The wrong Dick was hired as president.
From what I've seen, Marchase is athletics friendly.
Probably so, but isn't he pushing 70? I always have liked him though. He would have been a lot better choice than Watts.
Dr. Marchase is a great guy and I've seen him at athletics events, but honestly when the time comes it is time for UAB to get an outsider, someone with zero ties to UAB or the state of Alabama. No guarantee that it would be a home run hire, but there is just way too much internal turnover within UAB and the UA System.
(08-26-2015 11:25 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote: [ -> ]Dr. Marchase is a great guy and I've seen him at athletics events, but honestly when the time comes it is time for UAB to get an outsider, someone with zero ties to UAB or the state of Alabama. No guarantee that it would be a home run hire, but there is just way too much internal turnover within UAB and the UA System.
While the "outsider" candidate is considered highly desirable by some, it has not proven to be a good idea many of the times it has been tried. The political parallel is to seek someone from "outside the Beltway" to be President. Two such who come to mind are Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Donald Trump today.
Our present UAB AD Ingram is someone from "away" and his work to date has not made many happy. While we avoid nepotism, we also have to wait for him to find out whose toes he can ignore and which ones are essential to protect. Look at the B'ham City Schools who have gone through many "away" superintendents since their first, Dr Wilmer Cody from VA, came in trying to "save" B'ham schools.
what exactly is the price of tea in China?
(08-27-2015 06:16 AM)LairDweller Wrote: [ -> ]what exactly is the price of tea in China?
$1.29/kilo, not reflecting recent yuan devaluations.
"I've seen him at athletics events" was said of Ray Watts, too.
We really do need an outsider, but I dread yet another hire with a "doctorate" in Higher Education Administration from the Tuscaloosa Diploma Farm.
The interesting question is how much will the next president be paid.
Cornell, John Hopkins and Duke. Is that not "outside" enough?
Told he was on our side in May.
While the BOT may be able to hire another Watts I don't believe we will be as blind next time as we were after the hiring.
We can make the next president stay in hiding just like Watts has to do for the most part if they get out of line.
(08-27-2015 08:02 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]While the BOT may be able to hire another Watts I don't believe we will be as blind next time as we were after the hiring.
We can make the next president stay in hiding just like Watts has to do for the most part if they get out of line.
People considering taking the job will know very well the goings on of the last year.
Marchase is certainly more personally engaging than Watts, but then, so is a bucket of dirt.
(08-27-2015 08:26 PM)Smaug Wrote: [ -> ]Marchase is certainly more personally engaging than Watts, but then, so is a bucket of dirt.
Ha, very true. Basically anyone who is not a sociopath or a megalomaniac would be an improvement.
Man, it doesn't matter where the person is from. I just want someone that cares. I want someone that realizes kissing ass, polishing the status quo, and playing petty insider politics aren't and will never be the way to go about the job. I want the next president to come with some passion. And with a real vision, too. Not some grandiose, guarded plan that shifted us into reverse before the PR firms eve had a chance to lace official statements with stuff about UAB Forward.
These capital projects, both athletic and academic, have to get off the ground. I'm not talking about the common sense, 'oh, look, we approve so much for you guys' rubber stamping. There are going to be tough decisions looming and being able to successfully navigate while simultaneously moving closer and closer to things like AAU status, higher profile athletics, establishing stronger ties with the city, etc. is what makes a president deserving of that kind of pay.
Dr. Watts is so much of a failure in every regard that there should really be some kind of recognition for being one of the worst presidents ever. In fact, it should probably be an annual award from now on.
(08-28-2015 12:12 AM)Hopeful Wrote: [ -> ]Man, it doesn't matter where the person is from. I just want someone that cares. I want someone that realizes kissing ass, polishing the status quo, and playing petty insider politics aren't and will never be the way to go about the job. I want the next president to come with some passion. And with a real vision, too. Not some grandiose, guarded plan that shifted us into reverse before the PR firms eve had a chance to lace official statements with stuff about UAB Forward.
These capital projects, both athletic and academic, have to get off the ground. I'm not talking about the common sense, 'oh, look, we approve so much for you guys' rubber stamping. There are going to be tough decisions looming and being able to successfully navigate while simultaneously moving closer and closer to things like AAU status, higher profile athletics, establishing stronger ties with the city, etc. is what makes a president deserving of that kind of pay.
Dr. Watts is so much of a failure in every regard that there should really be some kind of recognition for being one of the worst presidents ever. In fact, it should probably be an annual award from now on.
Oh, there is, and hopefully will remain to be, longstanding recognition of dr ray L watts' contribution to UAB: "Fire Ray Watts" chants ad infinitum, akin to Auburn's "War Eagle' with every kickoff.
Someone wrote something up above about the BOT hiring "another Watts". I'm having trouble imagining that there is another university president candidate who could be as bad a Watts. I some of you guys who been in the university atmosphere most of your lives might be able to think of someone, but I just can't see it.
I am sure that there are university administration types who have absolutely no integrity; there are folks like that in every profession. And I am sure there are administrators with absolutely no people skills; that's a given. I am also sure that there are those in every university who will do almost anything to climb anther rung on the career ladder. I also don't doubt that there are also those have risen to fairly high academic positions who are still capable of screwing up everything that they touch. And yes, I'll bet that you could even find all of those traits in a single person if you looked long and hard enough, but it would not be easy.
However, usually someone who has risen high enough be considered a candidate for the President's job at a prestigious university like UAB has a very sizable ego. I don't know if you could find anyone of that caliber who would let manipulators on the BOT put him in a position of being a public disgrace, ridiculed continually by local and national media, ostracized by his peers and his subordinates, heckled continuously by staff, students and alumni, the butt of countless jokes, and too afraid to walk around on his own campus even with a host of security guards. How hard would it be to stay in a job under all of those conditions and knowing that your wife is refusing to even go to the grocery store because she is too afraid or ashamed to be seen in public even though few people know what she looks like.
I don't think that the BOT will be able to find another Watts unless they clone him. Oh! Now that's a disturbing thought.