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Topic:  RE: higher ed in trouble

Topic:  RE: higher ed in trouble
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Bobcat1996
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/10/2020 4:45:50 PM 
Interesting story see below.


Weep For Ohio University, But Don’t Forget Athens, Ohio In Your Prayers
Stephen M. Gavazzi
Stephen M. GavazziContributor
Education
I write about leadership, higher ed, and campus-community relationships
On May 2, Ohio University announced layoffs of at least 140 unionized workers, as well as the elimination of a number of non-tenure track and probationary tenure-track positions. These actions were taken as part of a strategy for dealing with a $30 million shortfall in the university’s budget that preceded the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the $110 million cut to higher education first announced on Twitter on May 5 by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, more cuts are virtually certain to take place.

Ohio University faculty and staff members are in an uproar over events surrounding what some have labeled the “May Day Massacre,” and have taken to the streets in protest. Blame has been laid squarely at the doorstep of university administrators, who are viewed by employees as having chronically mismanaged the budget. In reaction, a vote of no-confidence against Ohio University president Duane Nellis (along with his senior vice president for finance) passed overwhelmingly during a faculty senate meeting on May 5. Announcements regarding hiring freezes, the suspension of new capital projects, and the anticipated restructuring of departments and colleges will do little to increase the popularity of administrators in the weeks and months ahead.

Ohio, Athens, Ohio University
Athens is a municipality of approximately 23,000 citizens, which more than doubles in size when over ... [+] UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
As troubling as these events might seem to individuals who are worried about the health of the university, they pale in comparison to the impact that the layoffs and budget cuts will have on Athens, Ohio, the town that hosts this institution of higher learning. Athens is a municipality of approximately 23,000 citizens, which more than doubles in size when over 35,000 college students are added to the mix. Hence, when Ohio University sneezes, Athens is at risk of catching pneumonia.

Today In: Education

“We Get It!”: College Admission Deans Speak Out—Part 2
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The mayor of Athens is Steve Patterson, a former professor of psychology at Ohio University. He stepped out of his faculty role when he was elected mayor in 2016. Fortunately for both the university and the town, especially at this particular juncture in time, Mayor Patterson is well-versed in issues on both sides of the campus-community relationship.

Unlike most other locations hosting large institutions of higher learning in Ohio, Athens is one of the few municipalities whose largest employer is the university itself. For comparison purposes, the University of Akron also announced rather significant cuts on May 6 in order to deal with it own $65 million shortfall, yet the city of Akron likely will not feel the loss to the same extent. Health care, tire manufacturing, and government (Akron is a county seat) make up the top 5 major employers in that Ohio city.

PROMOTED

Mayor Patterson notes that the Ohio University employees who have lost their jobs are mostly residents of Athens County, owing to the relative seclusion of their geographic location. Athens is over a hour’s drive from Columbus, and almost 3 hours from Cincinnati. These residents will not easily find other employment in the immediate vicinity.

The job losses hurt these sorts of college towns in multiple ways. There is the immediate loss of income tax revenue, as well as the loss of the residents’ purchasing power in the local economy. Coupled with the exodus of students this past spring semester, there are foreboding signs of worse things yet to come.

When asked what keeps him up at night, Mayor Patterson points to two main issues. First, he talks about the local businesses that have closed as the result of the extended stay at home order issued by the Ohio Department of Health. “I look down Court Street, and I wonder how many of these restaurants, bars, and shops will be able to afford to open again,” he said. Second, he is concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of college towns to a set of more chronic issues surrounding demographic shifts in traditional student populations. “I worry that this public health issue has ripped the bandage off some warning signs about declining enrollment figures that should have been demanding more of our collective attention all along.”

While reeling, the arrival of more springlike weather has coincided with sprigs of hope for Athens and its inhabitants. Mayor Patterson has assembled his "COVID-19 virtual round table” to deal with the pandemic’s impact on his town and the local economy. Attended by nearly everyone who has anything to do with the fiscal well-being of the region, these meetings are designed to serve as a “rapid response team” to local issues and concerns as they arise.

In addition, and even more hopefully, Mayor Patterson and Ohio University President Nellis continue to meet on a monthly basis, just as they have done since the time the two of them have taken office. In addition, the mayor has been meeting with the university senior leadership team twice a week since March due to the pandemic. It may very well be the case that these intensified interpersonal relationships, the kind that can and should develop between municipal and university leaders, may do more to solidify a coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic than something any other outside entity could offer.
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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/10/2020 8:34:45 PM 
So, I was totally unaware that OHIO University had 35,000 students in Athens and Athens itself had 23,000 people.

