Pres. Kirk Herman Schulz: Good or Bad for Cougar Football?

[PeteTheChop]

Yes?

No?

Somewhere in between?

And why (let's try to keep this as a WSU Football only topic)?

PeteTheChop's 2¢:

• President Schulz appears to have no background in Athletics (minus)
  
• Seems intent on diminishing the WSU legacy of Mr. Moos (strong minus)
  
• Not sure of his relationship with CML (potentially strong minus until we know more)
  
• Wants to substantially increasing fundraising (strong plus and appears much needed)
  
• Personally guaranteed WSU will break ground on a new IPF by summer 2019 (strong plus)
• Appears to have settled nicely in Pullman and wants to be a "Wazzu lifer" (strong plus)

The best coach in modern Cougar Football history is entering his 7th season on The Palouse.

In his position of leadership, Pres. Schulz has been gifted an opportunity to maintain and build upon a program that has all but a few curmudgeonly Cougs on board and excited about both the present and the future.

 

[CougEd]

Yes?

No?

Somewhere in between?

And why (let's try to keep this as a WSU Football only topic)?

PeteTheChop's 2¢:

• President Schulz appears to have no background in Athletics (minus)
  
• Seems intent on diminishing the WSU legacy of Mr. Moos (strong minus)
  
• Not sure of his relationship with CML (potentially strong minus until we know more)
  
• Wants to substantially increasing fundraising (strong plus and appears much needed)
  
• Personally guaranteed WSU will break ground on a new IPF by summer 2019 (strong plus)
• Appears to have settled nicely in Pullman and wants to be a "Wazzu lifer" (strong plus)

The best coach in modern Cougar Football history is entering his 7th season on The Palouse.

In his position of leadership, Pres. Schulz has been gifted an opportunity to maintain and build upon a program that has all but a few curmudgeonly Cougs on board and excited about both the present and the future.

I said it the day Floyd died, that changes the dynamics for Leach. There was a reason Leach's name continued to pop up in job searches, and much of it came from Bruce Feldman, a friend of Leach's. The window for Leach to get a gig that is a program and pay upgrade is slowly shutting. His suitors are already limited as he needs a special fit.

There is no question in my mind if something came along with higher pay he would leave because he no longer feels indebted to WSU (Floyd/Moos). My guess if both parties were still here he would stay until he retired.

 

[CougPatrol]

Leach leaving today doesn’t cause panic the way it would have 3 years ago. We pay well now, and the program has been winning. We’re in great shape, much better actually than when Price left.

 

[SDCoug]

... We pay well now...

Do we have any proof of that? Do we know what the current regime would pay to replace Leach? Something tells me we'd try to come in lower and fail in attracting a proven talent. I didn't pay close attention to what we're paying in women's basketball but that is our only example I know of that shows what we are willing to do on the salary front right now... isn't it?

 

[Loyal Coug]

Do we have any proof of that? Do we know what the current regime would pay to replace Leach? Something tells me we'd try to come in lower and fail in attracting a proven talent. I didn't pay close attention to what we're paying in women's basketball but that is our only example I know of that shows what we are willing to do on the salary front right now... isn't it?

June was nearer the lower end but not at the bottom of Pac-12 salaries. And sort of in a pack in the middle if I recall.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Yes?

No?

Somewhere in between?

And why (let's try to keep this as a WSU Football only topic)?

PeteTheChop's 2¢:

• President Schulz appears to have no background in Athletics (minus)
  
• Seems intent on diminishing the WSU legacy of Mr. Moos (strong minus)
  
• Not sure of his relationship with CML (potentially strong minus until we know more)
  
• Wants to substantially increasing fundraising (strong plus and appears much needed)
  
• Personally guaranteed WSU will break ground on a new IPF by summer 2019 (strong plus)
• Appears to have settled nicely in Pullman and wants to be a "Wazzu lifer" (strong plus)

The best coach in modern Cougar Football history is entering his 7th season on The Palouse.

