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Thoughts on Jim Sterk?

PeteTheChop

PeteTheChop

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May 25, 2005
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Heard the hosts on central Missouri sports talk radio discussing his effectiveness as the Mizzou Tigers athletic director.

For those of you who closely followed his time at WSU from 2000 through 2010, what are your thoughts on his leadership and accomplishments in Pullman?

How would you rate Dr. Sterk in comparison with Bill Moos or Pat Chun?

sterkpic5_04-05-2009_K7FPNKN.jpg
 
V. Lane Rawlins was as much of the problem as anything. On the good side he hired Dick/Tony Bennett. The combination of Price/Doba/Wulff decisions were a killer.
 
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Big points for getting the Bennett's here. A short lived period, but a special time for our B-ball program. Outside of that, not much to hang his hat on.
 
Agree. He really ran a foul here.

I think his handling of Mike Price, set the tone for me. First he (nor his boss) didn't want to pay Price. Second, when Price quit for Alabama, he allowed him to coach in the Rose Bowl. Any donor questioning this decision (me) was called "jilted lovers." Third, his allowing Doba and staff to basically run the program in the ground. Fourth, for his self proclaimed "best hire in his career" Paul Wulff to be the guy fix the program, was a question mark at the start (after turning down Sumlin and some other names).

On basketball, the Dick Bennett hire was brilliant. But my understanding is Dick Bennett pushed the idea on Sterk as a way to get Tony a D-1 head coaching job. Sterk went along. When Sterk actually had to hire someone, he went to Bone. Mind you, we were coming off a couple runs into the NCAA tourney. Sterk used the logic of "we want a guy who will be here long-term" as the rational for hiring Bone.

Sterk, bad on fund raising. Missed the mark on our Rose Bowl runs (1997 and 2003). Totally botched our Rose Bowl ticket allocation and purchase process for 2003. WSU fans were buying tickets from Oklahoma's allotment. I could go on.

He was not good for WSU athletics.
 
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ttowncoug said:
Agree. He really ran a foul here.

I think his handling of Mike Price, set the tone for me. First he (nor his boss) didn't want to pay Price. Second, when Price quit for Alabama, he allowed him to coach in the Rose Bowl. Any donor questioning this decision (me) was called "jilted lovers." Third, his allowing Doba and staff to basically run the program in the ground. Fourth, for his self proclaimed "best hire in his career" Paul Wulff to be the guy fix the program, was a question mark at the start (after turning down Sumlin and some other names).

On basketball, the Dick Bennett hire was brilliant. But my understanding is Dick Bennett pushed the idea on Sterk as a way to get Tony a D-1 head coaching job. Sterk went along. When Sterk actually had to hire someone, he went to Bone. Mind you, we were coming off a couple runs into the NCAA tourney. Sterk used the logic of "we want a guy who will be here long-term" as the rational for hiring Bone.

Sterk, bad on fund raising. Missed the mark on our Rose Bowl runs (1997 and 2003). Totally botched our Rose Bowl ticket allocation and purchase process for 2003. WSU fans were buying tickets from Oklahoma's allotment. I could go on.

He was not good for WSU athletics.
Click to expand...

Good insight T-Town.

One of the radio guys said the Mizzou administration brought Sterk in because his "integrity and demeanor was unassailable" and the University had endured a few black eyes.

The Bennett hires were obviously Grand Slams for WSU, but wasn't aware of Jim's ups and downs as a WSU fund-raiser (know that is a challenge for even the elite AD's these days).
 
At the bottom is a snippet from a post-mortem from 2010 from another site. Some real positives there.

t-town - Sterk was not the AD in 1997. Slick Rick Dickson was.
Ferris - Correct to lay some blame on V. Lane Rawlins.

Sterk's plan for Martin Stadium, and the Phase 1 (2?) work that was done was good. Just didn't or couldn't take it far enough. The Bennett hire was a stroke of genious/luck. The Marbut hire looks better than the Lees hire. The Bone hire was better than the Kent hire. The Doba hire looked good at the time. The Wulff hire sucked in hindsight, and was debatable at the time. But there again, financial hands tied? The Daugherty hire looked good at the time.

