COUGS/BEAVS playing cards right while monitoring potential ACC breakup

[95coug]

There is no accountability at WSU. Not until you drive the car completely off the road and watch it blow up. Even then you will have the excuse makers show up and blame everyone, everything and anything …. other than those driving.

WSU needs a Meion Sanders staff meeting.

There’s accountability, it’s just not aimed at the right places. If a coach screws up, an assistant gets fired. If the AD screws up, some low level associate ADs get the blame.
Reminds me of some major corporations. When Hostess went under, everyone lost their jobs, but the executives who ran it into the ground got huge bonuses.

 

[BiggsCoug]

There’s accountability, it’s just not aimed at the right places. If a coach screws up, an assistant gets fired. If the AD screws up, some low level associate ADs get the blame.
Reminds me of some major corporations. When Hostess went under, everyone lost their jobs, but the executives who ran it into the ground got huge bonuses.

Ok. Who got fired?

 

[95coug]

Ok. Who got fired?

Nobody that anyone’s ever heard of. Or ever will. Guaranteed it wouldn’t be announced as a firing either - that would mean admitting some sort of fault. It’ll be done quietly and internally, and I don’t have enough visibility of the internals of the athletic department to know if it’s already happened or if it’s still coming.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Nobody that anyone’s ever heard of. Or ever will. Guaranteed it wouldn’t be announced as a firing either - that would mean admitting some sort of fault. It’ll be done quietly and internally, and I don’t have enough visibility of the internals of the athletic department to know if it’s already happened or if it’s still coming.

Someone, somewhere in the athletic department, gets told to find another job.

I guess we find out when new employee profiles go up on the website?

If I were a betting man…. there were no changes made. WSU is where average to bad state employees go to hide.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Jen Greeny was hired many years before either Shulz or Chun came to WSU.

Correct. She was hired during my sophomore year at WSU (2011).

 

[95coug]

Someone, somewhere in the athletic department, gets told to find another job.

I guess we find out when new employee profiles go up on the website?

If I were a betting man…. there were no changes made. WSU is where average to bad state employees go to hide.

Doubt it. Any changes shown on the website will be obscured by normal turnover.

Government administration in general is where average and below average employees hide. The idea of promoting people to a level where they can’t screw up the work is real. But there are still a lot of people at the lower levels trying to do the work in spite of the idiotic ideas admin saddles them with.

Example: DEI.
Admin: “we need to have a DEI plan”
Staff: “Easy. It’s called customer service. We treat everyone the same.”
Admin: “How do we treat everyone the same?”
Staff: “uh…it doesn’t matter who they are, if they have questions, we answer them. If they want to buy, we sell.”
Admin: “But how do we do that?”
Staff: “Umm…I guess I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
Admin: “exactly. That’s because you don’t know how to do it. You need training on how to do what you’re already doing. And then we need to form a committee. No…we need a cabinet-level department to make sure we do what we’re doing. They’ll need to write plans and policies to describe what we’re doing so we keep doing it. I’m glad I thought of this. I should probably get a raise, and maybe an award.”
Staff: “can I do some actual work now?” **I wish the private sector’s benefits were worth a shit.**

 

[BSpike76]

Doubt it. Any changes shown on the website will be obscured by normal turnover.

Government administration in general is where average and below average employees hide. The idea of promoting people to a level where they can’t screw up the work is real. But there are still a lot of people at the lower levels trying to do the work in spite of the idiotic ideas admin saddles them with.

Example: DEI.
Admin: “we need to have a DEI plan”
Staff: “Easy. It’s called customer service. We treat everyone the same.”
Admin: “How do we treat everyone the same?”
Staff: “uh…it doesn’t matter who they are, if they have questions, we answer them. If they want to buy, we sell.”
Admin: “But how do we do that?”
Staff: “Umm…I guess I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
Admin: “exactly. That’s because you don’t know how to do it. You need training on how to do what you’re already doing. And then we need to form a committee. No…we need a cabinet-level department to make sure we do what we’re doing. They’ll need to write plans and policies to describe what we’re doing so we keep doing it. I’m glad I thought of this. I should probably get a raise, and maybe an award.”
Staff: “can I do some actual work now?” **I wish the private sector’s benefits were worth a shit.**

See also SOX and for real gun JSOX.

 

[95coug]

See also SOX and for real gun JSOX.

Not my world, but any rule that aims at the crooked CEOs and forces companies to be honest & transparent about money that isn’t theirs is ok by me. All those assholes from Enron, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide, and others like them should be burned at the stake as far as I’m concerned.

 

[BSpike76]

Not my world, but any rule that aims at the crooked CEOs and forces companies to be honest & transparent about money that isn’t theirs is ok by me. All those assholes from Enron, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide, and others like them should be burned at the stake as far as I’m concerned.