In his position of leadership, Pres. Schulz has been gifted an opportunity to maintain and build upon a program that has all but a few curmudgeonly Cougs on board and excited about both the present and the future.

On your comments about Schulz, a few thoughts....

• President Schulz appears to have no background in Athletics - Floyd didn't have a background in athletics that I saw....does that make him bad?
• Seems intent on diminishing the WSU legacy of Mr. Moos (strong minus) - This one is tough because when he says that "We need to create a culture..." and is that an attack on Moos or just a mission statement for moving ahead? Schulz has always been a little tone deaf on expressing himself.
• Not sure of his relationship with CML (potentially strong minus until we know more) - why is it a minus until we know more?
• Wants to substantially increasing fundraising (strong plus and appears much needed) - agree
• Personally guaranteed WSU will break ground on a new IPF by summer 2019 (strong plus) - agree
• Appears to have settled nicely in Pullman and wants to be a "Wazzu lifer" (strong plus) - agree but he said the same things about KSU until he left.

Again, we see a lot of people who have pre-determined that Schulz is a disaster because he rubbed them the wrong way in the first couple months. I'm convinced that if Schulz personally landed a donor who paid for the IPF completely, some people would argue that Moos had done all the leg work and Schulz was stealing credit. It will be some time whether we know if Schulz was a good choice for WSU but we do know that 1) he's no Elson Floyd and 2) he's better than some of our former presidents (cough...Sam Smith.....cough).

 

[PeteTheChop]

On your comments about Schulz, a few thoughts....

• President Schulz appears to have no background in Athletics - Floyd didn't have a background in athletics that I saw....does that make him bad?
• Seems intent on diminishing the WSU legacy of Mr. Moos (strong minus) - This one is tough because when he says that "We need to create a culture..." and is that an attack on Moos or just a mission statement for moving ahead? Schulz has always been a little tone deaf on expressing himself.
• Not sure of his relationship with CML (potentially strong minus until we know more) - why is it a minus until we know more?
• Wants to substantially increasing fundraising (strong plus and appears much needed) - agree
• Personally guaranteed WSU will break ground on a new IPF by summer 2019 (strong plus) - agree
• Appears to have settled nicely in Pullman and wants to be a "Wazzu lifer" (strong plus) - agree but he said the same things about KSU until he left.

Thanks for the insight.

It will be some time whether we know if Schulz was a good choice for WSU but we do know that 1) he's no Elson Floyd

My question about Dr. Floyd (RIP).

Mr. Moos gets a lot of heat in some quarters for appearing to spend beyond WSU's means.

Was Dr. Floyd, in hindsight, culpable as well since he was the university's top administrator at the time and apparently endorsed or at least signed off on the big $$$ additions and enhancements.

A former co-worker of mine, a Gonzaga diehard who grew up in Spokane, insists the Floyd School of Medicine is going to end up "being a big waste of money" and should never been greenlighted. Not sure why he feels that way.

FWIW, the little bit I've heard and read predicts WSU's medical school will end up benefiting people throughout the state and the PNW in due time.

Not to mention those WSU med school alums contributing to the CAF.

 

[Loyal Coug]

Thanks for the insight.



My question about Dr. Floyd (RIP).

Mr. Moos gets a lot of heat in some quarters for appearing to spend beyond WSU's means.

Was Dr. Floyd, in hindsight, culpable as well since he was the university's top administrator at the time and apparently endorsed or at least signed off on the big $$$ additions and enhancements.

A former co-worker of mine, a Gonzaga diehard who grew up in Spokane, insists the Floyd School of Medicine is going to end up "being a big waste of money" and should never been greenlighted. Not sure why he feels that way.

FWIW, the little bit I've heard and read predicts WSU's medical school will end up benefiting people throughout the state and the PNW in due time.

Not to mention those WSU med school alums contributing to the CAF.

