Former football player and IU staffer said to be target for new Penn State AD
Pat Kraft
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I worked with Pat about a dozen years ago when he was at Indiana, and I was super impressed by his passion and vision for turning Indiana into a football powerhouse. There are so many people in the position he had here that don't give a shit about a) the school they're working for b) football. He was a breath of fresh air. I wish him continued success in his career and look forward to the day he comes back home to take over here.
I don't know if IU just didn't pursue him or if he turned IU down, but he should have been the new AD when Glass left.... For several years he has been considered one of the best and brightest minds in college athletics...... he has the respect and ear of those in power... he's listened to and gets things done.... and, with as little influence as IU seems to have anymore in the B1G, let alone the NCAA, he would have been a much better choice than what was made. Good for him, I wish him the best.
Not a miss if there isn't an opening. AD was always going to be handed to Dolson, for better or for worse. Once there is an actual opening available, I'm sure he'll get a long look along with Chris Reynolds.
Pat Kraft would be a wonderful AD. Let’s face it: the best, and biggest revenue schools in the country hire guys who give a shit about football and their basketball teams prosper off the investments made from football revenue into basketball facilities and staff. You cannot survive in a P5 conference unless your AD places a mandate that expects winning in football. They know where their bread is buttered. You get both rolling and you have something special.
It's a choice about what you want to prioritize, basketball or football. No surprise, IU chose to go with the basketball guy over the football guy. Idk much about Kraft so I'm not going to say I think he'd be a better AD than Dolson, but clearly he's a very smart mind if Penn State is pursuing him for their AD job. But I will say I wish whoever is in charge would prioritize football just as highly as basketball. They've squandered all the momentum the program had coming off the 2020 season and Dolson seems all but okay with it. At Indiana, you only have 2020 level of buzz around the football program once every couple of DECADES. You need to take advantage by investing in facilities that are competitive with the top of the B1G and giving your HC enough money to find elite assistants, or all it will ever be is a 2 year high before falling back into mediocrity.
I'm rooting for Bell and have yet to form an opinion about whether I like the hire or not, but I will say, his hiring pretty clearly shows IU is not willing to pay big bucks for an OC. I could not see a Walt Bell resume even getting in the door at the OSU, UM, PSU, and even MSU's of the big ten if they had an opening at OC. IMO, the coordinator that manages the HC's weakness(CTA is a defensive HC, so his weakness is offense), is the most important assistant a coach has, if you're serious about trying to make the 2019 season the standard at Indiana, you need to shell out the dough to get a top of the line candidate. Dolson proved with that he is not willing to do that both with the Bell hiring, as well as CTA having to take out of his own salary to get rid of one of his assistants. Dolson has mismanaged the football program since taking over as AD, *sigh* but at IU the fans don't hold you accountable for the football team's performance, all they care about is basketball.
Piggy backing off what BRCB said, it takes a real commitment to football to be a top team in the SEC/B1G. But the teams that have made that commitment are rewarded handsomely from a financial standpoint, and have used that to invest in the basketball program. The same can not be said if you reverse the roles. Just look at the FB blue bloods vs the BB blue bloods and how competitive they are in their secondary sport. FB: Bama, UGA, Clemson, USC, OU, OSU, Michigan, ND. Every one of those but UGA has made the tourney at least once in the last two years. Showing that all of these programs are fielding relatively competitive if not strong basketball teams. Now look at the basketball blue bloods: UK, UCLA, IU, KU, Duke, UNC. All 6 are historically known as bottom tier P5 football programs and only recently have UK and UNC started to take FB seriously and actually improve from a results standpoint, but in general it's been a massive struggle for these schools to do anything in FB despite being national brand names in B-ball. The lesson, football can have a much stronger impact on improving basketball than the other way around. I don't expect us to start spending OSU or ND money on FB, but the sense of apathy the athletic department has for our FB program when FB is a proven cash cow from a ROI standpoint in a way that basketball simply isn't, is extremely frustrating.
I'm rooting for Bell and have yet to form an opinion about whether I like the hire or not, but I will say, his hiring pretty clearly shows IU is not willing to pay big bucks for an OC. I could not see a Walt Bell resume even getting in the door at the OSU, UM, PSU, and even MSU's of the big ten if they had an opening at OC. IMO, the coordinator that manages the HC's weakness(CTA is a defensive HC, so his weakness is offense), is the most important assistant a coach has, if you're serious about trying to make the 2019 season the standard at Indiana, you need to shell out the dough to get a top of the line candidate. Dolson proved with that he is not willing to do that both with the Bell hiring, as well as CTA having to take out of his own salary to get rid of one of his assistants. Dolson has mismanaged the football program since taking over as AD, *sigh* but at IU the fans don't hold you accountable for the football team's performance, all they care about is basketball.