And yet a few years later they had one of the biggest cooking the books scandals in Japan. But they did check all the boxes on all the forms.

When it happened I remember saying to a buddy”But, but, JSOX.”

And the laughed our asses off.

 

[Stretch 74]

And yet a few years later they had one of the biggest cooking the books scandals in Japan. But they did check all the boxes on all the forms.

When it happened I remember saying to a buddy”But, but, JSOX.”

And the laughed our asses off.

Missing the joke/reference-- what is SOX and JSOX? Thanks.

 

[Coug90]

There’s accountability, it’s just not aimed at the right places. If a coach screws up, an assistant gets fired. If the AD screws up, some low level associate ADs get the blame.
Reminds me of some major corporations. When Hostess went under, everyone lost their jobs, but the executives who ran it into the ground got huge bonuses.

Im curious what Chuns next move is now that Ohio State has been filled. You know he wanted that job. For those who aren’t fans you could be stuck with him for a while. I’m somewhat in the middle on Chun. Smith was a home run hire. I like Dickert but time will still tell. He also hired Rolo so hard to give him too much credit for Dickert as he backed into that. Women’s sports have been outstanding. Fundraising has improved but not near where it needs to be. IPF started. I don’t give him as much blame for the P12 problems as some of you do that falls squarely on the presidents most of which are pompous assholes. Not sure Chun coulda done more there. I’d give him a B- grade

 

[425cougfan]

Im curious what Chuns next move is now that Ohio State has been filled. You know he wanted that job. For those who aren’t fans you could be stuck with him for a while. I’m somewhat in the middle on Chun. Smith was a home run hire. I like Dickert but time will still tell. He also hired Rolo so hard to give him too much credit for Dickert as he backed into that. Women’s sports have been outstanding. Fundraising has improved but not near where it needs to be. IPF started. I don’t give him as much blame for the P12 problems as some of you do that falls squarely on the presidents most of which are pompous assholes. Not sure Chun coulda done more there. I’d give him a B- grade

This is probably the most important data point regarding Chun. Taken from his bio:

"Under his leadership, Cougar fundraising has been revitalized, setting all-time highs in annual giving and total donations since his arrival. WSU set a university record in 2022-23 finishing the year with $61.9 million in overall athletic fundraising. WSU Athletics has averaged over $31 million a year in total fundraising during Chun’s tenure, which is a large increase from the averaged $11.5 million a year in overall fundraising from 2014-18 prior to his arrival. In 2023, the WSU Board of Regents approved construction on the $27 million Taylor Sports Complex (Indoor Practice Field) and the $10 million Champions Center (Student-Athlete Support Center). In March of 2021, WSU secured an $11 million field naming rights agreement with GESA Credit Union through a partnership with Learfield | IMG College, resulting in Gesa Field. Prior to the 2019-20 academic year, WSU successfully fundraised for a $10 million renovation of its baseball stadium, the first athletics facility at WSU funded completely by private donations."

 

[Loyal Coug1]

This is probably the most important data point regarding Chun. Taken from his bio:

"Under his leadership, Cougar fundraising has been revitalized, setting all-time highs in annual giving and total donations since his arrival. WSU set a university record in 2022-23 finishing the year with $61.9 million in overall athletic fundraising. WSU Athletics has averaged over $31 million a year in total fundraising during Chun’s tenure, which is a large increase from the averaged $11.5 million a year in overall fundraising from 2014-18 prior to his arrival. In 2023, the WSU Board of Regents approved construction on the $27 million Taylor Sports Complex (Indoor Practice Field) and the $10 million Champions Center (Student-Athlete Support Center). In March of 2021, WSU secured an $11 million field naming rights agreement with GESA Credit Union through a partnership with Learfield | IMG College, resulting in Gesa Field. Prior to the 2019-20 academic year, WSU successfully fundraised for a $10 million renovation of its baseball stadium, the first athletics facility at WSU funded completely by private donations."

I'm very skeptical of these numbers. 11 million to 31 million average to 62 million in 22-23? So why did we lose an approx. 11.5 million in 22-23? (Link below, don't know what the final number will be. And have lost millions every year prior?

There has been a lot of fairly recent turnover in financial personnel both in Athletics and WSU Admin. Who knows what the real numbers are - but it appears that the solution is to - hire more Admin Financial people! Shock!

$5 sez Chun got out his abacus (no racist connotations, Greece and Persia were the first to use it) and counted all the money that came in from (previously claimed) fundraising, plus actual current year receipts, plus all future pledges on the books for the practice facility, etc.

 

[Dave_86]

Another Jon Wilner article for you...

Mailbag: George Kliavkoff’s status, a replacement option, portal problems and more

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Chun put a good group of fundraisers to work. They've been paying more attention to those who could be giving than I've seen in quite a while. One just left last week, but not to another university; she went to Valvano's charity. From what I've seen, Chun will find a capable replacement.