Oh, I'll bite - (and I'll be nice).

Floyd definitely spent or committed a lot of money that we didn't have, on many things. Your Gonzaga buddy should be glad the ESF medical school has been launched. He probably feels "that way" because he is likely a little closet mutt lover and thinks WAZZU grads should only operate on animals. Now, is it a waste of money? IMHO, the real question is "was it needed?" in a state of what, 7 million people now? I looked at Wikipedia to see all the medical schools in the country (plus a bunch that are being formed). Lots, and lots in some bigger states. I don't feel like doing the math to see if a 7 million population warrants 2 medical schools.

If the need was there, should uw have just been able to open a 2nd school in Spokane like the U of Arizona has in Phoenix? I think that is the second relevant question, and the reason for the turf war. But WSU moved Pharmacy and Nursing to Spokane. Only logical for it to think that a medical school was the next step.

Now I think WSU should, and maybe they have, create an updated agreement with the nearby states that don't have medical schools (Idaho and Montana) that woudl pay to send a certain number of students to med school in Washington. WAMI - Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Wyoming. Unless the W was Washington. That makes the Spokane location even more relevant.

 

[WASH ST A&M FAN]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...students-gonzaga-is-home-too/?amp-content=amp


https://www.washington.edu/news/201...cal-education-and-research-in-spokane-region/

 

[kayak15]

The uw's medical people showed little to no interest in rural/small town medicine prior to WSU's Elson Floyd deciding to launch one in Spokane. Then they suddenly got interested and tied in with Gonzaga. The state of Washington, via the uw, has provided medical training for this state, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and Idaho for some time. Do not know about finances but regarding need, another was sorely needed. Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the union has three. Alabama, another subpar state economically, has two. Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska and Idaho have access to only one? What's wrong with that picture? The uw fought it tooth and nail. It was all about ego, prestige and the like for the Montlake folks, not financial concerns or community need. I strongly suspect that when ESF gets up and running and has some element of history behind it then the uw's involvement with Gonzaga will start to decline.

 

[Cougatron]

As to the medical school. It will help the school immensely to have alumni who are doctors. Period. More donations, more money, better health for people and the region. UW had a monopoly on doctors and they wanted to keep it that way. They want Eastern Washington to stay poor and stay sick., That's the truth.

As to Schultz I think he is a goober who made a big stink about the athletic spending that we all knew was going on and what happened and already knew we were going to accrue debt for it. We went from poor facilities to GREAT facilities, our football program went from poor to great and is enjoying immense success.

He better not screw it up. Because that is what he will be remembered for. Elson Floyd will be remembered for the Medical School and hiring Moos and Leach.

Moos will be remembered for upgrading Martin and bringing it into the 21st century and hiring Leach who turned around the program.

What will Schultz be remembered for? Right now b*tching and complaining. That's his legacy so far.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

As to the medical school. It will help the school immensely to have alumni who are doctors. Period. More donations, more money, better health for people and the region. UW had a monopoly on doctors and they wanted to keep it that way. They want Eastern Washington to stay poor and stay sick., That's the truth.

As to Schultz I think he is a goober who made a big stink about the athletic spending that we all knew was going on and what happened and already knew we were going to accrue debt for it. We went from poor facilities to GREAT facilities, our football program went from poor to great and is enjoying immense success.

He better not screw it up. Because that is what he will be remembered for. Elson Floyd will be remembered for the Medical School and hiring Moos and Leach.

Moos will be remembered for upgrading Martin and bringing it into the 21st century and hiring Leach who turned around the program.

What will Schultz be remembered for? Right now b*tching and complaining. That's his legacy so far.

Gotta agree with Tron here. Regardless of how things turn out, Schulz is certainly known for his complaining about the situation rather than fixing it at this point.

 

[ttowncoug]

I don't like his style of publicly blaming others. He doesn't need do air any dirty laundry, but he does to make himself look better.

