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Was Jeff brought back. He is at the gymnastic meet tonight. Might not be doing the PA work but he is here

He is doing the PA work. Am I just late to the party and was he brought back??

(01-28-2022 06:51 PM)burden Wrote:  He is doing the PA work. Am I just late to the party and was he brought back??

Jeff has strong support from Wrestling and Gymnastics coaches and he was invited to do their events. ( I believe he has strong support from all coaches). However he has not been brought back for Basketball , Mens and Womens , or Football. Administration explanations for this are total B.S. . Many of us continue to push the issue with the new A.D. who has little sense of history and tradition. Our opinions are not valued. Jeff is a fixture at KSU and one of the best in the country.

This alumni and generous donor is withholding future support until Jeff is brought back or receives an acceptable explanation. It’s a travesty.
BTW. Ty Lindor let go also is unacceptable. Not sure they care about donors but it’s our only recourse. Urge others to do the same.

So the Athletic Dept lays him off and 2 individual teams bring him back (I presume the money comes from those teams individual budgets). That’s interesting and to be honest if I was the AD I wouldn’t allow it (unless he is planning on bringing him back).

Another thing. Is this AD ever at a sporting event? Instead of going to 35 or so winter events this year I might make 10. Been avoiding the larger mens basketball crowds so I’m curious if he ever shows up. I have not seen him. Always saw Kennedy and Nielsen at most every event (90% or so).

(01-29-2022 05:03 PM)burden Wrote:  So the Athletic Dept lays him off and 2 individual teams bring him back (I presume the money comes from those teams individual budgets). That’s interesting and to be honest if I was the AD I wouldn’t allow it (unless he is planning on bringing him back).

Another thing. Is this AD ever at a sporting event? Instead of going to 35 or so winter events this year I might make 10. Been avoiding the larger mens basketball crowds so I’m curious if he ever shows up. I have not seen him. Always saw Kennedy and Nielsen at most every event (90% or so).

Burden : Might be a reach to suggest Kurtz was paid for Gymnastics and Wrestling. I’m not suggesting he was or wasn’t. Many loyal KSU alumni do things for love of the school . Nobody bleeds Blue and Gold more than Kurtz. He also emceed HOF luncheon several months ago and Rango Golf outing. No idea if he was compensated. Certainly not our place to ask.

All I know is Dept treated him disrespectfully and he’s no longer doing “major” sports. Football , Basketball.
New people are awful… my opinion .

(01-30-2022 01:03 PM)Older and Older Wrote:  

(01-29-2022 05:03 PM)burden Wrote:  So the Athletic Dept lays him off and 2 individual teams bring him back (I presume the money comes from those teams individual budgets). That’s interesting and to be honest if I was the AD I wouldn’t allow it (unless he is planning on bringing him back).

Another thing. Is this AD ever at a sporting event? Instead of going to 35 or so winter events this year I might make 10. Been avoiding the larger mens basketball crowds so I’m curious if he ever shows up. I have not seen him. Always saw Kennedy and Nielsen at most every event (90% or so).

Burden : Might be a reach to suggest Kurtz was paid for Gymnastics and Wrestling. I’m not suggesting he was or wasn’t. Many loyal KSU alumni do things for love of the school . Nobody bleeds Blue and Gold more than Kurtz. He also emceed HOF luncheon several months ago and Rango Golf outing. No idea if he was compensated. Certainly not our place to ask.

All I know is Dept treated him disrespectfully and he’s no longer doing “major” sports. Football , Basketball.
New people are awful… my opinion .
I’m avoiding events also, KSU Covid protocols not what I hoped for . Getting used to watching TV coverage.
“Larger Basketball crowds” … now that made me smile. Attendance abysmal.

I laughed when I posted it. However they are larger than the gymnastics, wrestling and womens BB crowds.

(01-30-2022 06:39 PM)burden Wrote:  I laughed when I posted it. However they are larger than the gymnastics, wrestling and womens BB crowds.

