Jim Harbaugh has named his new offensive coordinator. Michigan has also apparently gone the gag-inducing douchey route of naming the staff positions after donors. So Tim Drevno is not the "offensive coordinator", he's the "Sanford Robertson Offensive Coordinator". Jim Harbaugh's official title is "J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach". BARF.

That leads to awful sentences like this:

quote:

"I am excited to reunite with Tim and have him serve as the offensive coordinator for our Michigan program," said Harbaugh, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach.

(01-09-2015 01:23 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  Jim Harbaugh has named his new offensive coordinator. Michigan has also apparently gone the gag-inducing douchey route of naming the staff positions after donors. So Tim Drevno is not the "offensive coordinator", he's the "Sanford Robertson Offensive Coordinator". Jim Harbaugh's official title is "J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach". BARF.

That leads to awful sentences like this:

quote:

"I am excited to reunite with Tim and have him serve as the offensive coordinator for our Michigan program," said Harbaugh, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach.

Yeah, I don't like it either. Wait until corporations get involved and it becomes "Frank Beamer, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Head Football Coach".

Stuff like this reminds me of the novel Jennifer Government

And I thought Legends vs. Leaders was bad.

To be sure, those donors are endowing the salaries for those positions specifically, so it's not random or a temporary sponsorhip. This is the same as when donors endow professorships and academic positions - the school almost always then names the position after the applicable donor(s). I honestly don't have any problem with it. If you put several million dollars into an endowment and the university never has to ever use any other funds to pay for that position again, then you deserve to have your name attached to it.

It's the "Title Sponsor" part of it that gets me. That is, the apparent requirement to mention the full name of the chair.

When Michigan first did this in the athletic department it was pointed out that the practice was fairly common in other athletic departments. It is certainly a common practice elsewhere within the university.

And apparently it is a valued "reward" amongst donors.

(01-09-2015 01:29 PM)EerMeNow Wrote:  

(01-09-2015 01:23 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  Jim Harbaugh has named his new offensive coordinator. Michigan has also apparently gone the gag-inducing douchey route of naming the staff positions after donors. So Tim Drevno is not the "offensive coordinator", he's the "Sanford Robertson Offensive Coordinator". Jim Harbaugh's official title is "J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach". BARF.

That leads to awful sentences like this:

quote:

"I am excited to reunite with Tim and have him serve as the offensive coordinator for our Michigan program," said Harbaugh, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach.

Yeah, I don't like it either. Wait until corporations get involved and it becomes "Frank Beamer, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Head Football Coach".

And perhaps you could get a sponsor for an unemployed head coach. He could be the "Enterprise Rent-A-Coach".

I understand why donors want their names attached to something. At the same time, I consider it at best tacky, and at worst pathetic. All you are doing is saying to the world "look at me, I'm rich".

(01-09-2015 03:08 PM)ken d Wrote:  I understand why donors want their names attached to something. At the same time, I consider it at best tacky, and at worst pathetic. All you are doing is saying to the world "look at me, I'm rich".

On the other hand, there is often no altruism in remaining anonymous. Most of those folks just want the tax-break without being hit up by other organizations. At least the "look at me, I'm rich" people make themselves public enough to be hit up again by others.



In my experience, there are great rich people and pathetic rich people just as there are great poor people and pathetic poor people.

It's not unlike how the academic sides of schools do this.

They do this at Stanford, too. Maybe Harbaugh will persuade a Michigan donor to build him his own private bathroom in the football offices, like he did at Stanford.

They could endow that, too: "The Ty-D-Bol Head Football Coach's Bathroom".

(01-09-2015 04:40 PM)Wedge Wrote:  They do this at Stanford, too. Maybe Harbaugh will persuade a Michigan donor to build him his own private bathroom in the football offices, like he did at Stanford.

I would guess that he did so for the purpose of working 20 hours a day and saving 30 minutes a day by talking to recruits while taking care of other business.

(01-09-2015 10:29 PM)SeaBlue Wrote:  

(01-09-2015 04:40 PM)Wedge Wrote:  They do this at Stanford, too. Maybe Harbaugh will persuade a Michigan donor to build him his own private bathroom in the football offices, like he did at Stanford.

I would guess that he did so for the purpose of working 20 hours a day and saving 30 minutes a day by talking to recruits while taking care of other business.

That's what he told Arrillaga. I'm a busy man, my time is too valuable to walk to the bathroom down the hall that the other coaches use, etc.

How do you think they got the money to afford Harbaugh??? Get over it.

Y'all just wait until Randy Moss decides to donate money for a staff position (or two) at Marshall or West Virginia.

(01-10-2015 08:02 AM)ecuacc4ever Wrote:  Y'all just wait until Randy Moss decides to donate money for a staff position (or two) at Marshall or West Virginia.

It won't be West Virginia...and probably not Marshall either.