0 for 2 on basic facts, he may as well create a YouTube video on pandemics now.
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Pataskala
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Location: At least six feet away from anybody else
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/10/2020 9:14:04 PM 
BillyTheCat wrote:
So, I was totally unaware that OHIO University had 35,000 students in Athens and Athens itself had 23,000 people.

0 for 2 on basic facts, he may as well create a YouTube video on pandemics now.


I'm sure to some townies it seems like 35,000.


We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

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MonroeClassmate
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 7:41:03 AM 
BillyTheCat wrote:
So, I was totally unaware that OHIO University had 35,000 students in Athens and Athens itself had 23,000 people.

0 for 2 on basic facts, he may as well create a YouTube video on pandemics now.


I came here to post a link to this article which I read at 7AM 5/11.

The article I read says, "Athens is a municipality of approximately 6000 citizens, which increases exponentially when over 19000 college students are added to the mix."

Perhaps it had been edited from the earlier version after the author logged in to read Bobcatattack!

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 7:51:48 AM by MonroeClassmate

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Deciduous Forest Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 10:39:53 AM 
MonroeClassmate wrote:
BillyTheCat wrote:
So, I was totally unaware that OHIO University had 35,000 students in Athens and Athens itself had 23,000 people.

0 for 2 on basic facts, he may as well create a YouTube video on pandemics now.


I came here to post a link to this article which I read at 7AM 5/11.

The article I read says, "Athens is a municipality of approximately 6000 citizens, which increases exponentially when over 19000 college students are added to the mix."

Perhaps it had been edited from the earlier version after the author logged in to read Bobcatattack!


It actually says both in the one I just read... there's a photo caption with the larger town/enrollment figures and the article mentions the smaller figures.

Go figure.

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Buckeye to Bobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 10:51:43 AM 
I'm just going to come out and say it, OU was fiscally mismanaged prior to this whole situation. This goes back to when everyone's favorite president (McDavis) was running the show. I can still hear them claiming most fiscally responsible school in the state when I saw chunks of concrete falling off buildings. OU operates like the state of Michigan, keep kicking problems down the road until it blows back up in its face. In addition, the fact that the administration is severely bloated to the point of looking like a sumo wrestler makes it financially insolvent during these times. Strap in if Ohio even sniffs the light of day coming out of this.

Was talking to someone and if I ran athletics at OU, I'd do the following things to instantly save costs:

1. Go to FCS right off the bat. Saves 44 scholarships (22 football and 22 women's scholarships). Rough budget savings is $1.3 million and that doesn't include coaching staff slots that may go with women sports. I also assume a good chunk of the MAC is considering this as an option as we speak, so I cannot wait to see how this goes.
2. Outside of going to Buffalo, CMU, and NIU, everything would be bused the day of game. Forget getting a hotel the night before games, and that includes football and basketball. Sorry, the MAC is a bus league and the fact we even fly to places to me is absurd.
3. Look to see if I can get Solich and Boals to take significant paycuts. The days of coaches making over a half-million are gone in the MAC. If they refuse, well, I can always ramp up my compliance department to look for a reason to fire them and justify it and then proceed to go get a 100k head coach.
4. Tell Solich we're done with the horse crap home-and-homes with the Texas States of the world. Minimum 2 money games right off the bat and if needed do 3 money games. If he wants to keep Marshall, great. Get rid of your precious buy game for home.
5. Tell Boals we're going on the road a lot more. No offense, but Alabama A&M doesn't write checks at all.
6. Since we went FCS, that would also mean that opens the MAC TV deal and probably eliminate MACtion games. Good, move our games back to Saturday and get some revenue out of those games again. Even if it's over 12k in revenue, that's a heckuva lot more than the 3k we were getting. If the MAC moves as a whole, always willing to play chicken with ESPN and see if they still want it.
7. Figure out how to pair basketball weekends in November with football. And I mean as in make those league games right out of the gate so that I can capitalize off of the football team coming to town of our opponent. Tired of seeing too many schools
8. When it becomes "league season" in January, double-headers of men's/women's bb or wrestling (SAME SCHOOL TOO, MAC is stupid about two different schools traveling) become mandatory. I'm sorry, but for weekend games it is imperative to make a true day of these schools a requirement.
9. If needed to get road games, do neutral sites in Columbus every year. Ohio should stick its nose up at Ohio A&M and in particular take advantage of the recruiting territory that is Columbus. A lot of schools (especially Big Ten's that don't get Ohio State on the schedule for that year) would crave to have that game in Columbus. Take advantage of it. In addition, allows us to grow our base there. For those who gripe about taking games away from precious Athens, can it. Survival is the name of the game at this point and if we can take advantage of teams' desperation to be in Columbus for recruiting purposes, let's do it and spit at Ohio A&M too.
10. Everything goes out to bid and not through a stupid department on campus. I'm sorry, but printing services and other campus entities deserves to go the way of the do-do. To be frank, these departments are the greatest ponzi scheme ever concocted that rely on circular funding. Finding out how to slash costs here would be huge.
11. Go digital with everything. No reason to be mailing items or for that matter printing the living daylights out of everything. Printing costs alone would save a significant amount of money.
12. When the timing is right, ultimately have a department that almost relies exclusively on GAs from Ohio. We got a great program and with how cheap a GA is versus a full-time individual, costs could be slashed instantly and with minimal impact if set up correctly. Three year program that consists of their first two years of being GA's and then the final year being the "boss" of the department before moving on to find another job. Rather would treat this like the Oakland A's and when it comes time for them to get paid, they ain't getting it in Athens. Go find the Yankees.
13. Sell the damn stadiums out. It ain't rocket science. Lot of cracks have developed through the years and grassroots selling needs to happen again.
14. Get parking services to quit charging for parking rates that are stupid. If they do not, I literally threaten to move all my parking for events (even OHSAA events) over to the fairgrounds where they can legitimately tailgate and tell them to go pound sand. Goes back to point 11. I swear on everything holy that if they ran the tournament out of Athens they would never be forgiven. Along those lines, making a deal with the county specifically would be to my favor in terms of rates and everything else. Wouldn't have to pay parking services to use their lots for our gamedays which generate revenue.
15. Rent my buildings out as frequently as possible. Why aren't there business meetings in Peden Stadium or companies attempting to do pick-up basketball in the arena, let alone concerts. We don't sell our facilities hard enough, I think it's time to consider.
16. Raise funds for an indoor basketball/wrestling practice facility at some point in the near future AND HAVE IT BE RAN BY ATHLETICS. Sorry, personal vendetta for the football facility that the university runs Walter, which goes without saying figure out how to tell campus to buzz off finally in some way so we aren't paying them a "management fee."

Just some off the wall ideas, but these alone should slash a significant amount off the budget. Feel free to chime in with other ideas as needed.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 11:35:25 AM by Buckeye to Bobcat

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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 10:55:17 AM 
Again, the author losses all credibility in his views when he fails to get basic facts correct. Anyone who has ever been here knows there are not 23,000 residents and 35,000 students. At 58,000 people when students are in session, that would make Athens the 13th largest city in Ohio, above Kettering and below Springfield.

And joy's of on-line publications, they can change their mistakes at anytime.
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Alan Swank
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Location: Athens, OH
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 12:43:28 PM 
BillyTheCat wrote:
Again, the author losses all credibility in his views when he fails to get basic facts correct. Anyone who has ever been here knows there are not 23,000 residents and 35,000 students. At 58,000 people when students are in session, that would make Athens the 13th largest city in Ohio, above Kettering and below Springfield.

And joy's of on-line publications, they can change their mistakes at anytime.


That's funny because right after several people here in town posted that to their FB page, I commented on one that his numbers were way off. Guess somebody told him. Here's his profile.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenmgavazzi

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 12:50:52 PM by Alan Swank

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BillyTheCat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 1:19:18 PM 
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:


1. Go to FCS right off the bat. Saves 44 scholarships (22 football and 22 women's scholarships). Rough budget savings is $1.3 million and that doesn't include coaching staff slots that may go with women sports. I also assume a good chunk of the MAC is considering this as an option as we speak, so I cannot wait to see how this goes.
2. Outside of going to Buffalo, CMU, and NIU, everything would be bused the day of game. Forget getting a hotel the night before games, and that includes football and basketball. Sorry, the MAC is a bus league and the fact we even fly to places to me is absurd.
3. Look to see if I can get Solich and Boals to take significant paycuts. The days of coaches making over a half-million are gone in the MAC. If they refuse, well, I can always ramp up my compliance department to look for a reason to fire them and justify it and then proceed to go get a 100k head coach.
4. Tell Solich we're done with the horse crap home-and-homes with the Texas States of the world. Minimum 2 money games right off the bat and if needed do 3 money games. If he wants to keep Marshall, great. Get rid of your precious buy game for home.
5. Tell Boals we're going on the road a lot more. No offense, but Alabama A&M doesn't write checks at all.
6. Since we went FCS, that would also mean that opens the MAC TV deal and probably eliminate MACtion games. Good, move our games back to Saturday and get some revenue out of those games again. Even if it's over 12k in revenue, that's a heckuva lot more than the 3k we were getting. If the MAC moves as a whole, always willing to play chicken with ESPN and see if they still want it.
7. Figure out how to pair basketball weekends in November with football. And I mean as in make those league games right out of the gate so that I can capitalize off of the football team coming to town of our opponent. Tired of seeing too many schools
8. When it becomes "league season" in January, double-headers of men's/women's bb or wrestling (SAME SCHOOL TOO, MAC is stupid about two different schools traveling) become mandatory. I'm sorry, but for weekend games it is imperative to make a true day of these schools a requirement.
9. If needed to get road games, do neutral sites in Columbus every year. Ohio should stick its nose up at Ohio A&M and in particular take advantage of the recruiting territory that is Columbus. A lot of schools (especially Big Ten's that don't get Ohio State on the schedule for that year) would crave to have that game in Columbus. Take advantage of it. In addition, allows us to grow our base there. For those who gripe about taking games away from precious Athens, can it. Survival is the name of the game at this point and if we can take advantage of teams' desperation to be in Columbus for recruiting purposes, let's do it and spit at Ohio A&M too.
10. Everything goes out to bid and not through a stupid department on campus. I'm sorry, but printing services and other campus entities deserves to go the way of the do-do. To be frank, these departments are the greatest ponzi scheme ever concocted that rely on circular funding. Finding out how to slash costs here would be huge.
11. Go digital with everything. No reason to be mailing items or for that matter printing the living daylights out of everything. Printing costs alone would save a significant amount of money.
12. When the timing is right, ultimately have a department that almost relies exclusively on GAs from Ohio. We got a great program and with how cheap a GA is versus a full-time individual, costs could be slashed instantly and with minimal impact if set up correctly. Three year program that consists of their first two years of being GA's and then the final year being the "boss" of the department before moving on to find another job. Rather would treat this like the Oakland A's and when it comes time for them to get paid, they ain't getting it in Athens. Go find the Yankees.
13. Sell the damn stadiums out. It ain't rocket science. Lot of cracks have developed through the years and grassroots selling needs to happen again.
14. Get parking services to quit charging for parking rates that are stupid. If they do not, I literally threaten to move all my parking for events (even OHSAA events) over to the fairgrounds where they can legitimately tailgate and tell them to go pound sand. Goes back to point 11. I swear on everything holy that if they ran the tournament out of Athens they would never be forgiven. Along those lines, making a deal with the county specifically would be to my favor in terms of rates and everything else. Wouldn't have to pay parking services to use their lots for our gamedays which generate revenue.
15. Rent my buildings out as frequently as possible. Why aren't there business meetings in Peden Stadium or companies attempting to do pick-up basketball in the arena, let alone concerts. We don't sell our facilities hard enough, I think it's time to consider.
16. Raise funds for an indoor basketball/wrestling practice facility at some point in the near future AND HAVE IT BE RAN BY ATHLETICS. Sorry, personal vendetta for the football facility that the university runs Walter, which goes without saying figure out how to tell campus to buzz off finally in some way so we aren't paying them a "management fee."



1&2. Unless the entire MAC goes FCS or you go Dayton's FCS route, your travel cost go up significantly and you can not bus day of the game, to Northern Iowa, the Dakota's, etc.

3. Solich would retire.

4&5. Are going to happen anyway.

8. That decision to organize the way games are now v. the double header days of the same school was done at the request of the schools and Title IX considerations. Not sure your programs want to revert back.

9. We tried that once, it was a miserable failure.

10. AMEN brother!

14. Parking was ran by Athletics until someone got caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

15. Great question! revenue for space usage is less than 20k a year.

As for putting this at the feet of McDavis, I will disagree. During McDavis' tenure lots of imporvements were made. Him and Glidden suffered from total neglect of facilities from basically 1970 to the late 90's. It's been a game of catch up ever since.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 2:16:10 PM 
BillyTheCat wrote:
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:


1. Go to FCS right off the bat. Saves 44 scholarships (22 football and 22 women's scholarships). Rough budget savings is $1.3 million and that doesn't include coaching staff slots that may go with women sports. I also assume a good chunk of the MAC is considering this as an option as we speak, so I cannot wait to see how this goes.
2. Outside of going to Buffalo, CMU, and NIU, everything would be bused the day of game. Forget getting a hotel the night before games, and that includes football and basketball. Sorry, the MAC is a bus league and the fact we even fly to places to me is absurd.
3. Look to see if I can get Solich and Boals to take significant paycuts. The days of coaches making over a half-million are gone in the MAC. If they refuse, well, I can always ramp up my compliance department to look for a reason to fire them and justify it and then proceed to go get a 100k head coach.
4. Tell Solich we're done with the horse crap home-and-homes with the Texas States of the world. Minimum 2 money games right off the bat and if needed do 3 money games. If he wants to keep Marshall, great. Get rid of your precious buy game for home.
5. Tell Boals we're going on the road a lot more. No offense, but Alabama A&M doesn't write checks at all.
6. Since we went FCS, that would also mean that opens the MAC TV deal and probably eliminate MACtion games. Good, move our games back to Saturday and get some revenue out of those games again. Even if it's over 12k in revenue, that's a heckuva lot more than the 3k we were getting. If the MAC moves as a whole, always willing to play chicken with ESPN and see if they still want it.
7. Figure out how to pair basketball weekends in November with football. And I mean as in make those league games right out of the gate so that I can capitalize off of the football team coming to town of our opponent. Tired of seeing too many schools
8. When it becomes "league season" in January, double-headers of men's/women's bb or wrestling (SAME SCHOOL TOO, MAC is stupid about two different schools traveling) become mandatory. I'm sorry, but for weekend games it is imperative to make a true day of these schools a requirement.
9. If needed to get road games, do neutral sites in Columbus every year. Ohio should stick its nose up at Ohio A&M and in particular take advantage of the recruiting territory that is Columbus. A lot of schools (especially Big Ten's that don't get Ohio State on the schedule for that year) would crave to have that game in Columbus. Take advantage of it. In addition, allows us to grow our base there. For those who gripe about taking games away from precious Athens, can it. Survival is the name of the game at this point and if we can take advantage of teams' desperation to be in Columbus for recruiting purposes, let's do it and spit at Ohio A&M too.
10. Everything goes out to bid and not through a stupid department on campus. I'm sorry, but printing services and other campus entities deserves to go the way of the do-do. To be frank, these departments are the greatest ponzi scheme ever concocted that rely on circular funding. Finding out how to slash costs here would be huge.
11. Go digital with everything. No reason to be mailing items or for that matter printing the living daylights out of everything. Printing costs alone would save a significant amount of money.
12. When the timing is right, ultimately have a department that almost relies exclusively on GAs from Ohio. We got a great program and with how cheap a GA is versus a full-time individual, costs could be slashed instantly and with minimal impact if set up correctly. Three year program that consists of their first two years of being GA's and then the final year being the "boss" of the department before moving on to find another job. Rather would treat this like the Oakland A's and when it comes time for them to get paid, they ain't getting it in Athens. Go find the Yankees.
13. Sell the damn stadiums out. It ain't rocket science. Lot of cracks have developed through the years and grassroots selling needs to happen again.
14. Get parking services to quit charging for parking rates that are stupid. If they do not, I literally threaten to move all my parking for events (even OHSAA events) over to the fairgrounds where they can legitimately tailgate and tell them to go pound sand. Goes back to point 11. I swear on everything holy that if they ran the tournament out of Athens they would never be forgiven. Along those lines, making a deal with the county specifically would be to my favor in terms of rates and everything else. Wouldn't have to pay parking services to use their lots for our gamedays which generate revenue.
15. Rent my buildings out as frequently as possible. Why aren't there business meetings in Peden Stadium or companies attempting to do pick-up basketball in the arena, let alone concerts. We don't sell our facilities hard enough, I think it's time to consider.
16. Raise funds for an indoor basketball/wrestling practice facility at some point in the near future AND HAVE IT BE RAN BY ATHLETICS. Sorry, personal vendetta for the football facility that the university runs Walter, which goes without saying figure out how to tell campus to buzz off finally in some way so we aren't paying them a "management fee."



1&2. Unless the entire MAC goes FCS or you go Dayton's FCS route, your travel cost go up significantly and you can not bus day of the game, to Northern Iowa, the Dakota's, etc.

3. Solich would retire.

4&5. Are going to happen anyway.

8. That decision to organize the way games are now v. the double header days of the same school was done at the request of the schools and Title IX considerations. Not sure your programs want to revert back.