His big knock? Fundraising. Moos's current big knock? Fundraising. Chun's knock so far (for some of us)? Fundraising.

I don't see how Sterk can be looked at any less than a "Meh" grade. I give him an "OK" grade.

Non-revenue sports enjoyed great success under Jim Sterk. This past season, volleyball and baseball made returns to the NCAA tournament. Soccer made it for the second straight year and has become a consistent player under head coach Matt Potter. Women's rowing finished fourth in the country in 2006 and eighth in 2008 under Jane LaRiveire. Track continues to have success with great individual performances from athletes such as Jeshua Anderson and the Pickler sisters. Tennis is consistently ranked and made the tournament in 2008. All of these sports peformed well on a national stage under coaches hired by Jim Sterk. Jim helped make WSU a well-rounded Pac-10 competitor.
 
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No question Sterk probably is a good policy wonk. He balanced the books. He basically is a black and white thinker and says I only pay by this for a coach. He didn't do anything pro-active to bring in more dollars, etc. Make budget. Stay compliant. Blame fans for not donating more. Etc.

The reality is, once his Wullf hire went south, he was next to go.
 
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PeteTheChop said:
Interesting to see that even the most knowledgeable WSU fans can see things in a different light.
Click to expand...

Why thank you. Yes I am. :rolleyes:

dgibbons said:
We'd have fancier golf course and a better rowing tank.
Click to expand...

Like it or not, the golf course was 100% Lane Rawlins.

As far as the rowing tank and other non-revenue sport enhancements, I'm not sure what the issue is there. We do have to field teams in those other sports, and Rowing has long been one of WSU's bright spots nationally.
 
ttowncoug said:
No question Sterk probably is a good policy wonk. He balanced the books. He basically is a black and white thinker and says I only pay by this for a coach. He didn't do anything pro-active to bring in more dollars, etc. Make budget. Stay compliant. Blame fans for not donating more.
Click to expand...

"The blame fans" cliche is the part I don't get.

Spruce up facilities, target, reel in and retain an elite coach — what better way to raise $$$.

Isn't that what Bill Moos did and Pat Chun has maintained?

Again, how else is an AD supposed to fill the coffers but by winning and competing for championships?
 
Loyal Coug said:
Why thank you. Yes I am. :rolleyes:



Like it or not, the golf course was 100% Lane Rawlins.

As far as the rowing tank and other non-revenue sport enhancements, I'm not sure what the issue is there. We do have to field teams in those other sports, and Rowing has long been one of WSU's bright spots nationally.
Click to expand...

The issue is there is no way in hell investment in the nonrevenue sports generate any kind of return for the department as a whole. Football needs to be funded because actually can make a difference department wide. Spreading the money around to all the programs left football in a state of neglect for a decade resulting in WSU Athletics (as in the entire Athletic Department) being the laughing stock of the Pac-10/12.

Sterk is an idiot, bean counter, bureaucrat. Perfect guy to keep your Athletic Department stagnant and plodding along with no direction or investment (the deficit started under his watch by the way). Your kind of guy.
 
Loyal - i didn't say, or infer, Sterk was the AD in 1997. I was referring to the 2002 season and the 2003 Rose Bowl. Price stated he wanted to stay. He just wanted more cash for him and his staff. Sterk said no thanks because his boss wasn't on board.

The rest is history.

Thanks for the "fact check."
 
dgibbons said:
The issue is there is no way in hell investment in the nonrevenue sports generate any kind of return for the department as a whole. Football needs to be funded because actually can make a difference department wide. Spreading the money around to all the programs left football in a state of neglect for a decade resulting in WSU Athletics (as in the entire Athletic Department) being the laughing stock of the Pac-10/12.

Sterk is an idiot, bean counter, bureaucrat. Perfect guy to keep your Athletic Department stagnant and plodding along with no direction or investment (the deficit started under his watch by the way). Your kind of guy.
Click to expand...

Gee, I try to engage you in an intelligent manner, and this is what I get? You are one classy dude, counselor.

Let's try again. You can't just spend -0- on all the non-revenue sports. And I doubt that the rowing tank severely detracted from the Athletics budget in general.

