(05-23-2019 09:25 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote: The problem was that Wayne had no intention of stepping down last year, this year, or apparently any other year. How would that have helped us?
Tiki-This is a complete lie. I am not accusing you of starting it, but you should not repeat it. I do not know where this information came from, although I can guess that it was floated by administration types to cover their asses when the Sarloos hiring fell through. Frankly it is stupid- we can't let Wayne stay another year because then he will never leave. As last year showed, you take away his contract, he will go away.
If Wayne gets his one year extension last year, Joe could have grown as an AD by having a thorough search and considering the feelings of many loyal Rice alums and supporters who have now cut the University off because of this arbitrary decision making. Rice is so small that you can piss off that many billionaires, millionaires and even thousandaires and not feel it. I personally know of $10's of millions of dollars that were slated for Rice that are now gone forever because of the way this was handled.
IMO, this will go down as the second dumbest thing in the history of Rice athletics. The first being the refusal to upgrade the facilities when we were in the SWC to gain access to a power 5 conference.
Let me be clear, since I was in a part of these discussions and read the correspondence between Wayne, the BOT, Leebron, and the AD. Since Wayne is not speaking for himself here anymore, As his friend, I feel obligated not to let his legacy be tarnished by nonsense.
Wayne wanted a one year extension and he wanted it in writing that it would be for only one year. LET ME REPEAT HE NEVER WANTED TO STAY PAST ONE YEAR! This decision was about the legacy of the program as this plan, actually arrived at in conversations Between Wayne and Leebron, and helped along by a couple of powerful Rice baseball supporters, would give Rice the opportunity to properly honor him with a victory lap like Mike Martin is taking and the Stanford guy did. The best part of this is it would allow Joe to use that time to evaluate the best options and get ahead of the game so he could make a good choice. Wayne even offered to help him. A resource like that might have been useful, but it was ignored which is how you get urgent "Who should I hire calls" made to sports writers after you've sent Wayne packing and your only choice said no.
So, do not keep giving them cover with this lie that a one-year extension meant Wayne would be here for 2 or 5 or until he died. That was never an option and was never on the table in any of the discussions.