 

[Cougzz]

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread about the med school. For instance, note a key element of the admission criteria:
“Applicants who do not meet an eligible resident student definition of Washington or do not have 3 or more ties to Washington are not eligible for admission.”
With only sixty students per year and a rural and underserved Washington the key focus, an admitted student isn’t initially going to be looking to practice outside the state. Or they would have had to lie throughout the interview(s).

 

[Cougzz]

As to building CAF revenue through hypothetical doctors, don’t hold your breath. Four years college, four years med school, three to seven years residency and a nifty six figure debt do not equal big CAF donor bucks from docs.

 

[fingerdisco]

As to building CAF revenue through hypothetical doctors, don’t hold your breath. Four years college, four years med school, three to seven years residency and a nifty six figure debt do not equal big CAF donor bucks from docs.

Residents are paid employees, so not costing them tuition like undergrad/ med school

 

[kayak15]

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread about the med school. For instance, note a key element of the admission criteria:
“Applicants who do not meet an eligible resident student definition of Washington or do not have 3 or more ties to Washington are not eligible for admission.”
With only sixty students per year and a rural and underserved Washington the key focus, an admitted student isn’t initially going to be looking to practice outside the state. Or they would have had to lie throughout the interview(s).

The uw's med school has been providing instruction for residents of the other states that I mentioned. I would assume that ESF would have the same policy although I have no information regarding that. Just a hunch on my part. Being a resident of one of the other states must count as a tie to Washington. Not sure what any other two ties would be.

Cougzz, does your "three ties" stipulation apply to ESF only or also to the uw? Makes some sense that ESF may limit admission to Washington residents for the near future. Would have helped grease the skids in Olympia if confined to state residents for the immediate future insofar as the state's taxpayers are toting the load. Let the uw assist the other states until ESF is better established and perhaps then the admission requirements may be adjusted.

 

[Cougatron]

As to building CAF revenue through hypothetical doctors, don’t hold your breath. Four years college, four years med school, three to seven years residency and a nifty six figure debt do not equal big CAF donor bucks from docs.

I beg to differ on that. Doctors salary for even a GP is 180k they will have the extra cash.

Set up a doctor golfing fundraising tournament event for the CAF with past cougar players where the donation is the entry fee of 5k.

You get 200 doctors all playing golf with cougars and that is 1 million bucks raised.

Add in a silent auction with memorabilia / suites and yes you will get plenty of cash.

You know what won’t get you donations? Asking a bunch of teachers with English / social science majors who make barely 40k a year for 1000 dollars.

That’s the truth.

WSU should make it a priority to put out as many high dollar degree alumni they can.

Finance, Business, computer science, engineering, doctors all = $$$$ for athletics

Sunflower interpretive dance majors = unemployed

 

[Loyal Coug]

The uw's med school has been providing instruction for residents of the other states that I mentioned. I would assume that ESF would have the same policy although I have no information regarding that. Just a hunch on my part. Being a resident of one of the other states must count as a tie to Washington. Not sure what any other two ties would be.

Cougzz, does your "three ties" stipulation apply to ESF only or also to the uw? Makes some sense that ESF may limit admission to Washington residents for the near future. Would have helped grease the skids in Olympia if confined to state residents for the immediate future insofar as the state's taxpayers are toting the load. Let the uw assist the other states until ESF is better established and perhaps then the admission requirements may be adjusted.

In the WWAMI program, the other states get a designated number of med school slots and those states would pay some/most of the educational freight.

https://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/wwami

 

[Loyal Coug]

I beg to differ on that. Doctors salary for even a GP is 180k they will have the extra cash.

Set up a doctor golfing fundraising tournament event for the CAF with past cougar players where the donation is the entry fee of 5k.

You get 200 doctors all playing golf with cougars and that is 1 million bucks raised.

Add in a silent auction with memorabilia / suites and yes you will get plenty of cash.