And speaking of "bean counters" and lawyers, here's a cute chart.
https://www.statista.com/chart/12420/americas-most-and-least-trusted-professions/
 
Loyal Coug said:
Gee, I try to engage you in an intelligent manner, and this is what I get? You are one classy dude, counselor.

Let's try again. You can't just spend -0- on all the non-revenue sports. And I doubt that the rowing tank severely detracted from the Athletics budget in general.

And speaking of "bean counters" and lawyers, here's a cute chart.
https://www.statista.com/chart/12420/americas-most-and-least-trusted-professions/
Click to expand...

You are what you are. No one said spend zero on nonrevenue sports. But of course you have accountant level reading comprehension.
 
ttowncoug said:
Loyal - i didn't say, or infer, Sterk was the AD in 1997. I was referring to the 2002 season and the 2003 Rose Bowl. Price stated he wanted to stay. He just wanted more cash for him and his staff. Sterk said no thanks because his boss wasn't on board.

The rest is history.

Thanks for the "fact check."
Click to expand...

Um, you said EXACTLY that (below, snipped from your earlier post). Sterk didn't become AD until 2000. A little late to "miss the mark" on 1997. No biggy, just a minor correction.

ttown said: Sterk, bad on fund raising. Missed the mark on our Rose Bowl runs (1997 and 2003).
 
PeteTheChop said:
Heard the hosts on central Missouri sports talk radio discussing his effectiveness as the Mizzou Tigers athletic director.

For those of you who closely followed his time at WSU from 2000 through 2010, what are your thoughts on his leadership and accomplishments in Pullman?

How would you rate Dr. Sterk in comparison with Bill Moos or Pat Chun?

sterkpic5_04-05-2009_K7FPNKN.jpg
Click to expand...
One of the greats.
 
dgibbons said:
You are what you are. No one said spend zero on nonrevenue sports. But of course you have accountant level reading comprehension.
Click to expand...

Well you pretty much did say that - below. And I have "accountant-level" reading comprehension. As opposed to "lawyer-level" comprehension like you. You blood suckers really think you are smarter than the rest of the world in all things. It's pathetic and laughable. If some brain surgeon or rocket scientist comes on here are you going to tell them how much smarter you are than them?

Oh, did you look at my linked chart? I'll take being an accountant over a lawyer anyday.

dgibbons said:
The issue is there is no way in hell investment in the nonrevenue sports generate any kind of return for the department as a whole. Football needs to be funded because actually can make a difference department wide. Spreading the money around to all the programs left football in a state of neglect for a decade resulting in WSU Athletics (as in the entire Athletic Department) being the laughing stock of the Pac-10/12.
.
Click to expand...
 
Loyal Coug said:
Well you pretty much did say that - below. And I have "accountant-level" reading comprehension. As opposed to "lawyer-level" comprehension like you. You blood suckers really think you are smarter than the rest of the world in all things. It's pathetic and laughable. If some brain surgeon or rocket scientist comes on here are you going to tell them how much smarter you are than them?

Oh, did you look at my linked chart? I'll take being an accountant over a lawyer anyday.
Click to expand...

How many times do you need to prove you can’t read? You’re sinking to CougEd level.

You’re a bean counter, or former bean counter. Congratulations.
 
dgibbons said:
How many times do you need to prove you can’t read? You’re sinking to CougEd level.

You’re a bean counter, or former bean counter. Congratulations.
Click to expand...

Do you call the finance and accounting people at your office "bean counters"? Do you call your clients who are accounting and finance professionals "bean counters"? When you are out and about in your professional circles and run into CPA's and controllers and CFO's do you call them "bean counters"?

On the flip side, when I am out and about in my professional circles and I meet lawyers I simply say "I'm sorry for you".

When anyone in my professional circles has to deal with, or god forbid spend money on, lawyers, the typical opening to the discussion includes "f-ing lawyers", or G-D lawyers, or "have to waste money on the worthless lawyers", or "blood sucking leeches", or other similar and fitting remarks towards your universally disparaged and hated profession.

But go ahead and make yourself feel better with your cute little attempted "bean counter" insults. :eek:
 
Loyal Coug said:
Do you call the finance and accounting people at your office "bean counters"? Do you call your clients who are accounting and finance professionals "bean counters"? When you are out and about in your professional circles and run into CPA's and controllers and CFO's do you call them "bean counters"?

