If she is making WM nationally relevant to the point that she gets looks by P5, then that would deserve an A in my book. If it truly is her ambition to climb the ladder, but instead it drives us into the ground, none would know that more than herself.

My greatest hope is that she and every W&M coach is so wildly successful, multiple P5 schools beg to hire them.

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(04-13-2020 03:28 PM)Tribal Wrote:  My greatest hope is that she and every W&M coach is so wildly successful, multiple P5 schools beg to hire them.

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The opportunity is there. The perceived/actual hierarchy of G-5/mid-major/FCS institutions may look different in the years to come, and Wm & Mary can be "relevant." Trends underway are such that there could be some shuffling as far as who is sitting at the football player/cheerleader lunchroom tables beginning with the 21-22 school year.

During and post-pandemic, the most attractive dance partners won't necessarily be those who were previously beneficiaries of media contract revenues and/or hefty student activity fees/bigger enrollments. The wonderfulness of numerous previously admired athletic programs/affiliations will come into question as these revenues decline. CUSA and AAC institutions/geographic footprints have received the most media attention, but the A10 is not without issues.

Future successful conferences will consist of institutions that:
- have a value proposition that allows them to attract students who are persuaded the in-residence experience and likelihood of future quality employment as a result of that experience are worth the cost;
- have athletic departments with reliable revenue streams and efficient management;
- can attract fans in the digital era;
- don't require expensive travel for competitive events; and
- can effectively brand/market the above to athletes, donors, fans and competitors.

No one would begrudge P5 attention received by any leadership pulling off the above.

From the most recent Tribe Scribe piece on Nathan Knight...

“With Tribe coach Dane Fischer to his left and director of athletics Samantha Huge holding back tears in the back of the room, Knight closed with this:”

For someone not mentioned again in the email, it seems unnecessary to include AD Huge in the piece at all. Hard not to feel like there’s a trend on forcing mention of her into everything, which I’m finding more and more offputting.

(05-04-2020 08:41 AM)tribalwarfare Wrote:  From the most recent Tribe Scribe piece on Nathan Knight...

“With Tribe coach Dane Fischer to his left and director of athletics Samantha Huge holding back tears in the back of the room, Knight closed with this:”

For someone not mentioned again in the email, it seems unnecessary to include AD Huge in the piece at all. Hard not to feel like there’s a trend on forcing mention of her into everything, which I’m finding more and more offputting.

You are entitled to your opinion and I'm not trying to stir anything up, but it feels like you applied your feelings about Huge to this article. I'm not a big fan of some of the things Huge has done, but I also feel like she cares for W&M and the kid's she represents. I don't think her motives are self promotion at all costs - W&M be damned.
IMO, the Huge reference didn't really feel out of place or as Johnson kissing up to the boss. But that is me. I'm sure others here probably disagree.

(05-04-2020 09:51 AM)mrjoolius Wrote:  

(05-04-2020 08:41 AM)tribalwarfare Wrote:  From the most recent Tribe Scribe piece on Nathan Knight...

“With Tribe coach Dane Fischer to his left and director of athletics Samantha Huge holding back tears in the back of the room, Knight closed with this:”

For someone not mentioned again in the email, it seems unnecessary to include AD Huge in the piece at all. Hard not to feel like there’s a trend on forcing mention of her into everything, which I’m finding more and more offputting.

You are entitled to your opinion and I'm not trying to stir anything up, but it feels like you applied your feelings about Huge to this article. I'm not a big fan of some of the things Huge has done, but I also feel like she cares for W&M and the kid's she represents. I don't think her motives are self promotion at all costs - W&M be damned.
IMO, the Huge reference didn't really feel out of place or as Johnson kissing up to the boss. But that is me. I'm sure others here probably disagree.

I agree it’s definitely influencing my view, but I’d argue it’s the same as analyzing data with knowledge of the priors. In that, we have seen a lot of otherwise unnecessary references/quotes of AD Huge in pieces/announcements where you wouldn’t typically see an AD/periphery figure mentioned. I have no doubt she loves the job and cares about W&M and the student athletes, but I also think that it’s grating to see forced mentions, especially when they don’t add to the story.

To me (and I’m probably reading too much into it), that means either they’re “requested” mentions, or Athletics Department staff feel it behooves them to positively mention the AD, neither of which sit right with me.

I mean, she's effectively the boss/CEO of the athletics department, it makes sense that she gets mentioned in a lot of articles.

She cleaned house over her first few years. Current staff are mostly her hand-picked people, so I don't think they feel as threatened. All the mentions are probably the result of a competitive environment...a bit of kissing the ring. As the CEO, I'd rather read or see something from her about how our Athletic Department is planning to adjust to and manage an unprecedented time. I don't envy her current situation. She will likely have to pivot from pushing forward with grand ideas to treading water (unless some major donor(s) is in place to resuscitate our budget).

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(05-04-2020 11:14 AM)tribalwarfare Wrote:  To me (and I’m probably reading too much into it), that means either they’re “requested” mentions, or Athletics Department staff feel it behooves them to positively mention the AD, neither of which sit right with me.

Since we are speculating, I think the answer could just as easily be option C - a mention of Huge without being directed to by the staff or a mention with the intention of sucking up.
If you are correct on A or B, that truly is not a good thing. But speculation based on feelings is the stuff of conspiracy theories.

Maybe all the mentions on social media and articles are bumped up a notch because of social distancing...everything is electronic.

I still think it's a cultural thing within the Department. I've never seen head coaches, and never players, mention the AD so much.

It's not a big deal to me so long as she successfully leads through trying times. How many times she is mentioned is the least of my concerns at the moment.

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Her job is a lot more difficult at the moment. I personally didn't think the mention was significant in the recent article. I did read yesterday that every UVA coach is taking a pay cut for the rest of the year. That program is flush with cash compared to W&M. It is going to be a very difficult process for the next year at a minimum. I think President Rowe released that W&M losses are 15-30 million for the semester that just ended. Somehow, I hope that it can be figured out to allow the students to return to campus in the fall. Seeing some significant falling case, hospitalization and fatality numbers would be encouraging. There still seems to be 4 significant areas of continuing case volume within the commonwealth(NoVa, Richmond, Tidewater, and Harrisonburg(surprisingly)), not counting areas where out of state students will return from. Hopefully, there will be some good news in the next few weeks. I have a depressed W&M junior taking exams and a depressed HS senior who has missed out on a ton of special milestones. Both understand though(somewhat) and want people to be well. Glad to hear from LeadBolt and I agree with his assessments for out here in SW Virginia. We will have unfortunately some additional deaths to be reported soon which occurred at a local nursing home last week. 61 people(residents and staff) got positive tests for COVID with 7 deaths so far.