You know what won’t get you donations? Asking a bunch of teachers with English / social science majors who make barely 40k a year for 1000 dollars.

That’s the truth.

WSU should make it a priority to put out as many high dollar degree alumni they can.

Finance, Business, computer science, engineering, doctors all = $$$$ for athletics

Sunflower interpretive dance majors = unemployed

My Dad was a doctor. He was the stingiest guy on the planet, RIP. I've also known quite a few doctors. They do come out of school with a ton of debt, unless they were wealthy to start with. As a whole, and if their name isn't Dr. Tingstad and Dr. Doornink, they can be pretty stingy with their donations.

Plus, physicians have their own priorities. Starting with a trophy wife/husband and a Porsche. Country Club membership. Medicine-based philanthropic interests. Everybody and their dog assuming the have a lot of coin (see Porsche above) and hitting them up all the time for donations and community support.

So yes putting out high earning graduates is very important to fundraising, and the more the better. No question. But any such windfall from ESF Medicine grads is 20 years off.

 

[425cougfan]

My Dad was a doctor. He was the stingiest guy on the planet, RIP. I've also known quite a few doctors. They do come out of school with a ton of debt, unless they were wealthy to start with. As a whole, and if their name isn't Dr. Tingstad and Dr. Doornink, they can be pretty stingy with their donations.

Plus, physicians have their own priorities. Starting with a trophy wife/husband and a Porsche. Country Club membership. Medicine-based philanthropic interests. Everybody and their dog assuming the have a lot of coin (see Porsche above) and hitting them up all the time for donations and community support.

So yes putting out high earning graduates is very important to fundraising, and the more the better. No question. But any such windfall from ESF Medicine grads is 20 years off.

Agreed, especially with WSU's med school focusing on trying to educate doctors who will practice in rural areas. I was pre-med a really long time ago, and not as well-versed in the field now as I used to be, but I know a decent amount of general practice physicians, pediatric physicians, etc., and a lot of them are making only something like $120k to $150k a year, even in the Seattle area. With the debt they have, especially, they're worse off than the legions of software engineers cranking away at tech companies in the Seattle area.

There also will be some graduates who go on to "big" things (chief of surgery, lucrative specialties in big metro areas, etc.), but I wouldn't count on much in the way of fundraising due to the med school for a long time. Still great for WSU's profile and overall prestige, not to mention, you know, actually being a great thing for people in underserved areas and other portions of Eastern WA.

 

[Cougzz]

“Cougzz, does your "three ties" stipulation apply to ESF only or also to the uw?”

Two totally different situations. WWAMI was a brilliant way to attract regional high quality students and to provide spots for scholars that come from a state with no med school and to provide an enhanced and diversified revenue stream. The WSU mission is extremely Washington rural and underserved-centric. Hence, WSU is the only school with the Washington criteria. As a layman I watch the EFSCOM progress with great interest. I am not seeing much ‘us versus them’ chatter. A med school student has a ton of more important things to think about and do. And God bless them all because I cannot even imagine the motivation to become a doc in the current healthcare climate.

 

[425cougfan]

Although he's imperfect, I think people are too hard on certain aspects of Schulz's messaging and performance.

I'm not a PR expert, but given some similar situations I've been involved with on the legal side, I think his quote about needing to create a culture of accountability within the AD was on point. It implicitly blamed Moos without being too direct, and it gave the impression of being responsive to an issue. He could have gone a lot further and referred to the need to "clean some things up" or to "correct past mistakes," and he didn't do that. Maybe he could have been a little softer and just said something about "treating this as an opportunity to examine some procedures and policies in the AD," or something like that, but then some would still interpret that as blaming Moos and he'd get no credit for actually saying he'd solve the problem, so he'd get attacked on both ends.