On the flip side, when I am out and about in my professional circles and I meet lawyers I simply say "I'm sorry for you".

When anyone in my professional circles has to deal with, or god forbid spend money on, lawyers, the typical opening to the discussion includes "f-ing lawyers", or G-D lawyers, or "have to waste money on the worthless lawyers", or "blood sucking leeches", or other similar and fitting remarks towards your universally disparaged and hated profession.

But go ahead and make yourself feel better with your cute little attempted "bean counter" insults. :eek:
Click to expand...

Here’s a definition for you. This is the polite version. I would add that bean counters generally lack leadership and managerial ability, but can be useful in aiding the real decision makers.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bean+counter
 
Loyal Coug said:
Um, you said EXACTLY that (below, snipped from your earlier post). Sterk didn't become AD until 2000. A little late to "miss the mark" on 1997. No biggy, just a minor correction.

ttown said: Sterk, bad on fund raising. Missed the mark on our Rose Bowl runs (1997 and 2003).
Click to expand...

Inferring there was an opportunity when he started not stating he was the AD. That period of time was when football was on the rise. Anyone with mild intelligence could have figured out calculus on how to capitalize on success in this period. Rather. He was a budget hawk that didn’t get the big picture.
 
Loyal Coug said:
Do you call the finance and accounting people at your office "bean counters"? Do you call your clients who are accounting and finance professionals "bean counters"? When you are out and about in your professional circles and run into CPA's and controllers and CFO's do you call them "bean counters"?

On the flip side, when I am out and about in my professional circles and I meet lawyers I simply say "I'm sorry for you".

When anyone in my professional circles has to deal with, or god forbid spend money on, lawyers, the typical opening to the discussion includes "f-ing lawyers", or G-D lawyers, or "have to waste money on the worthless lawyers", or "blood sucking leeches", or other similar and fitting remarks towards your universally disparaged and hated profession.

But go ahead and make yourself feel better with your cute little attempted "bean counter" insults. :eek:
Click to expand...

Quite the diatribe.
 
Observer11 said:
Sterk worked for a guy who never said yes. Moos worked for a guy who never said no.
Click to expand...

You still need vision. You still need to be someone that people wanna work for. There are a zillion guys that wanna work for Moos. Coaches dont wanna work for Sterk.
 
ttowncoug said:
Loyal - i didn't say, or infer, Sterk was the AD in 1997. I was referring to the 2002 season and the 2003 Rose Bowl. Price stated he wanted to stay. He just wanted more cash for him and his staff. Sterk said no thanks because his boss wasn't on board.

The rest is history.

Thanks for the "fact check."
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure Price wanted to stay, his mind was made up before he ever talked to sterk IMO. he may have stayed for alabama money levels but that would never happen. then he demanded to coach the rose bowl or take the whole staff with him. since mike wasn't smart enough to sign his contract with alabama, he essentially caused a huge media circus, trashed WSU, made a fool of himself and traded coaching at WSU for coaching at UTEP for substantially less than he walked away from
 
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longtimecoug said:
I'm not so sure Price wanted to stay, his mind was made up before he ever talked to sterk IMO. he may have stayed for alabama money levels but that would never happen. then he demanded to coach the rose bowl or take the whole staff with him. since mike wasn't smart enough to sign his contract with alabama, he essentially caused a huge media circus, trashed WSU, made a fool of himself and traded coaching at WSU for coaching at UTEP for substantially less than he walked away from
Click to expand...

It wasnt the smartest business decision. Clearly.
 
longtimecoug said:
I'm not so sure Price wanted to stay, his mind was made up before he ever talked to sterk IMO. he may have stayed for alabama money levels but that would never happen. then he demanded to coach the rose bowl or take the whole staff with him. since mike wasn't smart enough to sign his contract with alabama, he essentially caused a huge media circus, trashed WSU, made a fool of himself and traded coaching at WSU for coaching at UTEP for substantially less than he walked away from
Click to expand...

We'll never know if Price would have stayed if Sterk had tried. When it comes down to it, sometimes the money and facility differences are just too great and loyalty means very little at that point.
 