I think my hiring record is as good as anyone in my industry, and I'm delighted if I can maintain 65% success with kids out of school and 50% with people with more experience off the street. I'd define success as minimum 4-5 years of good performance. Chun is pretty close to that, with a budget that has been in the lower 1/3 of the P5. Nobody has a 100% hiring record, even the AD's at the top money schools.

Overall I think Pat Chun has done a pretty good job. Yes, there have been some do-overs required. But he will be in demand with his current track record, and for good reason.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

This is probably the most important data point regarding Chun. Taken from his bio:

"Under his leadership, Cougar fundraising has been revitalized, setting all-time highs in annual giving and total donations since his arrival. WSU set a university record in 2022-23 finishing the year with $61.9 million in overall athletic fundraising. WSU Athletics has averaged over $31 million a year in total fundraising during Chun’s tenure, which is a large increase from the averaged $11.5 million a year in overall fundraising from 2014-18 prior to his arrival. In 2023, the WSU Board of Regents approved construction on the $27 million Taylor Sports Complex (Indoor Practice Field) and the $10 million Champions Center (Student-Athlete Support Center). In March of 2021, WSU secured an $11 million field naming rights agreement with GESA Credit Union through a partnership with Learfield | IMG College, resulting in Gesa Field. Prior to the 2019-20 academic year, WSU successfully fundraised for a $10 million renovation of its baseball stadium, the first athletics facility at WSU funded completely by private donations."

This is interesting. Go to the link below and scroll down to pages 6 and especially page 10. According to this official document, fundraising since Chun's first full year (FY 19) has ranged from a low of 8.5 million to a high of 12.4 million. Not sure how that averages out to 30 million/year as per his bio. Also, FY '23's projection as of June, 2023 was 10.8 million. Sort of a difference between that and Chun's bio, which sez 61.9 million for FY '23.

Now fundraising numbers can be tricky, as some of you well-heeled posters know. FYI, I spent time as the Treasurer for the Foundation at one of my Higher Ed stops. Actual cash donations are pretty simple. I give $10,000 unrestricted, it becomes operating revenue. I give $10,000 to an endowment, it becomes revenue but not operating, and the cash only arrives ~45 a year. To be fair, the debits and credits are starting to get kind of fuzzy as the years away from it increase. Now pledges are a whole different animal. I pledge $10,000, to be paid over X number of years. So you recognize revenue, discounted to present value. Then it becomes operating or endowed money.

Then, you have budgeted revenue/expense and actual revenue/expense (all sources). You will find that the "budget" and "projected budget" and "proposed budget" are all various breeds of dogs, where actual revenues and expenses are gophers (never see the light) or ground squirrels (often dodging the light, especially when I used to hunt them). Funny story about me and a buddy hunting ground squirrels on WSU land across from Roundtop. Totally illegal. I actually shot a running ground squirrel with my .22 Ruger pistol. Total luck.

So anyway, my skepticism of Chun's bio has increased significantly as a result of my exhausting research. I'm sure he has his 61.9 million detailed out on the back of some envelope - I'd kind of like to see that. Let's not even get into his 11+ million deficit (projected mind you, who kmows what the actual was) which a year or two before was supposed to be -0-.

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/3087/2023/06/June-9-2023-Board-of-Regents-Meeting.pdf

 

[95coug]

This is interesting. Go to the link below and scroll down to pages 6 and especially page 10. According to this official document, fundraising since Chun's first full year (FY 19) has ranged from a low of 8.5 million to a high of 12.4 million. Not sure how that averages out to 30 million/year as per his bio. Also, FY '23's projection as of June, 2023 was 10.8 million. Sort of a difference between that and Chun's bio, which sez 61.9 million for FY '23.

Now fundraising numbers can be tricky, as some of you well-heeled posters know. FYI, I spent time as the Treasurer for the Foundation at one of my Higher Ed stops. Actual cash donations are pretty simple. I give $10,000 unrestricted, it becomes operating revenue. I give $10,000 to an endowment, it becomes revenue but not operating, and the cash only arrives ~45 a year. To be fair, the debits and credits are starting to get kind of fuzzy as the years away from it increase. Now pledges are a whole different animal. I pledge $10,000, to be paid over X number of years. So you recognize revenue, discounted to present value. Then it becomes operating or endowed money.

Then, you have budgeted revenue/expense and actual revenue/expense (all sources). You will find that the "budget" and "projected budget" and "proposed budget" are all various breeds of dogs, where actual revenues and expenses are gophers (never see the light) or ground squirrels (often dodging the light, especially when I used to hunt them). Funny story about me and a buddy hunting ground squirrels on WSU land across from Roundtop. Totally illegal. I actually shot a running ground squirrel with my .22 Ruger pistol. Total luck.

