Northwestern has fired coach Pat Fitzgerald

Status
Not open for further replies.
#526      

Bucktown

B
Bucktown
sbillini said:
Generally agree. That's why I was so adamant that all the crying the various DIA's were doing during COVID was a bunch of hogwash, especially when they were threatening to (and in some cases, actually did) permanently shut down some non-rev sports.

Ultimately, "non-profit" in these circumstances, whether it be DIA, overall universities, even things like hospitals, etc., generally means 1) having parts of your business that perpetually lose money and being ok with that and 2) doing a piss poor job of managing costs - both of these because you're not expected to show a profit. But the people running the show are still getting paid very well (don't have to manage their costs either!) and there are still profitable parts of the business.

Where I think the issue with DIA's is especially egregious is the fact that they are so intertwined with such profitable "for profit" businesses (i.e. TV contracts, and general for profit sports operations) that the "non profit" $ amounts are just crazy, particularly given the fact that the primary reason for their existence is through the university at large which basically sees no $ from those DIA deals. P5 DIAs should be run as a for-profit businesses with the university being the primary shareholder.
Click to expand...
The whole non-profit (i.e. tax free system) is certainly out of control. Many non-profit hospitals are another example of effectively for-profit businesses that pay no income or property taxes. However, unless there is a public policy shift, switching the DIA to a for-profit model would immediately reduce the the amount of funds they have available due to the taxes needing to be paid on excess revenue.
 
#527      

Illini2010-11

I
Sugar Grove
Illini2010-11
Bucktown said:
The whole non-profit (i.e. tax free system) is certainly out of control. Many non-profit hospitals are another example of effectively for-profit businesses that pay no income or property taxes. However, unless there is a public policy shift, switching the DIA to a for-profit model would immediately reduce the the amount of funds they have available due to the taxes needing to be paid on excess revenue.
Click to expand...
I have worked at non-profits for my entire career post U of I, and while the missions are noble, they generally operate life for-profit machines.
 
#528      

sbillini

sbillini
st petersburg, fl
sbillini
Bucktown said:
The whole non-profit (i.e. tax free system) is certainly out of control. Many non-profit hospitals are another example of effectively for-profit businesses that pay no income or property taxes. However, unless there is a public policy shift, switching the DIA to a for-profit model would immediately reduce the the amount of funds they have available due to the taxes needing to be paid on excess revenue.
Click to expand...
I’m not suggesting they officially become “for profit” entities (and thus pay taxes). Just operate as one for practical purposes. It happens in other areas of higher education, not sure why it doesn’t happen here. Yes they pay for non rev sports, but that should be just part of the mission.
 
#533      

Point-Illinois

P
Point-Illinois
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I bet these reviews will “find” quite a bit.

And NW will get on its high horse to show that it is the pillar of accountability and is willing to severely hurt its own athletic department in the name of integrity, trust, and purity.

We will hear about how radical candor was allowed, encouraged even, during the interviews and disbelief at how the department has gone off the rails. There will be firings and stepping down of positions because people failed these athletes.

And if it had all come out on its own…after the initial hazing investigation, I’d believe it. Instead, this is all only happening because they got caught and subsequently made every wrong decision you could in the aftermath…starting with the 2 week slap on the wrist.
 
#535      

Lincster27

L
Lincster27
Point-Illinois said:
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I bet these reviews will “find” quite a bit.

And NW will get on its high horse to show that it is the pillar of accountability and is willing to severely hurt its own athletic department in the name of integrity, trust, and purity.

We will hear about how radical candor was allowed, encouraged even, during the interviews and disbelief at how the department has gone off the rails. There will be firings and stepping down of positions because people failed these athletes.

And if it had all come out on its own…after the initial hazing investigation, I’d believe it. Instead, this is all only happening because they got caught and subsequently made every wrong decision you could in the aftermath…starting with the 2 week slap on the wrist.
Click to expand...
I've been through a couple of similar "reviews," and you're not wrong. Schill is answerable to the faculty, who are, no doubt, calling for the abolition of the athletic programs, as they would on any campus. Faculty generally detest athletics because of the money that flows through the programs, which could be better spent on strengthening their own Sumatran Basket Weaving majors. In order to pacify the faculty, these reviews will result in several findings, which will be used for the bloodletting you described, so that Schill can look the faculty in the eye and say "I heard you, and gutted athletics."

The big question, though, is Gragg's future. He's the logical sacrificial lamb, and I think ejecting him would be justified. Perhaps Schill wants incontrovertible evidence of lack of institutional control before he does that, which I understand.