PeteTheChop said:
Accountants and Attorneys are both professions to be admired and recognized.
Click to expand...
You are half right, Pete. ;)

425cougfan said:
Quite the diatribe.
Click to expand...
Yeah well sometimes that little know it all prick pisses me off.

dgibbons said:
Here’s a definition for you. This is the polite version. I would add that bean counters generally lack leadership and managerial ability, but can be useful in aiding the real decision makers.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bean+counter
Click to expand...

Really? Lack leadership? Gee, let's look at what course of study CEO's majored in.

Let's start with this link - the highest paid CEO in each state. Now to be fair, I see that the one state where the CEO studied law is Washington. Sort of a commentary on our socialistic, red-tape, leech-filled society here in the Evergreen state. But look at all those business, econ and finance degrees.
https://letsreachsuccess.com/highest-paid-ceos-college-degrees/

Here's a couple of other links. Don't see "law degree" in either of these. Of course, why believe Forbes when we have you to tell us what's what?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocen...h-to-becoming-a-fortune-500-ceo/#22eac23f709b
https://www.investopedia.com/articl...ericas-top-ceos-and-their-college-degrees.asp
 
PeteTheChop said:
Heard the hosts on central Missouri sports talk radio discussing his effectiveness as the Mizzou Tigers athletic director.

For those of you who closely followed his time at WSU from 2000 through 2010, what are your thoughts on his leadership and accomplishments in Pullman?

How would you rate Dr. Sterk in comparison with Bill Moos or Pat Chun?

sterkpic5_04-05-2009_K7FPNKN.jpg
Click to expand...
********************************

Many good things have already been said here on this topic, but I will throw in my $.02 worth. My buddies and I have talked about this several times over the years and have come down to this on a high level: Jim Sterk was an administrator and Bill Moos was a leader.

JS was a nice guy and all that, but he did nothing to push the envelope or rock the boat. Everything was to just keep operating as it always had been. As a leader of the Pierce County Cougar Club for many years, I had the opportunity to deal with the WSU AD on a semi regular basis. They were very much against listening to those outside Pullman, or taking advice from those of us that were in contact with the great unwashed spread throughout the state. We would have President's Summits before a football game every fall, and every time requests to have a good brainstorming session to develop strategies for AD improvement were ignored so they could tell us all how it was going to be. Very frustrating!

I remember one time when Brady Crook was assigned to lead the meeting (as was usual) and he told us how we only had about 5 people doing development (fund raising) and event planning work, while Oregon under Moos had either 18 or 19. So while we were all saying that they needed to INVEST in fund raising AND good will events in order to increase program interest and donations, their response was to go down a list of good will events that didn't raise money and talk about how we needed cut out most of them. No visionary thinking!

Now here is another personal incident that was very frustrating and irritating. Remember the fund raising drive for the Indoor Practice Facility? Yes it was a flop, so they decided to divert the funds from a permanent facility to the temporary A.S.S. (Air Supported Structure). Well, as part of their drive they said that anyone committing to $1,000 would get a personalized brick at the entry. Since the permanent facility was "delayed" they did nothing about the bricks for years and years, and had no plans other than "we'll do something with them". Real nice way to reward your donors, huh?

One thing to keep in mind regarding hiring of coaches is that Bill Moos was a real key member on the committee that advised hiring Paul Wulff. IIRC, he was being paid severance pay from Oregon at the time and had to receive approval from UO to even be retained as a consultant. So Bill has some culpability in that huge mistake.
 
Not a fan. Kept Wazzu in the black, but sold out football to do so. Couldn't capitalize on the 3 10 win seasons. Made a great hire in Dick, promoted his son, who turned out to be on of the top 10 coaches in hoops. Took whatever money we had and built a rowing tank for a non revenue sport. Couldn't build anything else. Wasn't sad to see him go and because of SDDouche at Brand X I root against him at every stop he's at.
 
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Loyal Coug said:
You are half right, Pete. ;)


Yeah well sometimes that little know it all prick pisses me off.



Really? Lack leadership? Gee, let's look at what course of study CEO's majored in.