9. We tried that once, it was a miserable failure.

10. AMEN brother!

14. Parking was ran by Athletics until someone got caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

15. Great question! revenue for space usage is less than 20k a year.

As for putting this at the feet of McDavis, I will disagree. During McDavis' tenure lots of imporvements were made. Him and Glidden suffered from total neglect of facilities from basically 1970 to the late 90's. It's been a game of catch up ever since.


Points 1 and 2 I think are going to happen here shortly. A few MAC Members are going to move down and we can realign in a hurry. You don't think Youngstown State would be open to joining the FCS version of MAC too? They would really consider it for travel costs. Otherwise, MAC could very well split with in my opinion Toledo, Miami, Buffalo, and potentially NIU wanting to stay up. Western and Central would be borderline schools, and BGSU would want to stay up, but their hand may be forced.

In theory, I think Akron, Kent, Ohio, Ball State, and Eastern would consider going FCS in a hurry. Add YSU to the fray, and right there you got a circuit immediately.
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SBH
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 2:58:47 PM 
Ohio is going wherever Miami goes. I do not see us - given our investment in Frank & Co. - going FCS unless the rest of the league does the same.

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rpbobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 3:10:33 PM 
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:


10. Everything goes out to bid and not through a stupid department on campus. I'm sorry, but printing services and other campus entities deserves to go the way of the do-do. To be frank, these departments are the greatest ponzi scheme ever concocted that rely on circular funding. Finding out how to slash costs here would be huge.

11. Go digital with everything. No reason to be mailing items or for that matter printing the living daylights out of everything. Printing costs alone would save a significant amount of money.

15. Rent my buildings out as frequently as possible. Why aren't there business meetings in Peden Stadium or companies attempting to do pick-up basketball in the arena, let alone concerts. We don't sell our facilities hard enough, I think it's time to consider.

16. Raise funds for an indoor basketball/wrestling practice facility at some point in the near future AND HAVE IT BE RAN BY ATHLETICS. Sorry, personal vendetta for the football facility that the university runs Walter, which goes without saying figure out how to tell campus to buzz off finally in some way so we aren't paying them a "management fee."



Here's looking at the other side of the coin:

10.I thought O.U. implemented a school wide purchasing system for various types
of supplies a few years ago.
That's a start.
You also have to careful not to "throw out the baby . . ."
Unfortunately,given Athens' location,having certain things ,like printing, done "in house" may be the most practical option.

11.I agree with increasing O.U.'s use of digital media.
But,I know a lot of Municipalities that tried to go paperless.
You still need hard copies of lots of documents.

15.This is worth exploring,but I don't know legally,how it would work.
O.U. is a public institution.
So I'm sure there are restrictions on how they can use facilities for other then
O.U. sponsored events.
Any outside group would also have to have all kinds of insurances.

16.The only reason Walter got built,was because the University runs it.
They tried to do it all with donations,but fell way short.

I don't know of any complaints as to how its being used/run.
In fact,last time I was out at O.U. in November,we kept hearing how well used
the facility is.

An indoor wrestling/basketball practice facility would be great.
How are you going to pay for it ? (building and operation/maintenance)

Say athletics does run the place.
Do they then hire a separate staff for maintenance and repairs ?
Seems a lot more cost effective to use the staff you already have.

Trying to build it with donations,even with a big donor paying a big chunk
of the construction cost hasn't worked in the past,why would it now ?

Work with the school to build and run it.
Just make sure your athletic teams get priority in scheduling.




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OUPride
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 3:32:11 PM 
9 is never going to happen with Big Ten schools. They have zero interest in siding with us to "turn up our nose at OSU." OSU is their partner school. They're in the same research consortium, have large amounts of faculty and research collaboration and all sit in the AAU club together. On the athletic side, they all know that OSU is the driving school in the conference behind that 50M paycheck they received last year and that funds their athletic departments. None of them for one moment are going to side with another Ohio public in some petty swipe at OSU.
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cbus cat fan
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 3:47:26 PM 
A couple of points need to be cleared up before we go big picture. President McDavis didn't neglect physical maintenance/upkeep, and why athletics is under the microscope when we have so much administrative bloat (salaries and number of positions) is beyond me.

Now I am hardly one of those guys who says we should expand Pedan or try to compete with power conferences, that is a pipe dream that is beyond our reach. We can't even fill Peden or the Convo with self-admitted sports fans, who are busy watching power conferences games on TV, when we are playing. I wrote about that when I visited one of our local watering holes before the Purdue game last December.

