RE: #GivingTuesday
[/quote]
Well that's not a ringing endorsement from someone who has meant so much to KSU athletics lol
[/quote]
Haha. Well, It's no secret that morale in the athletic department is low. Calling it low would actually be kind. And while Joel was always relatively nice to me, there are so many people I care about who he has not treated well. I'll always be disappointed in myself for not trying to do more about that. There are many people in the department now who would love to speak out, but they are afraid to lose their jobs or to have their careers in athletics cut down in their prime. I chose to grow angry and resentful, and like so many others, I had to make the choice to leave.
With a new president taking over next year, it would be a good time to make a change at athletic director.
It’s impossible to justify continuing to pay the current AD’s salary salary when the athletic department looks just about exactly the way it did nine years ago when Joel was hired. The records of all four "priority" sports (football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball) are worse in nine years under Joel's watch than in the last nine years of Laing Kennedy's tenure as athletic director. And that's including football’s magical 2012 season! Most KSU sports fall under the steadfast "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "treading water" categories. The only sports to show significant improvement under Nielsen are women’s soccer and women’s indoor track and field. Fundraising is also still a big problem. Attendance continues to fall. There's little interest or excitement prior to big games. Remember how vibrant this message board used to be?
The biggest difference between now and when Kennedy was AD is people who worked in the athletic department nine years ago were actually happy. They were valued. They never had their morale shredded by a mantra like “you are all expendable.”
Back then, if a women on staff suffered from sexual harassment, she would never be told she should leave if she is not happy, or she is just going to have to learn to work with "him" after HR upheld a sexual harassment complaint.
Back then, if a senior woman administrator stood up for those who were being mistreated, they wouldn't suffer "death by a thousand cuts," having responsibilities and titles taken away before finally being told she could have her position eliminated or save face by tendering her resignation under pressure.
Back then, women who did their job the right way would never be shunned or ignored. If I had a daughter, I would do everything I could to discourage her from taking a job in this Kent State athletic department. That's a painful thing to say about a place I love so much.
But it's not just the women on staff who are suffering.
KSU fans should read the recent university "climate study." It's pretty shocking. The opening sentence to the Athletics Executive Summary is "The climate study results for staff in Athletics show a consistent pattern of statistically significant lower outcomes across all of the question areas, often the lowest scores of any of the 11 divisions." It goes on to say that "staff in Athletics are also significantly more likely to experience exclusionary behavior and unwanted sexual contact than staff elsewhere on campus." Exclusionary behavior is later defined as being bullied, harassed, shunned and ignored in a way that "has interfered with [their] ability to work or learn at Kent State."
It's hard to win when morale is low and you believe the AD shows little interest or support. I always ask the question, if you plant a tree and hope for it to grow, would you insert a poison in the ground right next to it?
Now consider the mediocrity and the morale against this list:
Salaries of Mid-American Conference Athletic Directors in 2017-18
Joel Nielsen $436,560
Sean Frazier (NIU) $299,000
William Lawrence (Akron) $285,000
Jim Schaus (Ohio) $281,000
Michael Alford (CMU) $275,000
Robert Moosbrugger (BGSU) $275,000
David Sayler (Miami) $272,360
Scott Wetherbee (EMU) $269,000
Kathy Beauregard (WMU) $262,650
Mark Alnutt (Buffalo) $260,000
Mike O’Brien (Toledo) $254,898
Mark Sandy (Ball State) $249,000
Remember, it was Joel who chose not to renew the contracts of hugely successful coaches like Bob Lindsay and Mike Morrow. Does he deserve better than Lindsay or Morrow, who gave so much to Kent State only to be unceremoniously let go?
Unfortunately, I heard tonight there are rumors Joel could receive a new three-year extension from president Warren before she retires at the end of the year. I don't know if the rumor is true. It's difficult to believe Warren would hang that giant salary over a university and its athletic department that is suffering from so many financial problems.
But then, one of Kent State's head coaches told me just a few months ago about approaching Joel to talk about the department's low morale. Joel's response according to the coach: "I don't care about morale. I answer to one person." The implication was the one person was president Warren.
Maybe ignoring the needs of the department and its staff to curry favor with the president worked? I admit bias when I say I hope the rumors are not true. Joel himself once said in a senior staff meeting I attended that ADs and presidents of universities have a shelf life. I can’t remember what he said that shelf life was, but it was far less than nine years.
If Joel sees this, I'm sure he'll be angry. But he should know that loyalty is earned. And when he asks himself who is truly loyal to him in Kent State's athletic department, he should remember that most "loyal" subjects are really just afraid to tell the emperor he has no clothes.
What's the old saying? A leader without followers is just a guy out for a walk.
(This post was last modified: 11-20-2018 12:02 PM by DavidCarducci.)
|