Let's start with this link - the highest paid CEO in each state. Now to be fair, I see that the one state where the CEO studied law is Washington. Sort of a commentary on our socialistic, red-tape, leech-filled society here in the Evergreen state. But look at all those business, econ and finance degrees.
https://letsreachsuccess.com/highest-paid-ceos-college-degrees/

Here's a couple of other links. Don't see "law degree" in either of these. Of course, why believe Forbes when we have you to tell us what's what?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocen...h-to-becoming-a-fortune-500-ceo/#22eac23f709b
https://www.investopedia.com/articl...ericas-top-ceos-and-their-college-degrees.asp
Click to expand...

Is it not painfully obvious that whatever people you are referring to are not bean counters? Please point out where I said anything about a course of study rendering someone a bean counter. I have a BA in Business Administration with a double emphasis in finance and accounting.

This is exactly what I mean when saying you have bean counter reading comprehension.
 
Stretch 74 said:
********************************

Many good things have already been said here on this topic, but I will throw in my $.02 worth. My buddies and I have talked about this several times over the years and have come down to this on a high level: Jim Sterk was an administrator and Bill Moos was a leader.

JS was a nice guy and all that, but he did nothing to push the envelope or rock the boat. Everything was to just keep operating as it always had been. As a leader of the Pierce County Cougar Club for many years, I had the opportunity to deal with the WSU AD on a semi regular basis. They were very much against listening to those outside Pullman, or taking advice from those of us that were in contact with the great unwashed spread throughout the state. We would have President's Summits before a football game every fall, and every time requests to have a good brainstorming session to develop strategies for AD improvement were ignored so they could tell us all how it was going to be. Very frustrating!

I remember one time when Brady Crook was assigned to lead the meeting (as was usual) and he told us how we only had about 5 people doing development (fund raising) and event planning work, while Oregon under Moos had either 18 or 19. So while we were all saying that they needed to INVEST in fund raising AND good will events in order to increase program interest and donations, their response was to go down a list of good will events that didn't raise money and talk about how we needed cut out most of them. No visionary thinking!

Now here is another personal incident that was very frustrating and irritating. Remember the fund raising drive for the Indoor Practice Facility? Yes it was a flop, so they decided to divert the funds from a permanent facility to the temporary A.S.S. (Air Supported Structure). Well, as part of their drive they said that anyone committing to $1,000 would get a personalized brick at the entry. Since the permanent facility was "delayed" they did nothing about the bricks for years and years, and had no plans other than "we'll do something with them". Real nice way to reward your donors, huh?

One thing to keep in mind regarding hiring of coaches is that Bill Moos was a real key member on the committee that advised hiring Paul Wulff. IIRC, he was being paid severance pay from Oregon at the time and had to receive approval from UO to even be retained as a consultant. So Bill has some culpability in that huge mistake.
Click to expand...

Good stuff Stretch, thanks. Particularly the 1st party insight. Your first paragraph sums it up quite nicely.

My only dithering here is that Sterk's plan for Martin Stadium, and improvements that did happen, were good. The fact that the footings are in place for the end zone second deck indictaes some forward thinking. However, the $ and execution of the latter phases didn't come to fruition. Other than the notion of building the suites on the student side. Never will understand why it wasn't the reserved side all along but whatever.

On the $1,000 bricks for the IPF. I gave to that thing, and am sure that it was at the "brick" level, but I don't remember it being $1,000. On the other hand, that was a long, long time ago and maybe I did pony up that much.

It is an unfortunate reality in many places, not just WSU Athletics, that the insiders and administrators too rarely listen to anyone outside their circle. "We know better" is a common mantra. Kind of like the emperor has no clothes fable. Or the WSU fable - semi gets stuck under the Stadium Way overpass. All the professionals are standing around scratching their heads. Little boy sticks his head out of a passing car. "Why don't you let the air out of the tires?". Problem solved.

(I was that little boy :rolleyes:)
 
dgibbons said:
Is it not painfully obvious that whatever people you are referring to are not bean counters? Please point out where I said anything about a course of study rendering someone a bean counter. I have a BA in Business Administration with a double emphasis in finance and accounting.

This is exactly what I mean when saying you have bean counter reading comprehension.
Click to expand...

Well we have the same degree. Imagine that. I guess you learned to be an insufferable little know it all prick in Eugene.
 
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