In the end, though, athletics don't play the same role at Northwestern as they do at Illinois. Northwestern has never really cared that much about winning. If it did, Fitz would have been fired after last season based on record alone. None of the other sports are tearing it up in the B1G, or nationally, but that's not the point in Evanston. Hell, they don't even care about having an in-state B1G rival, and neither do we. Frankly, very few people give a damn about athletics at Northwestern. Because of that, Schill can use the results of the reviews to make symbolic changes, which may result in fewer wins. The silver lining is that nobody really cares about that, so the symbolism works beautifully. Gragg either falls on his sword, or is thrown under the bus; Schill can claim to have taken bold action based on the data from the reviews, demonstrating to the faculty that athletics is not a sacred cow. Everyone's happy, and Schill keeps his job.
 
#536      

john1952

john1952
john1952
Lincster27 said:
I've been through a couple of similar "reviews," and you're not wrong. Schill is answerable to the faculty, who are, no doubt, calling for the abolition of the athletic programs, as they would on any campus. Faculty generally detest athletics because of the money that flows through the programs, which could be better spent on strengthening their own Sumatran Basket Weaving majors. In order to pacify the faculty, these reviews will result in several findings, which will be used for the bloodletting you described, so that Schill can look the faculty in the eye and say "I heard you, and gutted athletics."

The big question, though, is Gragg's future. He's the logical sacrificial lamb, and I think ejecting him would be justified. Perhaps Schill wants incontrovertible evidence of lack of institutional control before he does that, which I understand.

In the end, though, athletics don't play the same role at Northwestern as they do at Illinois. Northwestern has never really cared that much about winning. If it did, Fitz would have been fired after last season based on record alone. None of the other sports are tearing it up in the B1G, or nationally, but that's not the point in Evanston. Hell, they don't even care about having an in-state B1G rival, and neither do we. Frankly, very few people give a damn about athletics at Northwestern. Because of that, Schill can use the results of the reviews to make symbolic changes, which may result in fewer wins. The silver lining is that nobody really cares about that, so the symbolism works beautifully. Gragg either falls on his sword, or is thrown under the bus; Schill can claim to have taken bold action based on the data from the reviews, demonstrating to the faculty that athletics is not a sacred cow. Everyone's happy, and Schill keeps his job.
Click to expand...

Faculty generally detest athletics because of the money that flows through the programs, which could be better spent on strengthening their own Sumatran Basket Weaving majors. In order to pacify the faculty, these reviews will result in several findings, which will be used for the bloodletting you described, so that Schill can look the faculty in the eye and say "I heard you, and gutted athletics."

I not think faculty shuld have much voice in how the athletic department is run. Just as don't think the athletic deparment should try to exert influence over how academics is run. However, I was under the impressin that at P5 schools the money comes out of different pots, the university pot and the athletic association pot. Is that not correct? This is definintely not true at many private schools which run millions of dollars in deficits to run Division 1 programs e.g Bradley University, where the money does come primarily from one pot.
 
#537      

TheChief4Life

TheChief4Life
TheChief4Life
Universities are educational institutions; some of which happen to have sports programs. The faculty should have a lot of say in how sports programs affect the university for which they work. Especially if sports becoming king comes at the expense of the quality of education.
 
#538      

NJJ871

N
NJJ871
john1952 said:
Faculty generally detest athletics because of the money that flows through the programs, which could be better spent on strengthening their own Sumatran Basket Weaving majors. In order to pacify the faculty, these reviews will result in several findings, which will be used for the bloodletting you described, so that Schill can look the faculty in the eye and say "I heard you, and gutted athletics."

I not think faculty shuld have much voice in how the athletic department is run. Just as don't think the athletic deparment should try to exert influence over how academics is run. However, I was under the impressin that at P5 schools the money comes out of different pots, the university pot and the athletic association pot. Is that not correct? This is definintely not true at many private schools which run millions of dollars in deficits to run Division 1 programs e.g Bradley University, where the money does come primarily from one pot.
Click to expand...

In the modern University (outside of STEM fields), Sumatran Basket Weaving is considered a respectable major, along with all of the rigorous Humanities majors that end with the word "Studies"
 
#542      

oldman

O
oldman
The “new investigation” needs to find some “newly discovered evidence” that was not available for defendable reasons to the original investigator in order to counter Webb’s breach of contract argument that Fitzgerald was initially not fired because he was not aware the hazing was occurring. Right now the only believable explanation they are giving is “we did not understand the size of the public stink that was going to occur.”
 
#543      

spotter

S
spotter
Player plaintiff news conference going on now. Apparently there are some ... uncomfortable details being talked about.
 
#545      

spotter

S
spotter
dailynorthwestern.com

Schill said Northwestern will engage in accountability reviews

In his first public statement in more than a week, Northwestern University President Michael Schill announced a series of steps intended to prevent hazing and bullying in the school’s athletic programs Tuesday. These steps follow a week of high-profile turnover in NU’s athletic department...
dailynorthwestern.com dailynorthwestern.com
 
#549      

ILLINIShox24

ILLINIShox24
Orange Krush '04 & '05
ILLINIShox24
Should the B1G start looking for a replacement for NW? They may end up with no athletics the way this is trending.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.