So anyway, my skepticism of Chun's bio has increased significantly as a result of my exhausting research. I'm sure he has his 61.9 million detailed out on the back of some envelope - I'd kind of like to see that. Let's not even get into his 11+ million deficit (projected mind you, who kmows what the actual was) which a year or two before was supposed to be -0-.

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/3087/2023/06/June-9-2023-Board-of-Regents-Meeting.pdf

The average becomes $30M if you add the ~$20M that comes from the conference media contract. Thats the only way I see him getting that number.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

The average becomes $30M if you add the ~$20M that comes from the conference media contract. Thats the only way I see him getting that number.

No no no - the bio sez FUNDRAISING

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Another Jon Wilner article for you...

Mailbag: George Kliavkoff’s status, a replacement option, portal problems and more

Ok, three things. 1), his goatee is the cheesiest looking thing I've ever seen. 2), notice he is standing in front of a bunch of mutts. 3), When we fire Quackkoff, whoever we put in his place (Gould, the Dad of the pro player (what is his name?)) needs to be a placeholder/interim. Gloria Nevarez needs to be our next permanent Commissioner.

 

[425cougfan]

Loyal, that's some good stuff regarding your analysis of his fundraising. I have no idea what to make of it. If he's including the media payouts (which did increase significantly over that general time period, I believe, not due to anything Chun should take credit for, but just due to more carriers finally coming on board, even if it never came close to what Larry had sold the presidents on), that's pretty ridiculous.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Loyal, that's some good stuff regarding your analysis of his fundraising. I have no idea what to make of it. If he's including the media payouts (which did increase significantly over that general time period, I believe, not due to anything Chun should take credit for, but just due to more carriers finally coming on board, even if it never came close to what Larry had sold the presidents on), that's pretty ridiculous.

Well thanks. If it was a few million difference, or something obvious, fine. But the numbers are just too far apart. And everything I see tells me that our accounting and financial reporting is atrocious (kind of like the Pac-12's). Funny that our last Athletics CFO only lasted about 6 months.

 

[Stretch 74]

Chun put a good group of fundraisers to work. They've been paying more attention to those who could be giving than I've seen in quite a while. One just left last week, but not to another university; she went to Valvano's charity. From what I've seen, Chun will find a capable replacement.

I think my hiring record is as good as anyone in my industry, and I'm delighted if I can maintain 65% success with kids out of school and 50% with people with more experience off the street. I'd define success as minimum 4-5 years of good performance. Chun is pretty close to that, with a budget that has been in the lower 1/3 of the P5. Nobody has a 100% hiring record, even the AD's at the top money schools.

Overall I think Pat Chun has done a pretty good job. Yes, there have been some do-overs required. But he will be in demand with his current track record, and for good reason.

Who is the one that left?

 

[Coug90]

Chun put a good group of fundraisers to work. They've been paying more attention to those who could be giving than I've seen in quite a while. One just left last week, but not to another university; she went to Valvano's charity. From what I've seen, Chun will find a capable replacement.

I think my hiring record is as good as anyone in my industry, and I'm delighted if I can maintain 65% success with kids out of school and 50% with people with more experience off the street. I'd define success as minimum 4-5 years of good performance. Chun is pretty close to that, with a budget that has been in the lower 1/3 of the P5. Nobody has a 100% hiring record, even the AD's at the top money schools.

Overall I think Pat Chun has done a pretty good job. Yes, there have been some do-overs required. But he will be in demand with his current track record, and for good reason.

I’ve heard some not so great things about how Chun is to work with, but some people just want to hate the guy no matter what.

 

[Coug90]

Ok, three things. 1), his goatee is the cheesiest looking thing I've ever seen. 2), notice he is standing in front of a bunch of mutts. 3), When we fire Quackkoff, whoever we put in his place (Gould, the Dad of the pro player (what is his name?)) needs to be a placeholder/interim. Gloria Nevarez needs to be our next permanent Commissioner.

Maybe he gets a Brazilian wax on his face? Certainly seems to be the look he’s going for.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Maybe he gets a Brazilian wax on his face? Certainly seems to be the look he’s going for.

I'm not a goatee guy anyway - either clean shaven, porn stache or full beard - but his is f-ing stupid. Grinning like a Lucky Pierre.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Johanna.

 

[Stretch 74]

Johanna.

That's too bad, left without even saying goodbye. :-( I think she did a good job. Good luck to her.

I hope we don't find that there will be cuts in the department and all the good folks leave early for other good positions and we are left with all the slackers.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

That's too bad, left without even saying goodbye. :-( I think she did a good job. Good luck to her.

I hope we don't find that there will be cuts in the department and all the good folks leave early for other good positions and we are left with all the slackers.

Well Chun is still here........go read the husky game thread on the BB board