Goodness does anyone think people will come to Peden if we go IAA? I mean lightning could strike the stadium during a IAA game and no one would get hurt, because no one would be there. This talk about window dressing pay cuts and bus trips is just plain silly. That's like being in a six figure financial hole and you decide you are going to pay off your Dollar General charge card. It makes no sense. Something tells me that we are millions in the whole, because of the number of administrators making six figure salaries in colleges and departments that needed to be downsized years ago.

I have talked to administrators at state schools and Ohio 5 schools and none of them are big sports fans. They don't even bring up athletics because the waste in athletics is a drop in the bucket compared to other parts of the university. We hardly have the athletic budget of a Power 5 football or basketball program.

Alan has long talked about a professional marketing strategy to bring in students that may not know some of our prestigious programs or little touted successful programs that might interest them. We need to listen to him. An administrator from a small Ohio college told me that they decided a few years for a different approach. She told me the following; "we decided that the pretty co-ed and funny guy approach wasn't telling students and their parents what we needed them to know for their college day tour." She went on to say that they have a professional approach from the moment a student and or their parents show an interest in the school. It starts with their outreach to high schools and progresses to the college's visits to the high school, their interaction with parents and students, all the way to their campus visits and subsequent meeting with faculty members.

We need a serious approach to match the serious times we find ourselves, window dressing cuts aren't going to help our beloved Alma mater.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 3:50:06 PM by cbus cat fan

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Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 4:27:09 PM 
cbus cat fan wrote:


Goodness does anyone think people will come to Peden if we go IAA? I mean lightning could strike the stadium during a IAA game and no one would get hurt, because no one would be there.



If we can build a nationally relevant FCS program, which we should be able to do given the leg up we'd have in terms of facilities and talent during the first few years (assuming no huge attrition), I don't think fan interest will change all that much. In fact, I actually think there's an opportunity to increase fan interest and attendance at the FCS level, but that's only if we're a consistent playoff team in a strong conference. Part of why nobody cares about Ohio football (relatively speaking) is that there's no real reason to care. We're not eligible for a national championship and a great year leads to two straight games in an empty stadium in Detroit.

If we're good, we could be in the top 10: https://sports.yahoo.com/more-games-mean-more-fcs-attenda... . That's right in line with our attendance now. I think you're underestimating the impact actually playing for something would have.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 4:27:38 PM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame

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Deciduous Forest Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 5:00:41 PM 
Sorry, how do you think we're going to go FCS but still schedule two or three money games every year esp when power conferences are upping their conf schedules?
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Buckeye to Bobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 6:39:16 PM 
When I said schedule games in Columbus, I meant more as in basketball. I remember the debacle at Crew Stadium (craphole of a stadium to boot). Basketball is easier and one our fans I think could get behind a lot more easier than some crappy November game there.

Should have clarified that. Apologies.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 6:41:03 PM 
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:
Sorry, how do you think we're going to go FCS but still schedule two or three money games every year esp when power conferences are upping their conf schedules?


Very simple, because we aren't going to be the only league dropping down to FCS in the near future I think.....especially if universities actually want to be fiscally responsible.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 6:42:37 PM by Buckeye to Bobcat

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cbus cat fan
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 6:47:47 PM 
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:
When I said schedule games in Columbus, I meant more as in basketball. I remember the debacle at Crew Stadium (craphole of a stadium to boot). Basketball is easier and one our fans I think could get behind a lot more easier than some crappy November game there.

Should have clarified that. Apologies.


I don't know about college football, but Crew Stadium is one of the best places to watch a high school game. Plenty of guys I know who aren't soccer fans wish the powers that be at the OHSAA would move the football title games from Massillon and Canton to Crew Stadium, after watching some high school games there.
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Deciduous Forest Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 6:53:01 PM 
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:
Sorry, how do you think we're going to go FCS but still schedule two or three money games every year esp when power conferences are upping their conf schedules?


Very simple, because we aren't going to be the only league dropping down to FCS in the near future I think.....especially if universities actually want to be fiscally responsible.


As an FBS program we are more likely to get priority on buyout games being scheduled. If we drop to FCS, we just another fish in a growing pond. Those two things won't go together.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 6:53:12 PM by Deciduous Forest Cat

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cbus cat fan
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 7:34:32 PM 
We don't have to be in a Power Conference, or buy into a pipe dream and expand Peden, but we also don't want to lump ourselves with the Akron's of the world and even discuss going down the road of I-AA. We have sure made our fair share of fiscal mistakes, but we are a little more fiscally responsible than Akron has been. Talk about negative publicity and it's implications for our old Ohio, it would really be a black eye for our Alma mater if we stumbled into that spiral of negativity. We have come to far to fall into that trap of bad publicity that will certainly seem like perpetuity for Bobcat alums who would have to face the grads from Columbus and Oxford.