Love our student athletes and coaches but right now it’s very hard to distinguish between this AD and the previous one. They seem to be working hard to keep fans away and disconnected.
Previous comments about AD not being at KENT events, totally agree.
He did manage to go to Indy to Football championship. Lots of photos on social media of him and select donors he invited. ( plastering the photos on social media ticks off more donors than it wins over)
BTW , attending is one thing , being welcoming and appreciative of fans and donors another. We have not seen the effort to interact and socialize.
We have Moved on to other interests , won’t be renewing any season tickets. After 40 years that’s saying a lot.

Anyone know if we can make a blow up head of Jeff and Ty for the student sections to hold up behind the backboards?

(01-31-2022 09:29 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote:  Anyone know if we can make a blow up head of Jeff and Ty for the student sections to hold up behind the backboards?

Alpha- that would be fantastic- maybe also a chant echo from side to side at MACC instead of "We are" "Kent State"----- "We want" "Jeff Kurtz"/ "We want" "Jeff Kurtz"... at least we could all have some fun at the game during the stretches of bad shooting??
Cheers...

With attendance these days, any chant you want to do, just speak it loudly. With how small the crowds have been we should seriously consider making a "Please silence your cell phones while the home team is shooting free throws" graphic for the scoreboard.

Did anyone send any emails about this? I sent one, but no response.

I sent one also to the top 3 people in Dept. crickets. Had a face to face conversation with one of the top 3. Got a lot of tap dancing, no response .
What I dont get is 2 of the 3 were here under previous regimes and know how good Jeff is at announcing and MCing

Guys, they don't give a rip about Jeff Kurtz. He's a freaking PA announcer. I don't discount the fact that a lot of people liked him as a PA announcer or as a person, but in the grand scheme of things, who is announcing the games is of trivial concern to the administration.

The larger concern for me is why they seem to be ignoring fans and donors. It's funny how even though the morale of the department may be better, we may have ended up with a dud AD. Nobody that I have seen has had a good word to say about RR since he has returned. What of significance has he done? If you read this Mr. Richmond, it might be time to reach out to the KSU faithful.

(01-31-2022 11:33 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  Guys, they don't give a rip about Jeff Kurtz. He's a freaking PA announcer. I don't discount the fact that a lot of people liked him as a PA announcer or as a person, but in the grand scheme of things, who is announcing the games is of trivial concern to the administration.

The larger concern for me is why they seem to be ignoring fans and donors. It's funny how even though the morale of the department may be better, we may have ended up with a dud AD. Nobody that I have seen has had a good word to say about RR since he has returned. What of significance has he done? If you read this Mr. Richmond, it might be time to reach out to the KSU faithful.

Danny.
110% correct , but fans and donors used to matter, but no longer at Kent.
I had face to face conversation with AD about Kurtz. No response , looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.
Haven’t been back since , no plans to return anytime soon .
Very clear to me they no longer want input . That’s disturbing.

I expect we will see further cuts and consolidation of the department as our DI program shrinks even more.

Kurtz is an example of lowering the quality of our presentation. No more over the air radio. Less sponsors , Zero promotion. Recent video of Sendy shoveling snow in front of MAC . It is what it is, and many fans are embarrassed , disconnected, and moving on to other non-KSU sports interests.
Once you lose a “customer” it’s much harder to get them back .

(02-01-2022 06:18 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Kurtz is an example of lowering the quality of our presentation. No more over the air radio. Less sponsors , Zero promotion. Recent video of Sendy shoveling snow in front of MAC . It is what it is, and many fans are embarrassed , disconnected, and moving on to other non-KSU sports interests.
Once you lose a “customer” it’s much harder to get them back .

You could not be more right. It seems those in the department have to give off such a feigned enthusiasm for recruiting purposes which is obviously self-serving as well, so I wouldn't blame any of them for counting the days down until they're gone and off to somewhere that offered much more support. Funny how the new AD likes to give the impression he is connected with his social media posts, but there is an obvious huge disconnect. As somebody new to their job you'd think he'd start off with a bang and then as the duties bring on a heavier burden it would start to fade. Instead this one started in fade mode so were is there to go once the honeymoon is officially over? Again, I'd love to know what transpired in the interview process as I'm sure they asked for his vision, and how quickly those in power feel they may have been deeply misled/betrayed.