Piggy backing off what BRCB said, it takes a real commitment to football to be a top team in the SEC/B1G. But the teams that have made that commitment are rewarded handsomely from a financial standpoint, and have used that to invest in the basketball program. The same can not be said if you reverse the roles. Just look at the FB blue bloods vs the BB blue bloods and how competitive they are in their secondary sport. FB: Bama, UGA, Clemson, USC, OU, OSU, Michigan, ND. Every one of those but UGA has made the tourney at least once in the last two years. Showing that all of these programs are fielding relatively competitive if not strong basketball teams. Now look at the basketball blue bloods: UK, UCLA, IU, KU, Duke, UNC. All 6 are historically known as bottom tier P5 football programs and only recently have UK and UNC started to take FB seriously and actually improve from a results standpoint, but in general it's been a massive struggle for these schools to do anything in FB despite being national brand names in B-ball. The lesson, football can have a much stronger impact on improving basketball than the other way around. I don't expect us to start spending OSU or ND money on FB, but the sense of apathy the athletic department has for our FB program when FB is a proven cash cow from a ROI standpoint in a way that basketball simply isn't, is extremely frustrating.
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This won’t go over well on the hoops forum. 😩
Of course, many there are still in denial that the biggest basketball programs year-in and year-out in our conference are the “football schools” who blew by IU in the late 90s as we clung on to the fumes of days past. It’s why the majority of schools in the top-25 basketball polls each year are very good football schools. It’s the model moving forward.
It’s a prehistoric concept that you cannot have two men’s sports with stellar support. Tell that to Wisconsin, Michigan State or Kentucky. All have fan bases who are there during each season and pack their venues. IU lost the opportunity many years ago during the late 80s regarding investment, but that’s a story for a different day.
Champagne tastes on a beer budget. Cheap Suit University.
IDGAF about the hoops forum. IU brings in a **** ton of money every year in BB, and that's great. The only problem is we spend most of that revenue on expenses, barely bringing in any profit to spend improving IU athletics. Dolson simply doesn't know how to manage prioritizing FB and BB, ofc at a historic basketball power like IU your going to care more about being a top 25 team and competing for B1G titles in basketball than football. But the discounting of the FB program like it doesn't even matter is ridiculous.
MS is an absolute joke of a home football stadium, it's a good thing it was half empty in the final few games of the season because the facilities(concessions/bathrooms) literally cannot keep up if the stadium is at capacity. My friend went to the bathroom at the start of halftime during the Cincy game, he didn't get back until there were two minutes left in Q3. It's embarrassing, and that's on top of the below average practice facilities and budget for assistants.
But don't worry, we can just continue to upgrade our basketball facilities, that will get it done. The basketball program is fine Scott, if you want to actually bring in a profit and help all 24 division I sports IU has to offer, not only basketball and not only football, than you wouldn't allocate 90% of your attention to the basketball program and 10% to everything else.
The lack of preparation for the UC game was appalling. People spent well over a quarter of the game trying to get concessions, and plenty of stands either ran out of food and beverages or were poorly staffed, or both. The score was disappointing, but we also showed we weren’t ready for prime time with the stadium experience, either. I know there were many complaints, but were they ever addressed by Scott Dolson?
No idea, he didn't publicly acknowledge anything. Not that we're ever going to get a turnout like that again, even though it was a big game for IU and they were coming off 2020 so we actually thought they could be a good team, the only reason it was sold out was Cincy fans. I read that was the first time IU had more than 50K fans come to a game since 2008, and after that abysmal season we're not going to get a turnout like that any time soon.
But we were still woefully unprepared, if your goal is to be a program where fans fill ever seat in the stadium, you need to know how to actually handle a sellout crowd. We proved we didn't, luckily for Dolson the team's game went to hell and the final two home games were 40% full lol.
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IU and Dolson do need to do more for the football program as the Cincinnati showed how poorly it was run. Don't stay with the same vendors if they can't improve the experience at the stadium. Find a way to improve the bathroom breaks as how long it takes is ridiculous. We have waited too long for improvements in coaching salaries, stadium, parking, and changing pass out rules.
Yes - Scott addressed those complaints. He decided to hire 2 chaperones for Woody’s first year as a college coach. He then told the concession stands to hand out more Dixie cups on hot days and direct fans to the nearest toilets for fresh water.
