(10-27-2019 07:41 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: (10-27-2019 04:55 PM)texowl2 Wrote: Ok. So the BOT and leebron are pro athletics not sure i believe. Is it just too far gone which i think?
Not pro to the extent that presidents and boards are at, say, SEC schools. But certainly not anti.
I still think if they were presented with a reasonable plan, they would open some purse strings. But without a plan, there's nothing really for them to do.
I'll not quote your longer post just above, Owl#s, of which I basically agree with and have agreed with for many of the past years.
But what I'm hearing from what you state, and correct me if I'm wrong, is something like: "It's 2+2. And if we simply have two+two, we should get 4."
Okay, but what we're seeing seems like the equivalent of 2+2=-5, or something nonsensical like that.
In other words, you appear to be saying "All the Prez. and BOT want is a plan from the AD and we're basically good-to-go." (i.e. 2+2)
But what doesn't seem to compute is the "-5" part (i.e. the Prez and BOT hired the Dang AD, and if all they
really wanted was a plan from them and then they'd pretty much get fully behind it and fund it/allow it to be funded/just do it, then some of us/many of us here have a hard time seeing as why the dang bosses (i.e. Prez and BOT) don't just
DEMAND a plan from the AD as a condition for him keeping his job. And if they don't like the plan as presented, they either modify it to something they
do like and can and will get behind, or demand that the AD present another one until they get one they do like and will support.
The problem seems to be either that:
a) no plan has been presented (as you indicate is the reason
b) that a plan or plans have been presented and the Prez/BOT do not like at all
c ) that a plan or plans have been presented but the Prez/BOT actually aren't actually serious/sincere as to that being the main ingredient that is missing for them to take decisive/public and positive action with regards to Rice's half-century long debacle in athletics, more or less.
or even worse, as I suggested, that
d) the "plan" is to find a way to slowly let Rice athletics die as alumni who actually care dwindle and die off
e) ADs have been to chicken-$#!- to present anything, despite being asked, possibly repeatedly to do so
To me,
a) is nonsensical: You expect us to believe that the boss who hires the AD to not require him to do what appears to be a basic part of his job and get away with it (then again, previous coach did for 11 years and increased salary all along the way, so I guess it's possible that Prez and BOT are actually that dumb; which bodes not well for the University as a whole
b) No one makes one of these public in 50+ years, and it's all kept hush-hush as we disintegrate; hard to believe, and/or sad/pathetic (which I think is the word you used to describe football performance in a thread regarding state of program after last week's game)
c ) Much more likely based on the actual evidence of what we have seen/are continuing to see in Rice Athletics
d) Very possible, and also very sad/pathetic, in light of what sports do for almost any university, regardless of academic level or standing, across the board in modern society.
e) Patton asks his subordinates to get things done his way, as he's their boss. Subs don't/refuse to do it his way- Patton removes them and finds someone who will, and makes it very clear that is a condition of them keeping their job. I could believe allowing 1 AD not to do his job in 50 years, but, what, 8 or 9 in a row? With the exception of Ranger Rick, who was a complete Douche, what are the others' excuses? No, I don;t think anyone ever required them to do anything like present a plan at all--in fact it appears that is the more likely condition for being hired/keeping their job, and it's a chciken$#!- way to run a major university ADept. But have no fear, Rice slips annual in the academic prestige rankings, so they are succeeding at strangling/destroying the academic reputation of the school and its alumns' degrees as well as athletics--kudos, I guess.
I think the major sticking point is the dire and readily apparent need to change the university's policy on corporate donations and allowing the Athletic Dept to function like the current market demands it should in order to have a chance at success. Also, some apparently illogical random constraint that says that despite the market, can't pay market rates for market-grade talent because, wah, that's more than some professors (or the Prez) makes, so we will instead ignore reality and pretend.
You certainly don't discover buckyballs with that kind of attitude, and you certainly don't remain an academic leader with it either. If that's the kind of correct-think being applied at Rice, some version of Rice Orwellianism, then it appears to lead to the illogic we have today.
You say it's just 2+2 and it will equal 4, but we get -5 instead. Something has to be wrong with the original equation here, because it's not simply 2+2 they have asked for/are asking for. It doesn't compute. #henceRice athletics.
heck, you just laid out a framework of a plan (and have before) is the AD/BOT/Prez so obtuse as to not be capable of seeing that, adapting and presenting it to themselves? Either they are really, really dumb, or they don;t give a crap to demand performance from those they employ/themselves. Sounds like...Congress. Maybe that is where they get their model, and it would explain a lot. But I digest (with indigestion--pass the Pepto).