(02-01-2022 06:18 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  

(01-31-2022 11:33 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  Guys, they don't give a rip about Jeff Kurtz. He's a freaking PA announcer. I don't discount the fact that a lot of people liked him as a PA announcer or as a person, but in the grand scheme of things, who is announcing the games is of trivial concern to the administration.

The larger concern for me is why they seem to be ignoring fans and donors. It's funny how even though the morale of the department may be better, we may have ended up with a dud AD. Nobody that I have seen has had a good word to say about RR since he has returned. What of significance has he done? If you read this Mr. Richmond, it might be time to reach out to the KSU faithful.

Danny.
110% correct , but fans and donors used to matter, but no longer at Kent.
I had face to face conversation with AD about Kurtz. No response , looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.
Haven’t been back since , no plans to return anytime soon .
Very clear to me they no longer want input . That’s disturbing.

I expect we will see further cuts and consolidation of the department as our DI program shrinks even more.

Kurtz is an example of lowering the quality of our presentation. No more over the air radio. Less sponsors , Zero promotion. Recent video of Sendy shoveling snow in front of MAC . It is what it is, and many fans are embarrassed , disconnected, and moving on to other non-KSU sports interests.
Once you lose a “customer” it’s much harder to get them back .

(02-01-2022 07:18 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(02-01-2022 06:18 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Kurtz is an example of lowering the quality of our presentation. No more over the air radio. Less sponsors , Zero promotion. Recent video of Sendy shoveling snow in front of MAC . It is what it is, and many fans are embarrassed , disconnected, and moving on to other non-KSU sports interests.
Once you lose a “customer” it’s much harder to get them back .

You could not be more right. It seems those in the department have to give off such a feigned enthusiasm for recruiting purposes which is obviously self-serving as well, so I wouldn't blame any of them for counting the days down until they're gone and off to somewhere that offered much more support. Funny how the new AD likes to give the impression he is connected with his social media posts, but there is an obvious huge disconnect. As somebody new to their job you'd think he'd start off with a bang and then as the duties bring on a heavier burden it would start to fade. Instead this one started in fade mode so were is there to go once the honeymoon is officially over? Again, I'd love to know what transpired in the interview process as I'm sure they asked for his vision, and how quickly those in power feel they may have been deeply misled/betrayed.

Excellent points. Sad. Very sad.

Where's Dave at to weigh in on RR and all this as he was the main driver on getting Joel out???

Yes Joel may have had arrogance and wasn't beloved by coaches or some donors. But maybe just maybe he was trying to make his team accountable and sometimes elevating a team people are uncomfortable and don't like it. But all leaders aren't going to be loved.

So you have a comfortable happy staff now allegedly but does that put dollars in the coffers and elevate the dept?? In the process you lose donors and season ticket holders??? My brief and very brief discussions with RR it feels like he has zero interest in you and its just awkward and ehh.

(02-01-2022 10:54 AM)ksu315 Wrote:  Where's Dave at to weigh in on RR and all this as he was the main driver on getting Joel out??? Great question.

Yes Joel may have had arrogance and wasn't beloved by coaches or some donors. But maybe just maybe he was trying to make his team accountable and sometimes elevating a team people are uncomfortable and don't like it. But all leaders aren't going to be loved. BINGO

So you have a comfortable happy staff now allegedly but does that put dollars in the coffers and elevate the dept?? In the process you lose donors and season ticket holders??? My brief and very brief discussions with RR it feels like he has zero interest in you and its just awkward and ehh. He better wake up and realize who butters his bread.

Great discussion. Appreciate all the reinforcing opinions and ideas that support what I have maintained for sometime.
They don’t get it or they don’t care.

Fortunately, we have great coaches, that is the foundation of Kent St Athletics. They do it all including being the best fundraisers for the dept.

Hopefully, the Dept figures it out. I’m not holding my breath.