It's amazing Indiana didn't pursue Kraft with a vengeance. They put a guy in there who may not be able to spell football!!! 🙄
Dolson is a 🏀 man, certainly not what any football man desires in the AD spot.
Not sure that Scott is even a “basketball guy” either. He loves IU but not sure he knows anything about the hiring process.
Coaching salaries - Adam Henry is making $75,000 more than Heard was making for same responsibilities. A definite step in the right direction on salaries (two year contract running from 3/17/22 to 1/15/24)
So where do we go to get concessions staff for gamedays? I believe concession stands are manned by volunteer groups from the community who work for a percentage of the sales. And they aren't lining up to fill those stands. To those who say hire concessions workers, it's pretty tough to find folks who are willing to only work 6-7 times a fall. Memorial Stadium isn't a venue that hosts 200+ events a year.
The problem isn't isolated to Athletics. How many restaurants you know of are fully staffed? And they have the opportunity to work a whole lot more than a few Saturday's in the fall. Even RPS has issues finding enough dining staff and those are pretty flexible jobs.
Dolson was promoted in large part because he's wired into the big $$$ donors.
PS Tom Allen's first home game (OSU under the lights with ESPN in attendance) had over 50,000K.
The problem isn't isolated to Athletics. How many restaurants you know of are fully staffed? And they have the opportunity to work a whole lot more than a few Saturday's in the fall. Even RPS has issues finding enough dining staff and those are pretty flexible jobs.
Dolson was promoted in large part because he's wired into the big $$$ donors.
PS Tom Allen's first home game (OSU under the lights with ESPN in attendance) had over 50,000K.
It is a problem finding workers willing to man the concessions but clearly the old system isn't working. I am sure there are companies out there that does concessions for the profits that could come into IU memorial stadium.
Concessions were outsourced to Chartwell's 20 years ago under McNeeley. They couldn't find local gameday workers either. All it did was cost Athletics about a million/year in lost revenue. IU brought it back in-house after 5 or so years.
You are correct, I misread the article, the Cincy game was the first game with over 50K in attendance since 2007 against an opponent that was not OSU or UM. But the point that we clearly don't deal with it on a weekly basis still holds.
RPS is struggling at hiring people because they pay nothing, the same can be said for the stadium workers. The difference is stadium workers only work 40 hours in an entire season whereas RPS workers work 40 hours a week. You don't have to break the bank to find a way to give out a competitive salary to workers who work for you for 40 hours PER YEAR. Dolson was promoted because he was next in line for the job and IU is too lazy to actually do real research on how to improve their athletic department.
Dolson doesn't know the first thing about improving the football program and if things don't turn around soon his legacy for football will be the AD that squandered the biggest opportunity for IUFB has had to turn around it's program in decades. This athletic department is simply way too content to be a one trick pony with sports. I'm not saying don't care about basketball, Indiana is historically known as a basketball power and has far more support for it's basketball program than it's football program. But at least strive to get to the third tier of the B1G with the Iowa's and the Minnesota's of the conference. Wisconsin used to be extremely mediocre in FB, 30 years ago they committed to improving and now they're as competitive as anyone not named OSU. We can blame divisions, and there is some truth to that hurting us, but these divisions will not be around forever(my guess is they won't be in their current format 5 years from now) and that's not really a fair excuse to not even try and improve the FB program.
As BRCG said, the days where being an elite FB and BB school were mutually exclusive are long gone, yet our athletic department has chosen to go the route of committing all of their energy to bringing back basketball, while leaving the football program to go back to it's historical punching bag for the top of the B1G status.
IU's minimum is $10.15/hr for all part time hourly workers now.
How much more are you willing to pay for a hot dog and a coke or your kid's required meal plan?
How much more are you willing to pay for a hot dog and a coke or your kid's required meal plan?
I made $13.50 an hour working at a fast food restaurant in the suburbs of Illinois last summer. Bloomington Indiana is as liberal as suburban Illinois, the University that causes the liberalism can do better than $10.15 an hour for gameday workers, they're literally only paying them for the equivalent of one week per year in total hours, if you want people to take a job like that, with such limited, inconsistent, and inconvenient hours, you need to pay more than you pay the average RPS worker.
I guess what I'm saying is that it's a complex issue beyond just "pay people more" and you'll have plenty of staff willing to work, and there isn't a magic wand for Dolson to wave and solve the problem.
You ok with $10 cokes and $15 hotdogs?
And what does "liberal" or "conservative" have to do with it?
You ok with $10 cokes and $15 hotdogs?
And what does "liberal" or "conservative" have to do with it?
