(12-24-2014 02:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 01:03 PM)Marcus Wrote:  

(12-24-2014 12:50 PM)@ES Trader Wrote:  I thought TT blamed him for the scheduling problems, if so c-/d+

He did, and I know the basketball coaches were not fans of him at all. He was no near the AD some are making him out to be. As rath said the whole Nippert Expansion was all but settled before he arrived.

How did Whit have this teed up for him? Thomas said there was no market for premium seating and luxury suites?

http://csnbbs.com/thread-640985.html
Formulating a plan to upgrade Nippert Stadium was one of athletic director Whit Babcock’s top priorities almost from the moment he arrived at the University of Cincinnati after his hiring in October, 2011.

Twenty months after Babcock was introduced as UC’s athletic director, the school announced on June 25 that the Board of Trustees had approved plans for an $86-million renovation – the first for Nippert since 1992 - that will increase seating capacity to roughly 40,000, financed by private donations and revenue from premium seating that will be built on the west side of the stadium.

“A lot of things conspired to make this happen,” said Larry Sheakley, one of the top financial supporters of UC football. “Whit has been a huge part of that, plus the fact that some people woke up and saw what was happening in college football and started looking at the landscape and said, ‘We either have got to get in or get out.’ The president (Santa Ono) has done a great job of backing athletics. And the board really stepped up and realized the value of athletics and what they can do for the university.”

“I was really pleased when I asked if anyone had looked at that and they said, ‘We’ve done study after study after study,’ ” Babcock said. “It had either never been pursued or they just never found a model that worked. I just took a small piece of that study and said, ‘Let’s lock in on this.’

“There’s a lot of people to study. You don’t have to be the smartest person to figure it out. Kansas State is a project that we looked at a lot. Missouri is doing some stuff, so obviously I had some relationships there. It doesn’t take much to call some people and ask them, what did you price (premium seats) at? What sold and what problems did you have?”

Good post. I was a big Whit fan but that was mostly because I think he had the right mentality needed for the job based upon his public comments and actions. Per the above he obviously played a large role in the Nippert expansion and the CTT hire is proving to be a very good one imo. However he wasn't here long enough to actually accomplish all that much. I take him at his word that the only reason he left was to answer the call of home so I have no ill will towards him. But I'm not saving him a spot in the UC Hall of Fame.

(12-26-2014 10:08 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  "Babcock Bowl" - LOL! - that's the last thing that was on my mind, but maybe that is an indication of what I think about Whit, since I have forgotten about him already I didn't really see too many others mentioning it prior to Chris posting this article. Of course, leave it to the Enquirer to fan the flames

Jerry, based on your first post in this, it doesn't exactly sound like you're "over it"

Eh... Just because I posted "first" doesn't mean much... Timing...

For the record, I'm more-or-less with you, Beej... If we ended up playing Illinois, would it be the "Thomas Bowl"??? Or even more to the point, if we play Colorado, would it be the "Bohn Bowl"? And would I care much how Mike Bohn has "conflicted feelings" over playing his previous employers? Not really. I guess it's always best to have people feeling fondly over you, but in the end, they're with someone else now.