Last Edited: 5/11/2020 7:41:41 PM by cbus cat fan

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Valley Cat
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/11/2020 10:59:29 PM 
Massillon?
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Jeff McKinney
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/12/2020 1:36:17 AM 
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:
cbus cat fan wrote:


Goodness does anyone think people will come to Peden if we go IAA? I mean lightning could strike the stadium during a IAA game and no one would get hurt, because no one would be there.



If we can build a nationally relevant FCS program, which we should be able to do given the leg up we'd have in terms of facilities and talent during the first few years (assuming no huge attrition), I don't think fan interest will change all that much. In fact, I actually think there's an opportunity to increase fan interest and attendance at the FCS level, but that's only if we're a consistent playoff team in a strong conference. Part of why nobody cares about Ohio football (relatively speaking) is that there's no real reason to care. We're not eligible for a national championship and a great year leads to two straight games in an empty stadium in Detroit.

If we're good, we could be in the top 10: https://sports.yahoo.com/more-games-mean-more-fcs-attenda... . That's right in line with our attendance now. I think you're underestimating the impact actually playing for something would have.


Last time we played in Detroit, attendance was 47,000.
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Alan Swank
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/12/2020 8:05:44 AM 
Jeff McKinney wrote:
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:
cbus cat fan wrote:


Goodness does anyone think people will come to Peden if we go IAA? I mean lightning could strike the stadium during a IAA game and no one would get hurt, because no one would be there.



If we can build a nationally relevant FCS program, which we should be able to do given the leg up we'd have in terms of facilities and talent during the first few years (assuming no huge attrition), I don't think fan interest will change all that much. In fact, I actually think there's an opportunity to increase fan interest and attendance at the FCS level, but that's only if we're a consistent playoff team in a strong conference. Part of why nobody cares about Ohio football (relatively speaking) is that there's no real reason to care. We're not eligible for a national championship and a great year leads to two straight games in an empty stadium in Detroit.

If we're good, we could be in the top 10: https://sports.yahoo.com/more-games-mean-more-fcs-attenda... . That's right in line with our attendance now. I think you're underestimating the impact actually playing for something would have.


Last time we played in Detroit, attendance was 47,000.


Actually it was 45,615 and that's because we were playing the number 13 and undefeated Western Michigan Broncos. That figure is more than double the average attendance of all MAC championship games so what's your point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_Football_Championship_Game


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Alan Swank
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  Message Not Read  RE: higher ed in trouble
   Posted: 5/12/2020 8:13:41 AM 
cbus cat fan wrote:
A couple of points need to be cleared up before we go big picture. President McDavis didn't neglect physical maintenance/upkeep, and why athletics is under the microscope when we have so much administrative bloat (salaries and number of positions) is beyond me.




Beg to differ with you from a first hand perspective on the infamous "deferred maintenance program" which many of us would call neglect from 2006 to 2016. In July of 2006, my daughter got married in the rotunda on The Ridges. Because they had the staff to maintain the grounds and buildings, the place was immaculate. Today, that staff is gutted, the zone maintenance man and several others are not longer there, and the place is falling apart. They can't keep up with the day to day requirements of maintaining an area so large with so few people.

Additionally, my wife was the assistant director of the Child Development Center until she reitred in 2016. They used to have daily custodial maintenance in their offices as many departments did and most teachers in public education do. That was reduced to once a week. If you ate a banana on Monday, you better had taken our your own trash that evening. There were also times where the CDC needed routine things done like painting or curtains hung that I and others ended up doing because either the wait time to get it done was months or the amount of money that was going to be charged was crazy high.

The university budget in terms of material and personnel was sevely cut for landscaping. The grounds around Peden were beatiful as was Emeriti Park. Check it out today and you'll see a vastly different look that has nothing to do with Covid-19. It's been that way for several years.

I live here and see this everyday and when you combine the current crisis with the cuts that have been made through the years leading to lots of neglect, the statement that the original poster made is very true if you open your eyes. And I say that coming from a guy who had a very good relationship with Rod.

Last Edited: 5/12/2020 8:45:09 AM by Alan Swank

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