Plenty of other stadiums in and out of the BiG have much better run concessions, with prices comparable to IU’s and in stadiums with many more fans. It’s not a matter of paying more, it’s a matter of prioritizing it so the product improves. Are you saying IU fans should just live with this when everyone else manages to do it much better?
Thanks for helping make my point 
It's a complex issue that requires millions of dollars and extensive renovation to solve. Include the woeful restrooms in the stadium in that as well. IU has chosen (for good or ill) to spend their monies on things tied more to student-athletes and recruiting.
What we need to improve was never on par with most other schools in the B1G starting in 1960.
We'd need to build new concessions and restroom facilities along the perimeter of the existing East and West stands to fix the problems, but spending that kind of money is hard to justify for a venue used at most 10 times a year.
It's a complex issue that requires millions of dollars and extensive renovation to solve. Include the woeful restrooms in the stadium in that as well. IU has chosen (for good or ill) to spend their monies on things tied more to student-athletes and recruiting.
What we need to improve was never on par with most other schools in the B1G starting in 1960.
We'd need to build new concessions and restroom facilities along the perimeter of the existing East and West stands to fix the problems, but spending that kind of money is hard to justify for a venue used at most 10 times a year.
It’s actually simple. Renovate the concourses and add and enlarge several bathrooms. Have a app available to order and pay for food and drink and dedicate a few lines at the stands for that.
i went to every home game the Gonso-Isenbarger-Butcher yrs, and crowds were pretty good.
don't recall anyone thinking MS was anything but fabulous, other than the troughs.
and IU literally sold out every IU-PU game for decades, with bigger crowds than IU-Cinn, with less restrooms than now, because there was no NEZ or SEZ other than bleachers.
and the Mallory yrs had some good attendance.
but then half the crowd didn't consume a gallon of beer before the game then either.
what a bunch of whiners.
MS is an absolutely great stadium.
no better place to see a game in the B10.
and no stadium has enough bathrooms for everyone to go at once. (especially considering the gallon of beer first thing).
news flash, don't wait till halftime to go.
and adding a few restrooms to the perimeter shouldn't be that big a deal.
that said, if concessions are a big issue, just allow food trucks to set up shop with no hassle in/out access, or organizations to set up large plastic ice bins filled with bottled water and pop and fruit drinks in the concourses to sell.
for decades i always carried in a McD's diet coke with me, and nobody ever said a thing.
don't recall anyone thinking MS was anything but fabulous, other than the troughs.
and IU literally sold out every IU-PU game for decades, with bigger crowds than IU-Cinn, with less restrooms than now, because there was no NEZ or SEZ other than bleachers.
and the Mallory yrs had some good attendance.
but then half the crowd didn't consume a gallon of beer before the game then either.
what a bunch of whiners.
MS is an absolutely great stadium.
no better place to see a game in the B10.
and no stadium has enough bathrooms for everyone to go at once. (especially considering the gallon of beer first thing).
news flash, don't wait till halftime to go.
and adding a few restrooms to the perimeter shouldn't be that big a deal.
that said, if concessions are a big issue, just allow food trucks to set up shop with no hassle in/out access, or organizations to set up large plastic ice bins filled with bottled water and pop and fruit drinks in the concourses to sell.
for decades i always carried in a McD's diet coke with me, and nobody ever said a thing.
I think you kinda helped make mine.Thanks for helping make my point
It's a complex issue that requires millions of dollars and extensive renovation to solve. Include the woeful restrooms in the stadium in that as well. IU has chosen (for good or ill) to spend their monies on things tied more to student-athletes and recruiting.
What we need to improve was never on par with most other schools in the B1G starting in 1960.
We'd need to build new concessions and restroom facilities along the perimeter of the existing East and West stands to fix the problems, but spending that kind of money is hard to justify for a venue used at most 10 times a year.
It’s not a priority for IU to make the fan experience minimally good from a concessions or “personal “ standpoint. Just about every other BiG and P5 school uses their stadiums the same number of times a year yet they justify the expense. It’s too bad they feel that way, especially since so many other areas of the stadium are very fan friendly.
All I'm saying is I am not willing to accept the we can't pay workers slightly more on gamedays when we're way understaffed and have a sellout crowd from Universities that gouge TF out of students for no reason and have billion dollar endowments. IMO it's more mismanagement of funds from the athletic department and IU more broadly than it is "we just don't have the money". Indiana University and it's Athletic Department is way too well funded for them to not be able to afford renovations to MS. It's more of an issue with the facilities themselves than the workers. Yes they were woefully understaffed for the Cincy game, but honestly there being a line damn near to the gate just to use the restroom wouldn't be changed no matter how many people were working the concessions line.