Also, re his relationship with Leach, some seem to be forgetting that Schulz gave him a huge--and probably ill-advised, frankly--extension when we had no AD in place and within the context of overall fiscal limitations. We lack hard data, and even any meaningful anecdotes, on the Leach/Schulz relationship, but that one hard fact we have certainly cuts in favor of thinking the relationship is decent, at least.

 

[95coug]

I beg to differ on that. Doctors salary for even a GP is 180k they will have the extra cash.

Set up a doctor golfing fundraising tournament event for the CAF with past cougar players where the donation is the entry fee of 5k.

You get 200 doctors all playing golf with cougars and that is 1 million bucks raised.

Add in a silent auction with memorabilia / suites and yes you will get plenty of cash.

You know what won’t get you donations? Asking a bunch of teachers with English / social science majors who make barely 40k a year for 1000 dollars.

That’s the truth.

WSU should make it a priority to put out as many high dollar degree alumni they can.

Finance, Business, computer science, engineering, doctors all = $$$$ for athletics

Sunflower interpretive dance majors = unemployed

Related item - WSU is likely discontinuing their on-campus MBA program. There are only 9 students currently in the program (all in Vancouver). Online MBA programs, including WSU's, are more popular and there are so many existing on-campus programs that WSU has had difficulty attracting students. The Regents were expected to discuss/approve this at their meeting in Spokane. Not sure what the outcome was, but it seems like a no-brainer.

 

[PeteTheChop]

Also, re his relationship with Leach, some seem to be forgetting that Schulz gave him a huge--and probably ill-advised, frankly--extension when we had no AD in place and within the context of overall fiscal limitations. We lack hard data, and even any meaningful anecdotes, on the Leach/Schulz relationship, but that one hard fact we have certainly cuts in favor of thinking the relationship is decent, at least.

Good information, 425.

Gotta admit I was a little confused on the timelines myself, but good to see Dr. Schulz sees the market value in having a future CFB Hall of Famer leading the Cougs.

 

[Coug95man2]

My brother is a doctor, in rural Eastern Oregon. General Family practitioner. He opened his own clinic. That is what saved him. But anyone that thinks rural doc's make a boatload of money are ill-informed.
And I'll echo above. Doctors are not some casino "big fish" that throws money around. Actually very opposite. They see how life is fleeting and they make sure they are financially set, they make sure that their priorities are set and hard and that is what they look towards. I'm sure you can find rural doctors that have bought into some athletic hype. But I can insure you, there are people on this board that make a boat load more (probably more than a few) than a rural doc. And I don't see the financial side ever changing for them. It will actually get worse in the next 5-10 (or longer) years.

 

[95coug]

My brother is a doctor, in rural Eastern Oregon. General Family practitioner. He opened his own clinic. That is what saved him. But anyone that thinks rural doc's make a boatload of money are ill-informed.
And I'll echo above. Doctors are not some casino "big fish" that throws money around. Actually very opposite. They see how life is fleeting and they make sure they are financially set, they make sure that their priorities are set and hard and that is what they look towards. I'm sure you can find rural doctors that have bought into some athletic hype. But I can insure you, there are people on this board that make a boat load more (probably more than a few) than a rural doc. And I don't see the financial side ever changing for them. It will actually get worse in the next 5-10 (or longer) years.

Doctors as the financial high-rollers is, for the most part, an idea that's a historical relic. Insurance execs and attorneys figured out that medicine was a pot of gold, and they figured out how to milk docs and nurses for cash. There are no doubt some who do very well, but those most likely aren't your GPs.

 

[COUGinNCW]

What we need is a dental school. Those guys are making coin.

 

[wazzucougs96]

What we need is a dental school. Those guys are making coin.

No, what we need is to be investing in our computer science programs. Seattle is a hot bed of companies that are desperate for coders, engineers, developers, etc and UW can not churn out enough grads to fill them all. Seattle is being overrun with alumni from out of state universities because we are not doing our part to educate our kids in these fields of the future.

How the hell we let it get to this point is beyond me.