about the quality of a dorm or the quality of the education? On the list of things they care about, I'm guessing quality of living conditions doesn't rank in the top 5.

I looked up IU's acceptance rate to prove that we could stand to lose a lot of applicants. Whoops. IU accepts 82% of its applicants. Good god. No wonder our academic reputation has fallen. That number is up ten points over the last ten years (was 72% in 2013). And of those accepted, only 25% enroll.

 

[mcmurtry66]

There is a unique problem for colleges, the consumers are the students. The students are "want want want". No one here will believe me, but DEI is very popular among students. Students want newer facilities and technology. The days of crowding into dorm rooms to save money with barrack showers are long gone.

So students won't come unless you offer everything and a unicorn, but they don't like paying for everything and a unicorn. I don't see a great solution. We drop out of the arms race, we won't be bringing in as many or as highly rated students. Especially with the cliff 2 years away, everyone is worried about the lack of numbers coming up quickly.

Yup. I remember community showers on campus. Different times. Hell @Bowlmania that’s where I got the nickname “beer can.” Bc my pecker is as thick as a “beer can.” That nickname carried me through college at the bars and parties.

 

[BradStevens]

Yup. I remember community showers on campus. Different times. Hell @Bowlmania that’s where I got the nickname “beer can.” Bc my pecker is as thick as a “beer can.” That nickname carried me through college at the bars and parties.

If you start tagging Bolwmania every time you make a reference to your dick, it will become one of the funniest and weirdest (some might say creepy, but not me) WC traditions.

 

[UncleMark]

Wouldn't be surprised if the IUF floated a loan to the Athletic department for the Allen buyout.

Of course they could. And there would be nothing wrong with that as long as IUF got a return on its money. The AD shouldn't make it a habit and will have to make some budgeting adjustment to account for it, but if donors don't step up and the AD can't finance it themselves, then fine, do what it takes.

 

[BradStevens]

Of course they could. And there would be nothing wrong with that as long as IUF got a return on its money. The AD shouldn't make it a habit and will have to make some budgeting adjustment to account for it, but if donors don't step up and the AD can't finance it themselves, then fine, do what it takes.

I'd rather they used that fund to back up-and-coming real estate moguls, looking to improve the lives at your park and turn it into a destination retirement community.

And I'm only half joking.