Also the liberal vs conservative thing is simple, in IL, $10.15 isn't even minimum wage because they have democratic policymakers. Bloomington is just as liberal as IL more broadly, and IU is the main reason for that so you would expect them as the employer that drives in all of the liberal voters to have more standard democratic policies when it comes to minimum wage for their employees(which would probably put it closer to 12 or 13 dollars an hour, to keep up with increased CoL, and would most likely be enough to get a full staff on gamedays) rather than defaulting to what they view as competitive.
I'm sorry but the only people that think MS is a great stadium are people that haven't been to a great stadium. Capacity wise, MS is fine, the right size given the general enthusiasm around IUFB. But the press box is terribly outdated, and the bathrooms+concessions cannot accommodate a capacity crowd.
You can just accuse your fellow IU fans of being drunks, but the concessions and bathrooms should've been in high demand for the Cincy game whether it was beer people were consuming, or it was water. Idk if you actually went to the game, but it was mid 80s and peak sun, definitely felt like high 80s, low 90s in the stands. It would be unhealthy for people not to be drinking a substantial amount of water to keep hydrated with the heat bearing down on them for 3+ hours. What does that cause, an increase in people going to the concession stand, and an increase in people using the restroom. To blame them for "waiting until halftime to go" has to be one of the most ignorant and nonsensical statements I've ever read from a Dolson apologist. There was a huge line the ENTIRE game, obviously it was at it's peak at halftime, but if you wanted to either use the restroom, or go to the concessions stand at any point during the game, you were going to be gone for a half hour MINIMUM.
That's simply ridiculous and would be considered disgraceful at half the stadiums in the B1G. But because this is Indiana and no one seems to care about the FB program no one holds the athletic department accountable for a bottom tier stadium that can't even accommodate a capacity crowd. Instead we accuse our fans of drinking too much before the game and not timing their bathroom breaks correctly. MS is a bottom 5 stadium in the B1G for any objective fan and uncompetitive with top tier B1G stadiums. It's laughable to say that you would rather watch a game at MS than the likes of The Big House, The Shoe, and Camp Randall. MS is another shining example of Indiana not being committed to FB and the Athletic Department fully embracing the "we're a basketball school and we don't care who knows it" mentality.
Over 40 years of working in broadcasting I've been to a ton of college and pro football stadiums and basketball arenas and.... sadly, I have to agree.
For a power 5 school, the amenities at MS for fans... or, as I should say, the total lack of adequate facilities.... should be an embarrassment to any IU alum. It's great that they FINALLY put some money into the player facilities... now, it's time to give fans a decent experience... they have the money.
Ui
$12-13 an hour will not get someone to work. McD's is paying $15-16 all over Indiana and it is not deemed a liberal bastion! The worker pool in B-town is small compared to the larger cities most Universities are in. There is currently more jobs than people willing to work for $15 hr.
Further proof that if you are paying 10.15 an hour you shouldn't blame your issues on being understaffed, you don't offer a competitive wage.
Taking the issue of concessions and restrooms separately, I think there is a fairly simple solution for the first but not so much the other. I was at the Cincinnati game (as I am for all home games) and the concession situation was disgraceful. I had no issues with the restroom line - and I'm sure I went at least twice because I always do.
As for concessions, switching from fountain drinks to exclusively bottled beverages would speed up lines significantly, and reduce the number of workers required. It would also allow for the addition of small kiosks offering only drinks and pre-packaged snacks, adding additional concession capacity with very minimal investment.
Restrooms are another issue entirely. In addition to materials and labor to build/install more toilets and enclosures ( assuming you add actual new restrooms), you also have to consider the need to add water and sewer capacity - which would likely require millions of $ for those areas on the east and west sides that are original to the stadium. Furthermore, if you touch those existing restrooms or utility pipes, you have to upgrade everything there to present code - plumbing, electrical, ventilation, doors, ADA requirements, etc. Those are complex and expensive improvements. Unfortunately, this ain't like remodeling or adding a bathroom to your house.
I've been to tons of stadiums and the restrooms and concession lines are terrible for all of them. Many of the stadiums in the B1G are old and poorly equipped to handle the hoards of people. Michigan State, in particular, is terrible. Maryland, not so much, lol.
Moving from troughs to urinals slowed things down materially.
Fountain drinks are three times more profitable.
MS has been transformed into a beautiful venue with fantastic Video boards. good audio and the best tailgate areas in the midwest. Need more bathrooms and concessions but those are small things when you can run out and grab some food and drink at the tailgate at halftime.
Looks like pu may address that mess of a stadium, hopefully the field as well?
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